Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

EVE MUIRHEAD: Rory McIlroy is using LIV Golf split to his advantage but he needs to back off if his game is affected by figurehead role

Rory McIlroy celebrates getting to world number one. Image: AP.
Rory McIlroy celebrates getting to world number one. Image: AP.

There is no shortage of athletes who have used adversity to inspire them.

John McEnroe springs to mind straight away.

It often looked as if he was waiting for a dodgy line call or a row with an umpire to help fire him up in a big match.

And, off the pitch, we’re forever reading about a ‘siege mentality’ in team sport when a football or rugby side will manufacture a feeling that the world is against them to circle the wagons and prove people wrong.

Maybe Gregor Townsend is trying that trick as we speak!

If I heard an opponent say something I didn’t like, I’d tuck it away for motivation purposes in my curling career.

And the same applied if I thought I’d been written off or something unfair had happened.

I do find the way in which Rory McIlroy has consciously decided to be figurehead for the pro-PGA Tour and anti-LIV Golf crusade really interesting.

This is a whole different level.

There’s no way he has contrived his feelings – Rory has always come across as a man of principle who isn’t afraid to speak out when he feels the situation demands it.

But this is a whole different level.

It must be emotionally draining at times and by his own admission friendships are being lost.

That’s what makes me think he’s realised that having a cause to fight for can benefit his golf.

He’s reached world number one and was unlucky not to become Open champion, all while taking on LIV on what has seemed a weekly basis.

And it was telling that when asked how long he has targeted staying there, McIlroy answered “332 weeks”, which was Greg Norman’s spell at the top of the golfing world.

He’s either consciously or sub-consciously using the split in the game to motivate himself.

Keep doing it as long as it’s a win-win, would be my take.

But the moment McIlroy feels the scales have tipped and all the LIV stuff is becoming a disruptive distraction rather than a helpful one, he should take a step back and let someone else pick up the baton.


Maybe I’m one of the lucky ones but I’ve always found the right balance when it has come to my family and their involvement in my career.

There was no way I’d ever want to put the two in separate boxes.

My dad has been the biggest influence on what I’ve achieved in curling, from the technique he set me up with to the values I carried through from the juniors into the professional side of the sport.

Having two brothers who are curlers was always a positive rather than the opposite.

But (with the Murrays being a notable exception) tennis seems to be a very different environment.

The excessive influence of Emma Raducanu’s family appears to have played a part in her latest coach quitting, despite the potential he sees in her.

Dmitry Tursunov is absolutely right that too many voices is something that should be avoided.

Emma’s family should take the message on board and make sure their daughter gets the proper player-coach relationship that all the top tennis stars need.

Conversation