'They've made their bed': Rory McIlroy becomes unabashed leader of PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf ahead of US Open

BROOKLINE, Mass. — With men’s golf in the midst of an ugly civil war, a battle for the heart, soul and pocketbook of the game playing out on one of its grandest stages, leave it to Rory McIlroy to swoop in to try to save the day.

McIlroy on Tuesday was everything the sullen and snippy Phil Mickelson was not on Monday at the U.S. Open. With clarity, humor and optimism, the 33-year-old four-time major champion mustered a gallant and full-throated defense of the PGA Tour and the meaning and value of competition.

He said some of his fellow players were “taking the easy way out” and were engaged in “short-term thinking” by joining the exhibition-style Saudi LIV Golf league for massive guaranteed contracts rather than playing on the far more competitive PGA Tour.

He also offered no sympathy to his peers who have gone into business with the Saudis and now are facing unrelenting criticism in the news media and from an organization of 9/11 families.

“My dad said to me a long time ago, once you make your bed, you lie in it, and they've made their bed,” McIlroy said. “That’s their decision, and they have to live with that.”

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McIlroy has quickly become the unabashed leader on the PGA Tour’s side of the debate over the future of the professional game. A reporter asked him why he has taken on that mantle of leadership.

“Because in my opinion it's the right thing to do,” he replied. “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.”

Leaving that tour for huge cash payouts to play in watered-down golf tournaments with no cut and far less imposing competition is obviously not for McIlroy.

“I hope I'm still building on my legacy,” he said. “It’s very important to me. It means a lot, going back to history and tradition and putting your name on trophies that have the legends of the game on them. That's really cool, and that's something that money can't buy.

“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.”

McIlroy is not alone. Defending U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm offered his own rousing defense of the PGA Tour not long after McIlroy delivered his.

“I want to play against the best in the world in a format that's been going on for hundreds of years,” Rahm said. “That's what I want to see. Money is great, but when (his wife) Kelley and I started talking about it, we're like, will our lifestyle change if I got $400 million? No, it will not change one bit.

“Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I've made and live a very happy life and not play golf again. So I've never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I've always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that. There's meaning when you win the Memorial Championship. There's meaning when you win Arnold Palmer's event at Bay Hill.”

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Back in February, McIlroy declared LIV Golf “dead in the water” when players such as Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau announced they were committed to the PGA Tour. Johnson and DeChambeau have both since reneged on their word and dashed to the Saudi league.

“I guess I took a lot of players' statements at face value,” McIlroy said. “I guess that's what I got wrong. I took them at their word, and I was wrong.”

He said he is “disappointed” in the nearly 52-year-old Mickelson’s decision to escape to the Saudi tour, but understands that at his age, Mickelson has different priorities than a golfer in his 30s. He also believes that the LIV Tour “legitimatizes (Saudi Arabia’s) place in the world,” and said he understands the 9/11 families’ “concerns and frustrations with it all.”

In a few sentences, McIlroy said more about the very problematic Saudi connection with the new golf tour than Mickelson could muster in an entire press conference, meeting the moment in a way Mickelson simply could not.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US Open: Rory McIlroy won't back off on Saudi LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour