PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Rory McIlroy was the first and most high-profile player, at world No. 1, to speak out against the proposed Premier Golf League last month when he announced he was “out” and that he wanted to be on “the right side of history.”
On Tuesday at The Players, where McIlroy is the defending champion, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was asked his response to McIlroy’s comments.
“I would tell you that it just reminded us all of how thoughtful and thorough Rory McIlroy is,” Monahan said. “I wasn’t surprised. I was certainly proud and pleased on that given day, and candidly, as I’ve talked to a lot of top players in my one-on-one conversations, I’ve heard a lot of the same.”
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Last week at Bay Hill, McIlroy was asked if there were any specific parts of the PGL team concept that he liked, and he acknowledged he was interested in the idea of “smaller fields” and said he was concerned that there might be an “over-saturation” in professional golf.
“I feel pressure from top players to continue to make sure our product is getting better and better and better. You always feel that pressure. It hasn’t just started here over the last couple of months,” Monahan said. “Certainly, this is a unique circumstance or situation, but you don’t wake up and hear that and all of a sudden say, ‘OK, we need to now start doing more.’”