Rory McIlroy twists knife in LIV Golf after defending RBC Canadian Open title

Rory McIlroy has been championing the PGA Tour all week amid the LIV Golf debut and it’s fitting he punctuated that with a win at the RBC Canadian Open.

There should’ve been a celebration of golf north of the United States border for the entire week. Instead, the return to the RBC Canadian Open for the first time since 2019 was clouded by the inauspicious drama created by the first LIV Golf event in London coupled with the still-ongoing defections by the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed.

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around outside of Toronto, though, it was hard not to be taken aback by the contrast between a standard PGA Tour stop and the inaugural LIV Golf event. Whereas the Canadian fans were raucous in support of Rory McIlroy firing off a stellar final-round 62 to win the event in back-to-back tries, Charl Schwartzel was before a modest, tame crowd that seemingly could take or leave anyone in the field winning the tournament.

In the simplest terms, McIlroy’s victory had a gravitas that the $3 million difference in winner’s share between him and Schwartzel can’t measure. One mattered; the other was an exhibition paid (handsomely) for by a murderous regime.

And when he was interviewed by CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner after his victory, McIlroy continued his continued stance as a defender and champion — no pun intended — of the PGA Tour while not missing another opportunity to shade LIV Golf, Greg Norman in particular.

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Rory McIlroy wins RBC Canadian Open, twisting the knife in LIV Golf

Much to my shock, the LIV Golf event in London had its merits, particularly from a broadcast perspective. Not being inundated with commercials and sponsored segments was enjoyable to watch as a golf fan. At the same time, though, Sunday’s final round at the RBC Canadian Open was a reminder of everything wrong with the Saudi-backed upstart.

A final-round grouping of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau playing in a national open with a young rising star like Sam Burns lurking and a veteran such as Justin Rose on 59-Watch is something that LIV Golf will never have.

Sure, there might be tournaments in which Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau and even a Phil Mickelson are occupying the top spots on the leaderboard instead of the hodgepodge of Schwartzel, Hennie Du Plessis, Branden Grace and Peter Uihlein. But even when that transpires, it’s still just money they’re playing for. And as extravagant as the numbers are, sports fans don’t tune in to see players make a lot of money.

They tune in for the sport and the underlying meaning of it all. Even if (or when) LIV Golf is getting OWGR points in the field, the stakes won’t be nearly the same in terms of legacy, in terms of longstanding impact. To anyone watching, it’ll still exude the aura of guys who sold out for the cash.

And that’s what makes McIlroy’s victory even sweeter than it otherwise would be. In a vacuum, seeing a player of his standing and caliber win for the 21st time the week before the U.S. Open and a month out from The Open Championship is always going to be fun, especially with the peers that he outlasted to do so. But to see one of the game’s unquestioned biggest stars pull off that feat in the face of LIV Golf’s debut when he’s been so outspoken against the break-off league speaks volumes.

It’s truly an unprecedented time in the golfing world and, indubitably, the PGA Tour has its flaws that need to be sorted. But there’s not a reasonable soul on the planet who could watch the London event and then tune in for Sunday’s magical final round in Canada and not see the drastic difference between the two. And Rory McIlroy is the perfect champion to highlight that.

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