Two days after dropping the one hundred and fiftieth Open Championship to Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy made a cellphone name he undoubtedly didn’t need to make. He known as Smith to congratulate him on profitable the Claret Jug, after which talked him by means of all the explanations he ought to stay on the PGA Tour.
Smith didn’t heed McIlroy’s recommendation, clearly, opting instead to signal a reported nine-figure take care of LIV Golf and making his debut at LIV Boston simply after the Tour Championship. Those two, together with PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, owned most of the 12 months in 2022. That trio mixed for 11 victories worldwide, together with half the main championships.
However, it was what occurred off the course that usually dominated the headlines. Smith opened up not too long ago about what McIlroy stated to him throughout that post-Open Championship cellphone name.
“I’ve always had respect for Rory and I’ve liked what he says on the golf course,” Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald. “He said, ‘Congrats’. There were maybe a couple of little jabs in there. He was happy I played well and it was a good tournament. Then we talked about the PGA Tour and LIV. There was a bunch of stuff he wanted me to know before I made my decision. I wouldn’t say he tried to directly talk me out of it, but he definitely wanted me to stay.”
There was good cause. At the time, Smith was the No. 2 participant on this planet and the reigning Players Championship and Open Championship winner. His recap of the dialog squares with what McIlroy stated on the Tour Championship in August:
“I wanted to congratulate him, but also I wanted — guys that are thinking one way or another, honestly I don’t care if they leave or not,” stated McIlroy. It’s not going to make a distinction to me. But I’d no less than like folks to decide that’s fully knowledgeable and principally know that is what’s coming down the pipeline. This is what you could be forsaking.”
What’s coming on the PGA Tour is a set of elevated occasions with massively elevated purses — 12 tournaments with a mean purse dimension of $20 million in 2023 — in addition to a chance to play within the TGL, which is run by an organization Tiger Woods and McIlroy personal. TGL is actually televised display golf in an enviornment the place gamers can have the chance to make some cash along side a PGA Tour-affiliated occasion. This has not been the case up to now.
Smith was not the most important identify LIV landed in 2022, however he was in all probability its finest participant. Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson are all greater attracts than the Australian, however you might argue that solely Scheffler had a greater 12 months than Smith this 12 months, though he actually did not have a richer one.