McIlroy Says His Press Conference Following PGA Tour-LIV Golf Alliance Was ‘Most Uncomfortable I Felt in Last 12 Months’
Rory McIlroy wants to get back to playing golf. It’s already been a long week.
But in his role as a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, focusing solely on golf has been difficult. And as much as he tries, it’s been difficult to avoid questions about the business of the PGA Tour, especially in light of this week’s shocking developments that saw the PGA Tour announce an agreement to partner with the DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which funds LIV Golf.
After his first round at the RBC Canadian Open, where McIlroy shot 71 in defense of his title, it was inevitable more questions would come his way.
“The most uncomfortable I felt in the last 12 months was my press conference (Wednesday),’’ said McIlroy, who learned of the agreement only hours before it was announced on Tuesday and found himself in the awkward position of trying to understand something he’d been opposed to for so long.
“I wouldn’t say I viewed the PGA Tour through that altruism lens per se,’’ McIlroy said Thursday. “I mean, at the end of the day, this is business and my job is playing golf at the end of the day. So the more that I can focus on that and focus on the birdies and the bogeys instead of the stuff that's happened in the boardroom I'll be much happier.’’
McIlroy was then asked about the man who is the governor of the Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who will now have a seat on the PGA Tour Policy board and will be chairman of the new for-profit venture that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour will- partner with the PIF.
“I know Yasir,’’ McIlroy said. “I played a pro-am with Yasir in Dubai a couple of years ago. And then I’ve seen him, I was with him at a Formula 1 race randomly a couple of years ago in Austin.
“So he's obviously been in and around the golf world and obviously the wider sports world. So he's sort of runs in the same circles as a lot of people I know.’’
In terms of golf, Al-Rumayyan is “an avid golfer,’’ McIlroy said. “I think he really does like the game of golf. He likes playing it. He's a very impressive man. Harvard Business School. Runs 7 or 800 billion worth of dollars and invested in a ton of different companies. He's a very smart, impressive man.’’
The Public Investment Fund is said to be worth $650 billion. Al-Rumayyan is also governor of Newcastle United, a Premier League football club.