Rory McIlroy, and ‘the next step’ if a Tour-Saudi deal doesn’t happen  

Rory McIlroy says if a funding deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund doesn’t happen soon, the PIF will look at “alternative options.”

What those options would be was unclear as the Tour and PIF continue to negotiate, 14 months after the sides agreed to do so. McIlroy was speaking after Thursday’s play at the Tour’s season-ending event, the Tour Championship. 

His suggestion came following this question from a reporter:

“Do you think that if it doesn’t happen soon, something doesn’t happen soon, we run the risk of — knowing that it’s not that easy to make this all happen, that 2026 is going to pass us by?”

That drew this response from McIlroy:

“Yeah, I think if it doesn’t happen soon, then honestly, I think PIF and the Saudis are going to have to look at alternative options, right? I think that’s probably the — I’d say that’s the next step in all this if something doesn’t get done.”

Could that mean some sort of renegotiation? Perhaps. Could that mean that the PIF and the Tour go their own ways? Perhaps. Currently, the PIF is the primary backer of LIV Golf, which is nearing the end of its third season, and has been battling the Tour for players and prestige since its inception. 

There’d been optimism, though, that pro golf’s division would reach a resolution last June, when the Tour and PIF agreed to negotiate, but in the months since then, details have been scant — and in January, the Tour agreed to another significant funding deal, with a group primarily made up of sports owners. Wednesday, in a press conference, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said that the Tour and PIF didn’t have a deadline, and that a Tour-PIF agreement was an “enhanced” priority. 

“It’s stronger,” Monahan said. “That’s a direct result of dialogue and conversation and really starting to talk about the future, future product vision and where we can take our sport.

“I think when you get into productive conversations, that enhances the likelihood of positive outcomes, and that enhances the spirit of those very conversations. I think that’s where things stand.”

Thursday, after his Tour Championship first round, McIlroy was also asked if he was frustrated by the negotiations “taking this long.” McIlroy has previously been vocal on the battle between LIV Golf and the Tour, along with the proposed deal, and he’s a member of the Tour’s “transaction committee,” which is helping spearhead the Tour’s side to the negotiations.  

“Yeah, of course,” McIlroy said in response to the question. “I think anyone that cares about golf, I think has to be frustrated. I think anyone that cares about the PGA Tour has to be frustrated because we’re — we, the royal we — we’re not putting forward the absolute best product that we can because — I get the argument that these guys left and that was their choice and whatever.

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“I just think that it’s gone on long enough. We’ve got to try to — I mean, I think everyone is trying to find a solution. It’s just a solution is hard to get to.

“I go back to — even though I was on the wrong side of things, like the U.S. Open with Bryson and I [LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau], you’re only really going to get that four times a year at most. I think the game of golf deserves having those sort of things happen more than just four times a year.”

Earlier this week, in an interview with GOLF’s Dylan Dethier (you can read the story here), McIlroy voiced similar thoughts. 

“More of the same, I guess,” he said, when asked for a summation of the pro golf year. “I thought there would have been more progress made, which is unfortunate. I think at this point, everyone’s just getting bored of it, just getting tired of it. It’s just become a bit of a cloud over golf. But a very niche cloud, you know?

“I wish more would have been done, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of willingness from some people to try to fix it.”

McIlroy also told Dethier that reunification brings with it a higher ceiling, and he noted DeChambeau and the U.S. Open, where McIlroy finished runner-up as part of a memorable final round.

“[LIV] have a lot of the personalities, you know,” McIlroy said. “The PGA Tour, I mean, we’re here trying to create the best product. You need villains.

“Otherwise it can get flat.”