(Reuters) – Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy has said that the proposed Super Golf League could be better suited for older players, and that the younger generation would face a “massive risk” by joining the lucrative breakaway competition.
McIlroy and several other top-ranked players have turned down the Saudi-funded project, which is being spearheaded by former world number one Greg Norman.
Players who sign up for the breakaway competition face potential bans from the American-based PGA Tour and European-based DP World Tour, as well as the Ryder Cup.
“I don’t know if I’m curious, but yeah, I guess I’m intrigued who would (join),” McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday, speaking ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational in California.
“Certainly for the younger guys it just seems a massive risk. I can maybe make sense of it for the guys that are getting to the latter stages of their careers.
“I don’t think that’s what a rival golf league is really going to want, is it?”
The 32-year-old Northern Irishman, who previously labelled the proposals as a “money grab”, said world number one Jon Rahm and second-ranked Collin Morikawa also have dismissed the project.
“I don’t know. I understand the financial part of it for guys that are later on in their career,” McIlroy added.
“You look at the people that have already said no the top players in the world are saying no, so that has to tell you something.”
Former world number one Adam Scott confirmed he was in discussions with organisers of the new circuit, which is expected to have a lighter schedule than the PGA Tour.
“Depending what your goals are in golf, the schedule is very appealing,” said the 41-year-old Australian.
“From that side of things, I would consider doing that, for sure. From a lifestyle side of things, yes.”
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru and Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
