He’s a class act, a wonderful story and an excellent choice. My only quibble: He was part of the Warriors team that won the award just four years ago.
Still, if I had been consulted — which, remarkably enough, I wasn’t — I would have recommended someone else: Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy didn’t win a major championship this year, although he finished in the top 10 at all four: second at the Masters, eighth at the PGA Championship, tied for fifth at the U.S. Open and third at the British Open. He did win three times on the PGA Tour — including the Tour Championship despite its screwy format — and claimed the year-long titles on both the PGA Tour (for a third time) and the European tour (for a fourth time).
But that’s not why he should be sportsperson of the year. It’s because he became the conscience of his sport.
Golf is in the midst of a crisis, divided by the presence of a new circuit that is funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, which is so corrupt that it makes the choice of Qatar as host of the World Cup look like a blip.
There is absolutely no doubt that the money behind LIV Golf is blood money. There’s also absolutely no doubt that most golfers and those who have gone to work for LIV don’t really care. They point out — correctly — that there are plenty of other corrupt governments that are embraced by the sports world.
Qatar is hosting the World Cup. Russia recently hosted a World Cup and an Olympics. China, which is very much in business with the NBA, has hosted the Olympics twice since 2008. If Qatar, Russia and China can “sportswash,” why can’t the Saudis?
They can, which is why Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson, British Open champion Cameron Smith and 11 other major champions jumped to LIV for huge guaranteed money, some of it into the hundreds of millions. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s first recruit was Greg Norman, who was hired as LIV’s CEO and lead recruiter.
My friend David Feherty, about whom I have just finished a book, also jumped, becoming LIV’s lead analyst for millions. Feherty is different from most players in that he made no bones about why he joined the new circuit.
“Money,” he said. “… I hear, ‘Well, it’s to grow the game.’ Bull. … They paid me a lot of money.”
Most players who have jumped made the “grow the game” claim. The most important players who turned down LIV money — and have been adamant about why — are McIlroy and Tiger Woods.
Woods has been sportsperson of the year twice and is, for all intents and purposes, an emeritus superstar who played all of nine rounds in actual competition this year. He will turn 47 this month and remains a major voice in the game.
But McIlroy is the top-ranked player in the world. He has won four majors but none since 2014. He’s 33 — the same age Mickelson was when he won his first major and a year younger than Ben Hogan was when he won his first.
More important in 2022 was his willingness to speak up on behalf of the PGA Tour, both publicly and privately.
Last spring, when his good friend Sergio Garcia was being recruited by LIV, the two had a lengthy talk. Garcia’s mind was made up; he told McIlroy this was their chance to “finally get paid what we deserve.”
“Sergio, we’re golfers,” McIlroy answered. “We don’t deserve to be paid anything.”
McIlroy is a multi-multi-millionaire, and he has cashed in on his fame and success around the world. He doesn’t apologize for that. But unlike so many wealthy professional athletes, he understands that he doesn’t deserve any of the money he has made.
“I’m lucky that I’m good at a sport that allows me to make a lot of money,” he told me this spring. “That doesn’t mean I think I deserve it.”
McIlroy’s sense of the world was shaped differently than that of most of his colleagues. His dad, Gerry, was a bartender at Holywood Golf Club in a middle-class suburb of Belfast. His mom, Rosie, worked in a 3M plant as her only child was growing up, and both parents worked second and third jobs so they could afford to pay for Rory to travel when it became clear his talent as a golfer was undeniable.
Their son is honest and willing to admit mistakes. When he first qualified to play in the Ryder Cup in 2010, he told reporters he would be happy to play, but his goal in golf was to win major championships. The Ryder Cup, he said, was a nice exhibition.
“It took me about 15 minutes after I got to Wales [for the 2010 matches] to know I’d been wrong,” he said years later. “… Looking back, what I said initially was selfish. I’m an only child, and since I was a kid, my golf was the most important thing in my world. I had to readjust my thinking to understand that wasn’t true.”
He smiled. “Can you imagine that, a golfer being selfish? Had to be a first.”
This year, he dueled publicly with Norman and talked with many of his fellow golfers about why staying with the PGA Tour is important. Many, like Garcia, haven’t listened. That hasn’t stopped McIlroy from telling them and the public what he thinks. Recently, he said Norman needs to “exit stage left” before the PGA Tour and LIV can sit down and negotiate the peace. Woods has said the same thing, and Norman has responded by saying he pays no attention to what either says.
Eventually, with or without Norman, there will be some sort of agreement between LIV and the golf establishment. The Saudis are never going to run out of money, and they are continuing to recruit big names.
Woods still has a voice but tends to be careful with what he says publicly. McIlroy is the No. 1 player in the world and never holds back publicly — and he will still be onstage during major championships in the future.
McIlroy had a great 2022 on the golf course, though not a perfect one. He had a greater year — and a more important one — off the golf course.
For me, he’s the sportsperson of the year.
