Rory McIlroy played a round with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan at the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
David Cannon/Getty Images
The PGA Tour/PIF/LIV Golf saga appeared to take a positive turn at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where key stakeholders from both sides played alongside each other at the golf course.
Was it a sign that the long negotiations would soon be over and the top professional golfers would reunite and team up again?
Not so fast, he says Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy is a new player, again an outlier in 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 Dunhill Links, which features a simultaneous pro-am, McIlroy played rounds with both PGA Tour commissioners Jay Monahan and the PIF governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
The four-time champion didn’t say much about the curious couple during the tournament, which is contested annually in St. Andrews’ Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
But after the tour, Scotsman caught up with McIlroy to get his thoughts on the matter.
In the interview, McIlroy expressed confidence that the Tour and PIF will reach an agreement for a PIF investment in PGA Tour Enterprises soon. But he also sowed doubts that any potential merger between the Tour and LIV Golf was imminent.
“I think by the end of the year, if the Public Investment Fund is going to invest in PGA Tour Enterprises … it doesn’t solve the problem of where we find ourselves in golf, schedule and everything,” McIlroy. said 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 for years to come, with only occasional events featuring players from both tours competing against each other. each other.
Rory McIlroy drives the par-4 green as the miffed pro lines up the putt
“I think all the tours are going to keep trucking and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future and I think the best we can hope for is a crossover between them,” McIlroy said. “Then maybe while that’s happening over that period of time, whether it’s a year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest of it.”
McIlroy also revealed that while there is positive momentum toward a deal on both sides, one thing in particular is standing in the way of a deal: lawyers.
“I think there’s a willingness on all sides to try to make it happen, but you’ve got thousands of lawyers in the middle of it,” McIlroy asserted.
As for speculation by some that Alfred Dunhill Links pairings would allow McIlroy, Monahan and Al-Rumayyan to make progress in negotiations, McIlroy dismissed that idea as well.
“Yeah, it was good to spend some time with all of them and talk a little bit about the situation, the events that are going on in the game,” McIlroy said, “But, in fairness, it probably wasn’t talked about as much as it would have been.” you thought.”
The two tournaments are indeed going into 2025 separately, with both releasing conflicting schedules.
of The first crossover event between PGA Tour and LIV players goes down this December, when McIlroy and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler take on American LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in a made-for-TV match in Las Vegas.
You can read Scotsman full interview with McIlroy here.
