Rory McIlroy calls SPOTY a 'popularity contest' and pokes jibe at Sergio Garcia

Defending Hero Dubai Desert Classic champion speaks out ahead of Rolex Series event

Rory McIlroy has tagged the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award as a “popularity contest” after revealing that he had “forgot” being nominated for the 2023 prize.

The Northern Irishman made the list for the main accolade in last month’s awards ceremony in Manchester after winning the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai title for a fifth time and also producing his best-ever Ryder Cup performance in Europe’s win in Rome.

Despite being in the UK a couple of days earlier to take in the English Premiership match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield, McIlroy decided not to attend the BBC ceremony and was the only nominee who did not speak on the night.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy talks to the media prior to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images.

Bidding to become the first golfer to win the award since Nick Faldo in 1989, the four-time major winner did not finish in the top three as top spot went to England goalkeeper Mary Earps.

Asked about the relevance of the Sports Personality of the Year as he prepared to defend his title in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic title at Emirates Golf Club, McIlroy admitted: “Actually, whenever the results were announced, I forgot I was nominated. So that's how much I think about it. It's a popularity contest. It's not what it once was.”

Would he consider turning if he made the list again by winning The Masters at some stage in the future to become just the sixth player to complete a career grand slam? “That's hypothetical,” he insisted. “Depends what my chances were of winning it, I guess.”

While acknowledging that lots of live golf is available on Sky Sports, McIlroy claimed it was no longer the be all and end all for the game to get terrestrial TV coverage. “I think legacy media is not what it once was,” he said. “Terrestrial TV, print media - no offence (laughing) - but we are transitioning into a different world and I think people want their content differently than they once did. They want things on their phone. They want things on their iPads. The consumer now compared to the consumer 20 years ago is just very, very different.”

In spelling out his “dream scenario” for golf recently as talks continue between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, McIlroy said he’d like to see LIV Golf become golf’s equivalent of the Indian Premier League in cricket.

That would mean the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit being limited to a couple of brief windows during the year, but the suggestion has been rebuked by Sergio Garcia, who has come out and said that the LIV players, including himself, “deserve more” in the new landscape being discussed.

In a remark that seemed to be made only partly in jest, McIlroy said: “Sergio feels he deserves a lot of things. It’s trying to align interests. I think right now it’s just very, very hard to align everyone’s interests in the game.”

A few days after partly letting victory slip from his grasp in the inaugural Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek, McIlroy is relishing a chance to land a record-breaking fourth title title triumph in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Echoing a view that has been expressed by lots of others in the field for the opening Rolex Series event of the new season, the defending champion said of the Majlis Course: “It’s the best shape I’ve seen it in quite a while. I think the course setup is wonderful. I think it's quite penal off the tee. It's quite penal when you miss your second shots and miss greens. The greens are starting to get firm already, The putting surfaces are perfect. It's very good.”