Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy says he regrets being too quick to judge players who joined LIV Golf and now accepts that the Saudi-backed tour is part of the sport.
McIlroy has been a vocal critic since the breakaway tour launched in 2022 and signed up a host of big names, causing a rift that threatened to tear golf apart.
He previously accused some golfers who defected from the PGA Tour of being duplicitous and said he would rather retire than join LIV.
But McIlroy now says it is no longer his job to fight that battle. «I think, at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods' position,» McIlroy told the «Stick to Football» podcast. «We all turn professional to make a living playing the sports that we do, and I think that's what I realized over the last two years.