Rory McIlroy is known for being one of the most vocal supporters of the PGA Tour since its bitter rival LIV Golf started up. Thanks to his starring role in the new Netflix series Full Swing, we now know what the 33-year-old thinks of two people who joined the circuit.
Phil Mickelson, who has won six majors, and Patrick Reed, who won the Masters in 2018, are two of LIV Golf’s most well-known players. Both of them joined the Greg Norman-led circuit during the time the PGA Tour series was being filmed, so they were talked about behind the scenes.
Everything Has Led To This, the last episode, is about McIlroy’s attempts to win his fifth Major at the 150th Open and his win of the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship at East Lake last August. One of the best lines of the whole series was saved for Mickelson at the second place.
McIlroy is getting a massage and talking about the Super Bowl when the talk turns to Josh Allen, the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, and how much he loves the PGA Tour. A few seconds later, McIlroy says, “Yeah, but he likes Phil Mickelson.” After a few seconds of talking, McIlroy smiles and yells, he then makes a joke about how he hopes that line makes it.
McIlroy’s jab at Reed, this time on the range at East Lake, is much more subtle. Since LIV Golf can’t offer Official World Golf Ranking points right now, one way for LIV golfers to get them is to play on the Asian Tour. When they talk about Reed’s appearance on that tour, McIlroy says, “And dropped spots on the world rankings.” Beautiful!”
Reed fell out of the world’s top 50 for the first time since 2014 the month after the Tour Championship. He is now World No.60. Given McIlroy’s reaction (or lack thereof) to Reed before the Dubai Desert Classic last month, where he blanked him, it’s safe to say that the months since then haven’t done much to make McIlroy feel better about the American.
McIlroy is always honest when he talks to the media, but the behind-the-scenes footage gives a more natural look at his thoughts. But based on how he reacted when Mickelson and Reed were mentioned, it seems like his thoughts on LIV Golf are in line with how he acts when the media is looking at him.
