Rory McIlroy has expressed his concern over the impact of LIV Golf's unsanctioned status by the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on the Olympic golf tournament.
McIlroy, who was once a vocal critic of the Saudi Arabia-funded circuit launched in 2022, has seen many top players from the PGA Tour join its ranks. While tensions between the tours have eased with ongoing merger talks following a framework agreement last year, McIlroy has notably softened his stance on the issue.
However, the state of the OWGR remains a hot topic. The likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith do not receive ranking points for participating in the league's events.
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As a result, LIV players have seen their rankings drop significantly, causing several big names and recent major champions to miss out on qualifying for the Olympic golf event, which kicks off at Le Golf National the host of the 2018 Ryder Cup on Thursday.
Some LIV players, including two-time major champion Jon Rahm, will participate, but a host of American and Australian stars will be absent. Despite being one of the top five players globally, US Open champion DeChambeau will not represent Team USA, leaving Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Collin Morikawa to carry the flag.
McIlroy chose to play for Ireland instead of Great Britain at his Olympic debut in 2021, expressed his disappointment over the absence of some top players at the Paris Olympics during his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday.
Despite his previous criticism of golf's place in the Olympics and his candid admission that he "resented" the Games for forcing him to pick a side between Ireland and Team GB , McIlroy emphasized that winning a medal this week would be incredibly significant to him.
"It's hard to say [whether the Olympics will become like a major], as even this week, the way the qualification system works, not all the best players in the world are here," McIlroy remarked.
"You'd like to think that if you're going to win something really prestigious in the sport then you want all the best players playing and that isn't quite happening here.
"It's still very meaningful and if I were to win a medal, especially a gold medal, it would mean a lot to me. I was really close to winning a medal last time - I said I'd never tried as hard to finish third in my life - so once you're in there and especially if you are in contention for a medal, you feel the buzz of it and it's really cool."
McIlroy enters the tournament with limited preparation, having participated in only two events over the past month. He tied for fourth place at the Scottish Open before failing to make the cut at The Open Championship at Royal Troon just a couple of weeks ago.
"I've obviously had a bit more time off than I wanted with not playing the weekend at The Open but I'm excited to be here and at a golf course where I've got a lot of fond memories from the Ryder Cup a few years ago," he added.
"And it's good to get back to playing in conditions that are a little bit more familiar. Obviously Troon was really, really difficult but to be out here in the sunshine without a lot of wind feels really nice."
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