Rory Mcilroy Liv Golf, Mic Drop

After shooting 5-under 66 at Quail Hollow Club on Friday at the Truist Championship and recording a career-best 14 consecutive greens in regulation (Nos. 4-17), Rory McIlroy was asked three questions about LIV and skillfully threw shade on those players suggesting they're not interested in returning to the PGA Tour.

Asked first about Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulling its funding of LIV, McIlroy replied, “I think everyone sort of knows my views on LIV and where it stands in the game of golf. I don't think I need to rehash any of that. It's never been for me and, look, it doesn't mean that LIV is going to go away. They're going to go and try and find alternative investment, whatever that may look like. But when one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world thinks that you're too expensive for them, that sort of says something.”

McIlroy had to know the second question was coming too: What should the path back to the Tour be?

“It's a question if they do want to come back. Obviously we have seen the quotes over the last few days. And, you know, it seems like some of the guys, if -- again, it all depends on what happens to LIV. But if it is a scenario where they have the option to come back and play on the traditional tours, you know, I think Brian Rolapp has said anything that makes this Tour stronger, anything that makes the DP World Tour stronger, I think everyone should be open to that. That's just good business practice,” McIlroy said. “So, but again I think there's going to be a lot of sort of bridges to cross to get there, just because, you know, obviously the guys over there are under contract and if they are able to keep it going and get a schedule together next year, it seems like those guys are still going to play the majority of their golf on LIV, in whatever form it takes.”

In the third and final question, McIlroy was asked about some of the recent rhetoric that LIV players don’t want to return to the PGA Tour the way that Brooks Koepka has done and Patrick Reed and others (such as Pat Perez) are serving suspension before their expected return. Does any of that surprise you, McIlroy was asked. 

“I've said at the start, I was probably too judgmental with the guys that went because I was seeing it from my point of view and maybe not seeing it from other points of view. But again, I'm not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA Tour,” he began in his response. “I don't know, you know, does that mean that they go play DP World Tour maybe; if that's a pathway, that would make the DP World Tour stronger, and I would be delighted with that, because that's my home Tour, at the end of the day.

“But this is, if you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be. And if you don't want to play here, I think that says something about you.”

Absolute dagger and a heckuva mic drop by McIlroy.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Rory McIlroy's blunt message to LIV pros not wanting to return to PGA Tour