WATCH: Rory McIlroy responds to Talor Gooch's 2024 Masters "asterisk" comment

Rory McIlroy has responded to the comments that Talor Gooch recently made about him theoretically winning the Masters while he and other LIV Golf players aren't in the field.

McIlroy used to be quite harsh towards the rebel tour and its players. He's softened his tune very much recently, and he took the high road in this instance.

McIlroy refused to blame Gooch, giving him the benefit of the doubt on the quote (via NUCLR Golf on X):

"The Masters is an invitational, and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite. I think, to be fair to Talor, if you read the entire question and the answer, it's not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview sort of led him down that path to say that, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit. He basically just agreed with what the interviewer asked."

He continued, noting that Joaquin Niemann got an invite after putting loads of effort in:

"But at the same time, Joaquin Niemann got an invite. I played with Joaquin down in Dubai a few weeks ago. He went down to Australia and won. He was in Oman last week. He's been chasing his tail around the world to try to get this either play his way into Augusta or show enough to warrant an invite and I don't know if the same can be said for Talor."

McIlroy doesn't believe it's a glaring omission to have Gooch not among the invitees to Augusta National, but he's also not willing to put too much blame on the LIV star for his comments, putting more emphasis on the interviewer rather than the interviewee.

Gooch is presumably upset about not making it in despite winning LIV Golf's points list last year as he is one of the tour's most notable players. However, as McIlroy pointed out, there are ways to secure a spot in the field, and it doesn't look as if Gooch pursued any of them.

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What did Talor Gooch say about Rory McIlroy's hypothetical Masters win?

With the Masters approaching rapidly (a little over one month away), Talor Gooch said that a potential win for Rory McIlroy would have to have an asterisk on it. The Irishman isn't necessarily guaranteed to win, but he needs it for his career Grand Slam and he hasn't won a major since 2014.

Talor Gooch wanted an invitation to the Masters 2024

Gooch said:

"If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there's just going to be an asterisk. It's just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there."

The 2023 points leader for LIV Golf also said that he's hopeful that the Major tournaments and OWGR will take a closer look at his tour in the future. Right now, OWGR doesn't give points to LIV events, which hurts them in Major qualifications even though they're not barred from competition.