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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rory McIlroy was paying attention to legal proceedings Tuesday when a federal judge in California denied a temporary restraining order to three suspended PGA Tour members who signed with LIV Golf and then wanted to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford will not play at FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first playoff match, when it begins Thursday at TPC Southwind.
“From my perspective, common sense prevailed and I decided it was the right decision,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Now that it’s happened, I think it just allows us to focus on the important things, which is golf. We can all move on and not have this sideshow for the next few weeks, which is nice.”
Justin Thomas, who said he was looking for updates from the hearing on Twitter, also agreed with U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman’s decision.
McIlroy and Thomas said the ongoing dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf became more personal when 11 players, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour in federal court last week.
“It was personal to me from the beginning,” Thomas said. “That’s kind of what I said from the beginning. These guys were given an opportunity to go play and just go play. You can have your cake, but you don’t have to eat it. And they’ve had their fair share of a large, large amount of cake and go eat it yourself. You don’t have to bring it on our tour.
McIlroy said he has more respect for players like past major champions Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka who defected to LIV Golf but didn’t judge the tour or try to come back and play.
“Guys are going to make their own decisions that they think are best for them, and that’s totally fine,” McIlroy said. “Again, I don’t fault anyone for going to play LIV or taking guaranteed money. If that’s your prerogative and what you want to do, totally fine. I think where the resentment comes from being a member of this tour is the fact that they want to try to get back here without consequence, and anyone who has read the PGA Tour handbook or followed the rules and regulations is going to feel very unfair. to them.”
Thomas, who won the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in May and is eighth in the FedEx Cup points standings, said the drama between rounds was a distraction.
“Unfortunately, it just takes the golf world a little bit and takes away from the great storylines,” Thomas said. “I think I saw Scotty [Scheffler] come and do your interview [Tuesday]and I’m sure they asked him what was going on and he had one of the best seasons of all time.
“I mean, the most money ever won and winning the FedEx Cup by a mile, I’m sure there weren’t as many questions about that as there should have been. It’s little things like that that take away from the big picture of what’s going on on the PGA Tour, obviously in the game of golf in general, that’s going on.”
The drama may not be going away anytime soon. Although Freeman denied the temporary restraining order, it did not rule on the LIV players’ antitrust claims. She has scheduled a jury trial in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California for September 2023. There will be depositions from both sides and plenty of testimony between now and then.
There will also likely be more PGA Tour members leaving for lucrative signing bonuses and bigger purses at the LIV Golf chain. Cameron Smith, the world No. 2 player who won the St Andrews Open last month, is the latest player to be said to be linked to the league, which is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
McIlroy knows Tuesday’s verdict is a small victory for the PGA Tour in a much bigger battle.
“It’s like he’s got such a long way to go,” McIlroy said. “It’s like you’ve birdied the first hole, but you’ve got 17 holes to go.”
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