Rory McIlroy and Kevin Kisner continue to share headlines this week. The Grand Slam winner tied for 42nd at the DP World Tour India Championship, yet that remains the least talked-about part of his week in Delhi. Instead, Kevin Kisner’s remarks about why Rory McIlroy and other stars travelled to India spread quickly across headlines and social media, and the debate has only sharpened since. Now, Kisner and his Fore Play co-hosts have sat down to address the controversy directly, explaining what he meant and what he isn’t taking back.
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The row started when Kisner, a four-time PGA Tour winner, questioned Rory’s comments about growing golf in India, suggesting that appearance fees and prize money were the real reasons behind his visit. McIlroy responded to the criticism after his final round, saying that getting paid and caring about the sport can both be true.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Foreplay Podcast, Kisner began by questioning the headlines surrounding his remarks and arguing that his comments had been taken out of context.
“Was it really an evisceration, though?” he asked, referring to the word used in headlines. “I feel like it’s more of every other media company in the world taking whatever could be controversial, putting their own little quotations around whatever my rant was, and then clipping it and putting it all over their social programs. If you actually listen to the whole rant, it’s basically like, yeah, I would go too.”
While it may seem that he is avoiding the point, Kisner goes on to make it again, clarifying what he was actually getting at.
“My point was just, you know, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, and Rory McIlroy don’t just suddenly show up in India on the DP World Tour. It just doesn’t happen. I mean, Rory doesn’t even show up to Harbour Town for 20 million bucks, pretty close to home. There’s a reason why these guys are going, and I don’t hate them for it. I just think it’s fascinating that nobody wants to be honest with the world, right? It’s like, yeah, I’m all for you growing the game too, Rory. I think it’s great that we get more people in India to play golf. But if it was zero dollars, you’re not showing up there. You didn’t show up the last 16 years. Why, suddenly, is India great?”
Kisner makes a few points here. First, he’s not claiming the players have no interest in growing the game. He argues that both motives can exist at the same time, but only one tends to be acknowledged publicly. He also makes it clear that he doesn’t hate McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, or Justin Rose for making the trip. In fact, he says he would do the same if he were in their position. His complaint comes down to two things: the players’ reluctance to acknowledge the financial incentive and the way his original comments were presented to McIlroy.
His co-host Frankie Borelli played the reporter’s question to McIlroy on the show and said he would have been upset by the question too if it had been presented that way. Through it all, Kisner’s stance remains unchanged: money is part of the reason for the trip, and the golf world should be more open about it.
For context, Rory McIlroy was in New Delhi for the second consecutive year for the DP World Tour India Championship. Earlier this year, the DP World Tour named him its global ambassador, and at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, he spoke about widening access to golf in India.
Discussing the same topic on the Fore Play Podcast, Kisner questioned whether tour pros were being completely honest about their reasons for participating. Co-host Riggs also argued that the trip was being presented as an act of altruism when that wasn’t the whole picture. Kisner made his point clear in his original comments.
“Yeah, that is such a dog [ __ ] comment, but I guess for the right price, we could all say the same comment. He doesn’t want to globally expand in India. He wants to get his 10 million bucks and go play in India… And they always seem to say the right thing while they’re over there. It’s like they, as part of your appearance fee, here’s your script for altruism. Um, and you need to mention these four lines in whatever interviews you do throughout the week, which is totally fine. I’d do it, too. And all of us on this podcast would.”
Soon after, a reporter put Kisner’s comments to McIlroy following his final round at the DP World Tour India Championship, suggesting that Kisner believed players weren’t interested in growing golf in India and were there only for the paycheck.
The reporter also pointed out that appearance fees are common in golf. McIlroy said he hadn’t seen the remarks and didn’t know why Kisner would comment on his presence in India before adding:
“Two things can be true at the same time. People can get paid to come and play at the tournament, but at the same time do it from a place of genuine interest of trying to bring the sport to another country, a developing country, a country where the middle class in India is larger than the whole population of the United States. It’s a huge market for golf.”
Beyond the controversy, McIlroy’s interest in growing the game in India has been a recurring theme. In January 2025, he pointed to the crowds Bryson DeChambeau drew at the International Series India and called the country a very important market for golf. When he committed to the inaugural India Championship, he said he had long wanted to visit and saw huge potential to grow the game there.
Meanwhile, the prize money at golf events in India has also grown rapidly. The Hero Indian Open, which dates back to 1964 and is the country’s longest-running annual international sporting event, offered $2 million in 2023, a record at the time. The purse increased to $2.25 million in 2024 and remained at that level in 2025. Then, in October 2025, the DP World Tour launched the India Championship at Delhi Golf Club with a $4 million prize purse, the largest ever for a golf event in India. It was also the Tour’s first visit to the club since 2016. Tommy Fleetwood won the inaugural edition, while McIlroy made his professional debut in India. This year’s edition retained the same overall prize purse and winner’s share.
McIlroy has also continued to speak warmly about Indian golf fans. Returning to Delhi this year, he said, “The golf fans in India were so welcoming, and the whole experience was truly memorable. So it’s a pleasure to be returning to Delhi in October.”
For his part, Kisner isn’t backing away from his comments. Instead, he has clarified his intent and reiterated that he would make the same trip if he were in the players’ position. Appearance fees are standard in professional golf, and neither side appears to dispute that. The disagreement is over how openly players acknowledge the financial incentive alongside their stated interest in growing the game.
What remains open to question is what Kisner keeps asking: how much of the trip is about the game, and how much is about the prize purse?
For now, Kisner and his co-hosts have made their position clear. McIlroy is yet to respond to their latest remarks, and whether he does remains to be seen. His next scheduled DP World Tour appearance is at the Abu Dhabi Championship, from November 5 to 8.