McIlroy, who started the day with a share of the lead with Tony Finau, scored 10 birdies in the round of eight below par to finish two shots away from the American in the 19 under and win the crown of the 21st PGA Tour. This is more than what Norman, the CEO of the split LIV series, has achieved in his career. “This is a day I will remember for a very, very long time,” McIlroy told CBS shortly after his victory at St George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto. “The twenty-first win of the PGA Tour, one bigger than anyone else – that gave me a little extra motivation today and I’m glad I did.” McIlroy, who finished with birds behind his back at 17 and 18, doubled his criticism in the press conference that followed. When the moderator presented the No. 8 in the world, saying that he had won a PGA Tour title for the 21st time, McIlroy intervened: “And one more than Norman.” McIlroy added: “I had [the] extra motivation for what is happening across the lake. The guy leading this tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour. I was tied to him and I wanted to get one in front of him. And I did. Well, it was very nice for me, a little bit of pride for that. “ He continued: “It is unbelievable to play with Tony [Finau] and JT [Justin Thomas, who came third] today, two of the top players in the world and everyone just plays like us. “I think after Covid I needed a complete recovery, to be a little more committed to the game again. I somehow understood what made me happy and that makes me happy “. Rory McIlroy with PGA tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who also made a splash in the split series on Sunday. Photo: Canadian Press / Shutterstock On Sunday he also saw PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan offer his first public thoughts on the split series since announcing he had suspended all PGA Tour members who joined. Monahan declined to say how long the break would last, but offered a scathing assessment of the series on a 12-minute CBS appearance during the Canadian Open. Describing LIV Golf as nothing more than a series of show games, Monahan said the real, pure competition was in the PGA Tour. “I would ask any player who has left or any player who would ever consider leaving: ‘Did you ever have to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?’ added Monahan. Monahan also suggested that the players who had joined the new tour were essentially redeeming the status given to them by the PGA Tour. When asked why players like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau could not play on both tours, he answered with a question of his own. “Why do we need them so much?” said Monahan. “These players have chosen to sign multi-year, lucrative contracts to play in a series of exhibition matches against the same players over and over again. “You look at that in relation to what we see here today.” One day after LIV Golf finished the 54-hole race with Charl Schwartzel winning $ 4.75 million ($ 4 million for his score, $ 750,000 as part of the winning team), the Canadian Open had huge crowds of thousands surrounding the 18th green as McIlroy and Finau finished their rounds. “It is a real and pure competition that creates the profiles and presences of the world’s greatest players,” Monahan said. “It simply came to our notice then. That’s what we’re doing”.
