Rory McIlroy is currently in Florida playing in the 2024 Cognizant Classic. In an interview, he responded to Talor Gooch’s recent ‘asterisk’ comment. The latter golfer said that if the Northern Irishman won the Masters tournament to complete his grand slam, it would not be worthy enough without the top LIV stars competing in it.
Before the ongoing PGA Tour event, the Northern Irishman replied to Gooch’s comment in the most quirkier way possible. Although he gave a respectable reply and defended the latter in his response. So, what did the World No. 2 say about the 2023 Individual champion of the league?
Rory McIlroy Responds To Talor Gooch’s Masters Comment
The Northern Irishman said that the Masters Tournament is an Invitational tournament and can invite whichever player they want to. He said,
“Look, the Masters is an Invitational and they’ll invite whoever they think warrants an invite.”
Later, on Talor Gooch’s comment, Rory McIlroy defended him by saying that the LIV Golf star said according to what the interviewer asked him. He gave the 32-year-old American the “benefit of the doubt” as he said,
“I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the entire – the question and then the answer, it’s not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit. He just agreed with what the interviewer asked.”
Rory McIlroy responds to Talor Gooch’s ‘asterisk’ comment about The Masters. pic.twitter.com/CFKHsNJuVJ
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) February 28, 2024
Rory McIlroy underlined that another LIV Golf player, Joaquin Niemann, played sensational throughout to receive an invite at the 2024 Masters. But was doubtful that Talor Gooch would receive the same treatment from Augusta National as the latter is rarely seen playing outside the Saudi-backed league.
“At the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invite and I played with him a few weeks ago in Dubai, and he went down to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week. He has been chasing his tail around the world to get this, play his way into August or show enough form to warrant an invite. I don’t know if the same can be said for Talor,” McIlroy said.
Both Rory McIlroy and Talor Gooch will be seen playing golf this week but on different tours. The Northern Irishman is a hot favorite at the 2024 Cognizant Classic while the latter will be seen at the LIV Golf Jeddah. It is to be seen what more comments add up to their cold war.
