Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau are not optimistic about the PGA Tour-LIV deal

It’s been more than two years since the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with LIV Golf, but pro golf’s reunion still seems a long way off, according to stars on both sides of the aisle.

In a conversation with CNBC CEO Council ForumRory McIlroy, who has been a big supporter of golf’s return, was not optimistic about the state of a deal between the two sides.

“I think for golf in general it would be better if there was unification,” McIlroy said. “But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s just going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”

Bryson DeChambeau also doesn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. The two-time US Open champion believes the two sides are entrenched and it will take time to make a real move to get the game back together.

“Man, I wish something big would happen, but I don’t think it’s going to happen in the near future. I think there’s too much desire on both sides and not enough on the other side,” DeChambeau said in one. recent interview with FOX News.

“We’re too far apart on a lot of things. It’s going to take some time, but ultimately, I think the game of golf is going to grow internationally.”

In February, McIlroy pleaded with players on both sides of the divide put aside their differences and realize that everyone has benefited financially from the fracture and now it’s time to put the game back together.

“Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or left, we all benefited from it,” McIlroy said at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. “I’ve been on the record saying this a lot: We’re playing for a $20 million prize pool this week. This would never have happened if LIV hadn’t come along. I think everyone has to get over it, and we all have to say, OK, this is the starting point and we move forward. We don’t look back. We don’t see how it happened, but how the past was. Everyone comes back together and moves forward, that’s the thing. better for everyone.

“If people are hurt or their feelings are hurt because guys went or whatever, like, who cares? Let’s move forward together and try to get this thing going again and do what’s best for the game.”

McIlroy’s plea to unify the game came with a sensible reminder that bringing back players who left for LIV would benefit them financially in the long run. After Strategic Sports Group invested $1.5 billion in newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises last January, players were awarded equity grants in the business that come with an eight-year vesting period. As McIlroy noted, if the PGA Tour has all the best players in the world, the value of the business and their stock will increase.

“Like us, they all have equity in this tournament,” McIlroy said. “Having Bryson DeChambeau back and playing in this tournament is great.”

When LIV first arrived on the scene and disrupted the professional game, McIlroy was the leading voice in the PGA Tour’s battle against the Saudi-backed league. While McIlroy still believes the LIV show was bad for the health of the pro game, he sees everyone benefiting from the break-up and pro golf cannot continue in its broken state.

“I didn’t feel that way at first because of the fracture,” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t good for the game. It wasn’t good for the overall game. It wasn’t good for either tournament, I didn’t think. I think we’re both kind of like that’s been great for majors. We all come together at majors and that’s been a great thing, but for both tournaments, it’s inconsistent.”

In February, it appeared as if the two sides were nearing an agreement, but the tone changed in Marchand things have been quiet ever since.

Since then, LIV Golf has reapplied for official World Golf Ranking points, made the change to go 72 holes and added a new qualifying route with a Q-School twist.

of go through 72 holes it was made with the coveted OWGR spots in mind, but left McIlroy scratching his head.

“I think it’s a special move because I think they could have got ranking points with three rounds,” McIlroy said at the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this month. “I don’t think three rounds versus four rounds was what was holding them back.

“It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we’ve all been doing. It brings them back to not really being a disruptor and kind of falling more in line with what everybody else is doing. But if that’s what they felt they had to do to get ranking points, I think that’s what they had to do.”

LIV’s changes signal that the breakaway league is full steam ahead under new CEO Scott O’Neil and doesn’t plan to go anywhere.

Neither McIlroy nor DeChambeau see traction in golf’s grand plan to reunite, but DeChambeau hopes that, in time, the game will eventually come back together.

“I’m not going to speak for anybody, but I think there will be improvements to the game over time,” DeChambeau told FOX News. “It’s a positive disruption and it will take time to let the water settle and make a perfect scenario where we all come back together.

“Ultimately, I think it will be good for the game over time.”

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