Rory McIlroy not impressed with 'duplicitous' LIV Golf rebels

World number two Rory McIlroy has labelled the players who have joined the LIV Golf Series "duplicitous" for the way they have handled their breakaway.

Fellow four-time major winner Brooks Koepka, whose brother Chase played in the opening event at Centurion Club earlier this month, is the next star set to sign up to the Saudi-backed invitational events.

He is expected to play in the second 54-hole, 48-man tournament – which has a prize fund of £20.4 million – in Portland, Oregon, next week but only a few days ago the 32-year-old, who will be suspended by the PGA Tour as a result of his decision, complained that questions on the topic at Brookline were throwing a "black cloud" over the US Open.

In March former world number one Dustin Johnson stressed his full commitment to the PGA Tour only to perform a U-turn three months later and that sort of behaviour annoys McIlroy, who is on the tour's player advisory council.

Asked whether he was surprised by Koepka’s decision, he said: "Am I surprised? Yes, because of what he said previously.

"I think that’s why I’m surprised at a lot of these guys because they say one thing and then they do another and I don’t understand.

"I don’t know if that’s for legal reasons or if they can’t – I have no idea – but it’s pretty duplicitous on their part to say one thing and then do another thing. In public and in private."

McIlroy is playing in the Travelers’ Championship in Connecticut this week, his fourth event in a row, and he admits it is taking its toll.

"I definitely feel like a little bit of fatigue setting in. I got a night in my own bed down in Florida on Monday night, which was really nice, but I came back up here yesterday and played the pro-am today," he told a press conference at TPC