Rory Doesn't Know When He'll Be Comfortable Playing Before Fans Again

Rory McIlroy was asked on the eve of the WGC FedEx St Jude when he’ll be comfortable playing in front of fans again. The short version: not any time soon.

RORY McILROY: When would I feel comfortable when there's fans back on the golf course? I think I guess when there's less of a chance of people getting sick, I guess. And whether that's--you know, they discover more with the virus or there's different treatments, whether that's a vaccine or other treatments. So, I don't know. Again, like being out here, I feel pretty safe. We get tested multiple times a week, and inside the bubble I think we're pretty much not--obviously you can limit your exposure as much as you can. But yeah, it's hard. I don't know, I don't know. Whether it's a vaccination or whether it's something happens where there's a breakthrough and we know a little bit more about what's going on with the virus, but I probably can't give you a definitive answer about when I would be comfortable with crowds again.

Later in the interview McIlroy conceded he now understands the views of European players unwilling to travel for tournaments. This, after suggesting he would be leery of traveling to Europe or anywhere this fall. He had previously questioned some for an unwillingness to quarantine to be part of the PGA Tour’s restart.

And then regarding--like I--honestly, I don't know if I see myself going back to Europe this year. I don't know. I don't know if I want to travel, I don't know if I want to be exposed to more things and more people. So I don't know. I have no idea. I'm sort of taking it week by week. I've got my schedule planned up until the U.S. Open, which is obviously a couple weeks after the TOUR Championship, and then I honestly don't have any--I have no idea what I'm going to do after that.

And…

Q. Lee Westwood, Eddie Pepperell said they're not going to play the PGA. I'm just curious, do you sympathize with their plight at all? And if there had been a British Open and things were reversed, you had to go over there for just one event, would you have been willing to do that?

RORY McILROY: I understand their plight because I'm just after saying I don't know if I would travel in the fall and go and play some of these other events in Europe, but if it was a major championship, it would probably be different and I probably would go over and play it. But that's not to say what Lee and Eddie are doing isn't right, that they feel safer and they feel that their time is better spent at home and not exposing themself to more people and not having the chance of getting sick or getting someone else sick. So I completely understand where they're coming from, but as you said, if it was an Open Championship and I had the chance to go over and play, I would probably take the risk and go and play.