Rory McIlroy tells Charl Schwartzel his win in maiden Saudi-backed rebel event ‘meant NOTHING’

Rory McIlroy has ramped up his war of words with the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf competition that is tearing the sport apart. 

The Northern Irishman won the Canadian Open on the same weekend the breakaway competition held an inaugural event in Hertfordshire. 

Charl Schwartzel banked £4million for winning it but McIlroy, who took home £1.2m says the South African’s triumph ‘meant nothing’. 

‘Last week in Canada… LIV will never have that,’ McIlroy said. ‘Last week meant something. What they were doing over there meant nothing.’

McIlroy has been a vocal critic of the LIV competition, seen by many as the latest transparent attempt at ‘sportswashing’ by Saudi Arabia. 

The huge money on offer has lured the likes of Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell and more recently younger talents such as Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed away from the PGA Tour. 

Jusin Thomas (left) and Rory McIlroy have been vocally against the Saudi-backed rebels

McIlroy won the Canadian Open after seeing off competition from Thomas on Sunday

McIlroy is particularly confused as to why the likes of Dechambeau and Reed would jump ship for a competition that means very little. 

He went on: ‘I don’t understand the guys that are a similar age to me going because I would like to believe that my best days are still ahead of me, and I think theirs are too,’ he said. ‘So that’s where it feels like you’re taking the easy way out.’

Johnson and DeChambeau both reneged on their pledge to stay with the PGA Tour and now have their Ryder Cup futures in jeopardy. 

McIlroy was disappointed in the U-turns, saying: ‘I guess I took a lot of players’ statements at face value. I guess that’s what I got wrong. 

‘You had people committed to the PGA Tour, and that’s what the statements were that were put out. People went back on that.

‘It’s disappointing. The players that are staying on the PGA Tour feel slighted in some way. If those guys thought outside of themselves, they would see this is not the best for everyone.’

Bryson DeChambeau (left) and Dustin Johnson (right) committed their futures to the PGA Tour before U-turning in a move that disappointed McIlroy 

McIlroy and Justin Thomas have emerged as the staunchest advocates of the PGA Tour and, a day after the 54-hole LIV event came to an underwhelming conclusion, they fought out the RBC Canadian Open in a thrilling finish, with McIlroy eventually defending his title in front of a raucous crowd.

It was the 21st PGA Tour victory of McIlroy’s career – one more than Norman – and prompted McIlroy to take a swipe at the Australian which he admitted at Brookline was a ‘little bit petty’.

But the four-time major winner feels he has a duty to speak out about a subject he feels is ‘fracturing the game more than it already is’.

‘It’s certainly a burden I don’t need but I have very strong opinions on the subject,’ McIlroy said. ‘I think I am providing the thought process for a different view shared by a lot of people.

McIlroy says Schwartzel’s victory meant nothing and the Northern Irishman is backed by fans

‘The PGA Tour was created by people and tour players that came before us – the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer…

‘They created something and worked hard for something, and I hate to see all the players that came before us and all the hard work that they’ve put in just come out to be nothing.

‘Legacy, reputation… at the end of the day that’s all you have. You strip everything away, and you’re left with how you made people feel and what people thought of you. That is important to me.

‘The crowds in Canada, LIV is never going to have that, the sense that it means something. What they are doing over there does not mean anything, apart from collecting a ton of money.’