The PGA Tour/PIF/LIV Golf saga seemed to take a positive turn at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where major stakeholders from both sides played alongside each other at the home of golf.
Was it a sign that the long-running negotiations would soon come to an end and pro golf’s best players would reunite and tee it up together once again?
Not so fast, says Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy is an on-again, off-again player in the negotiations between the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which runs LIV Golf, after initially being a vocal critic of LIV Golf and its financiers.
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At the Dunhill Links, which features a concurrent pro-am, McIlroy played rounds with both PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
The four-time champion didn’t say much about the curious pairings during the tournament, which is contested annually at St. Andrews’ Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
But following the tournament, The Scotsman caught up with McIlroy to get his thoughts on the matter.
In the interview, McIlroy did express confidence in the Tour and PIF coming to an agreement on a PIF investment in PGA Tour Enterprises soon. But he also sowed doubt that any potential merger between the Tour and LIV Golf was imminent.
“I think by year’s end, whether the Public Investment Fund will invest in PGA Tour Enterprises… that doesn’t solve the problem of where we find ourselves in golf, the schedule and everything,” McIlroy told The Scotsman.
He went on to explain that he thinks the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, and the star players split between them, will continue on their own paths for years, with only occasional events featuring players from both tours competing against each other.
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“I think all tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future and I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them,” McIlroy said. “Then maybe while that is happening over that period of time, whether it be one year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest.”
McIlroy also revealed that while there is positive momentum toward a deal on both sides, one thing in particular is getting in the way of an agreement: lawyers.
“I think there is a willingness there from all parties to try and get it to happen but you’ve got tons of lawyers in the middle of it,” McIlroy claimed.
As far as speculation by some that the Alfred Dunhill Links pairings would allow McIlroy, Monahan and Al-Rumayyan to make headway on the negotiations, McIlroy dismissed that idea as well.
“Yeah, it was good to spend some time with all of them and sort of talk a little bit about the situation, the goings on in the game,” McIlroy said, “But, in fairness, it probably wasn’t as much talk about it as you would have thought.”
