Rory McIlroy’s response to Talor Gooch’s Masters comments speaks volumes about PGA Tour star

Talor Gooch claimed a victory for Rory McIlroy at this year’s Masters would come with an asterisk due to the current world rankings, and the Northern Irishman has issued a response

Rory McIlroy has provided a response to Talor Gooch, after the LIV Golf star claimed a victory for the Northern Irishman at this April’s Masters would come with an ‘asterisk’ alongside it.

Gooch is one of several LIV stars to miss the main event at Augusta National this season as he falls down the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). The American proved to be one of golf’s toughest stars in 2023, winning three times on the LIV circuit and being crowned the league’s season champion.Unfortunately for Gooch, the Smash GC star did not earn ranking points for his efforts. and now finds himself ranked 449th in the world, down more than 400 places from last year.This time while at the Masters, Gooch questioned the legitimacy of this year’s event in an interview with Australian Golf Digest . “When Rory McIllroy makes his Grand Slam without the best players in the world, it’s just going to be a star,” Gooch said.”That’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the big players find a way . do it. get it the best players in the world out there.” Unsurprisingly, Gooch’s comments were relayed to McIlroy ahead of his return to the PGA Tour at this week’s Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.In a measured and elegant response, the Northern Irishman said: “The Masters invite and they invites. whoever they think deserves an invite. I think to be fair to Taylor, if you read the whole Q&A, it’s not like he just said that.”I feel like the interviewer was leading him down that road, so I’ll give him some benefit of the doubt. Basically, he just agreed to the interviewer’s question.” McIlroy, however, discussed Gooch’s small effort to earn ranking points elsewhere, which helped fellow LIV star Joaquin Niemann get an invite to the Masters.”But at the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invitation and I then played with Joaquin in Dubai for a few weeks and he went to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week. He’s chasing his tail around the world to play his way into Augusta or show enough form to get an invite, and I wonder if the same can be said for Taylor.”The lack of OWGR recognition is an ongoing problem. A thorn in the side if the league’s last request for ranking points was rejected last October, with those responsible for the ranking system citing LIV’s 54-hole tournament format and its promotion and relegation system as the main reasons for rejecting Syksy..