LIV Golf star shuts down McIlroy criticism of | Golf News

Patrick Reed has thrown his assist behind LIV Golf’s controversial choice to prolong its tournaments to 72 holes, despite fierce critic Rory McIlroy calling the shift “peculiar.”

The insurgent circuit has featured 54-hole competitions since launching in 2022, with that format being central to the league’s model identification – the LIV title itself was drawn from the Roman numerals representing 54.

However, when the upcoming season kicks off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this February, LIV’s competitions will align with those of its more established opponents, that includes 4 18-hole rounds. The announcement has sparked divided reactions among the league’s golfers and followers, including Phil Mickelson.

Observers have speculated that LIV has adjusted its construction in an effort to improve its prospects of securing Official World Golf Ranking recognition at last.

McIlroy has been against LIV from the start, and he expressed his astonishment at the announcement that the Saudi-backed league had dropped one of its distinctive options.

LIV participant Lee Westwood, a past Ryder Cup colleague of McIlroy, hit back at the Masters winner’s feedback by stating: “I don’t pay too much attention to what Rory says, really. He’ll change his mind for next week.”

Reed, a constitution member of the breakaway circuit, thinks the modification is a smart move by LIV’s management. He said: “I love it. I love it going to 72.

“For me, I just really feel just like the more holes you play, the top gamers are going to type of rise to the event. When you had the three-round tournaments, it turned into a actually fast dash. You knew it was going to be different, but you did not assume it was going to be that different. It just appeared such as you had to exit and shoot a ridiculously low quantity to have a probability to win the golf tournaments.

“Now I feel like it kind of aligns with all the other tours. Now you can go out and kind of really judge how you are in relation to the other players in the world.”

McIlroy, who served as the PGA Tour’s unofficial consultant following the LIV departure, has intentionally stepped back from the game’s political debates not too long ago, though he overtly shared his views on LIV’s major modifications at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship two weeks in the past.

“I think it’s a peculiar move,” McIlroy said. “I think they could have gotten ranking points with three rounds. I don’t think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back.

“It definitely places them more in line with conventional golf tournaments than what we have all accomplished. It brings them back into probably not being a destructor and kind is of falling more in line with what everybody else does.

“But if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get the rating factors, I assume that’s what they’d to do.