Rory McIlroy has given Talor Gooch the "benefit of the doubt" over his claims that a Masters win would come with an 'asterisk' this year - but also stuck the knife into the LIV Golfer over his own snub from Augusta.
Gooch finished top of LIV Golf's Order of Merit last year, finishing ahead of Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson.
He won three events on the Saudi-backed tour in Adelaide, Singapore and Andalucia.
But with LIV Golf still not recognised by the Official World Golf Rankings system, he has fallen down the rankings to leave him needing an invite to The Masters.
Rory McIlroy has hit back at Talor Gooch
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He's not the only golfer to have made the switch to LIV and to see his ranking plummet, ultimately making it tough for him to qualify for the majors.
Gooch felt not having all of the world's best players in the field at this year's Masters cheapened the end result and took a shot at McIlroy in the process.
If McIlroy went on to win and become just the sixth male golfer to claim a Career Grand Slam, Gooch claimed it would need to come with an "asterisk".
His comments caused a stir in the world of golf with six-time PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate asking what Gooch "has ever done" in the sport.
McIlroy has now spoken out for the first time on Gooch's controversial comments and didn't appear too upset with his rival.
However, the four-time major champion had a little dig at Gooch by using Joaquin Niemann as an example of how he could have tried to qualify for the Masters.
"The Masters is an invitational and they'll invite whoever they think warrants an invite," McIlroy said.
"I think to be fair to Talor, if you read the question and then the answer - it's not as if he just came out with that.
Talor Gooch has caused a stir with his take
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"I feel like whoever did the interview 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 but at the same time Joaquin Niemann got an invite.
"I played with Joaquin in Dubai a few weeks ago and he went down to Australia and won.
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"He was in Oman last week. He's been chasing his tail around the world to try and play his way into Augusta or show enough form to warrant an invite.
"I don't know if the same can be said for Talor."
