McIlroy criticized golfers for joining the new Saudi -funded league

the northern irish Rory McIlroy, winner of four ‘majors’, confirmed on Tuesday that he has no plans to join LIV Golfa new golf league funded by the Saudi Arabian government, citing players who make it “the easy way out.”

At a press conference before the start of the US Open, where he became champion in 2011, McIlroy assured that he understood that players like Phil Mickelson, in the final stages of their careers, joined LIV, but he does not share the decision of the younger golfers.

“I don’t understand the decision of players my age (33 years old), because I think my best days are yet to come, and I think so are the others. I get the feeling that they are doing it the easier way. , ”McIlroy said.

He admitted he was “disappointed” with Mickelson’s decision who joined LIV, but stressed that it did not affect the “tremendous respect” he had for it.

He made sure he had no plans to join LIV because he felt “this was the right thing to do” and he remembered the great golfers back then who built the PGA Tour tradition.

“They created and worked hard for something, and I didn’t want to see all the players before us worked hard for nothing.“, he said.

The launch of LIV Golf, supported by the Saudi government and the main incentive being economic prizes, caused controversy in the United States, including the relatives of the victims on September 11, 2001, which saw fact that American players receive that money.

“I certainly have empathy for their families (to the victims of 9/11). I have friends who lost loved ones on 9/11 and it is sad. I understand their frustration and disappointment because of that, ”McIlroy said.

He stressed, however, that he had been “in the Middle East for a long time and most people were very kind”, although, he said, “there were bad people everywhere and bad people in that part of the world. huge things. “