Rory McIlroy Softens Stance on LIV Golf, Says It Has 'Exposed the PGA Tour's Flaws'
Rory McIlroy said on a podcast that he’s been too judgmental of players who have gone to LIV Golf and that the controversial league has "exposed the PGA Tour’s flaws."
In a wide-ranging interview that covered Jon Rahm’s departure for LIV, the angst among players who left for LIV and those who stayed on the PGA Tour and his own meeting late in 2022 with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, McIlroy told the “Stick to Football" podcast that he’s never received an offer from LIV Golf and that "I wouldn’t say that I’ve lost the fight against LIV, but I’ve just accepted the fact that this is part of our sport now."
McIlroy, who is skipping the season-opening Sentry on the PGA Tour this week but begins his 2024 campaign next week at the DP World Tour’s Dubai Invitational, has been a huge critic of LIV Golf.
After years of criticizing LIV Golf, Rory McIlroy said "it's part of our sport now" in an interview.
Chris Day/USA TODAY Network
The PGA Tour is in the midst of discussions with the DP World Tour and the PIF—which funds LIV Golf—that would bring their commercial assets together to form a new for-profit company being called PGA Tour Enterprises. In a memo to players on Sunday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said those talks are being extended.
In his role as a player member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, McIlroy along with Tiger Woods helped the Tour devise a plan that would put in place incentives to stick with the PGA Tour, including a massive Player Impact Program fund as well as the signature event series of $20 million tournaments for the top players.
"I think what LIV has done, it’s exposed the flaws in the system of what golf has, because we’re all supposed to be independent contractors and we can pick and choose what tournaments we want to play," he said. "But I think what LIV and the Saudis have exposed is that you’re asking for millions of dollars to sponsor these events, and you’re not able to guarantee to the sponsors that the players are going to show up. I can’t believe the PGA Tour has done so well for so long."
Part of the selling point of LIV Golf and its first iteration, the Premier Golf League, was to bring the top players together and guarantee the fields. That is also what the signature events on the PGA Tour are attempting to do.
But McIlroy laments the divided game that has been the result to this point with the sides working on an agreement that has yet to be finalized.
"It’s created a massive upheaval in professional golf which is sad to see," McIlroy said. "Some people have taken one side and some people have taken another, and golf is a small enough sport, it’s not like football where you’ve got billions of fans, so if you start dividing the eyeballs in professional golf, it’s not good for anyone."
He added that Saudi Arabia is spending enormous sums of money in all sports and that "it put the PGA Tour in a position where they had to spend a lot of money that put them on a path that was unsustainable and now you’re seeing some sponsors are pulling out because the Tour is asking for so much money and the sponsors can’t afford it—they’re asking sponsors to pay $20-$25 million to sponsor an event but they’re not seeing the value in it as they can’t guarantee the top 50 guys will be playing, so they won’t give them the money."
A recent example is Wells Fargo’s decision to step away from the Charlotte tournament after 2024. Already a popular event, it went from a purse of approximately $9 million in 2022 to $20 million last year and the same this year as a signature event.
The PGA Tour has told local organizing groups of its tournaments that starting in 2025 they will be expected to contribute a share of their income derived from local sponsorships, hospitality, ticket sales, pro-am sales, merchandise, etc., to the tournament purse. That has been traditionally handled by the title sponsor and the PGA Tour via its television rights fees.
McIlroy said the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, nonetheless, have given players a tremendous platform in their careers. And while he doesn’t have an issue with anyone who has made the move to LIV, it’s bothersome to hear some of the negativity after they’ve left.
"I don’t begrudge anyone for going and taking the money and doing something different, but don’t try to burn the place down on your way out," he said. “That is my attitude towards it because some people are happy playing in the existing structure and that’s totally fine, too. But I think it’s just created this division that will hopefully stop soon because I think it’s the best thing for golf too."
McIlroy said the announcement of the June 6 "framework agreement" has "legitimized what LIV was trying to do, which then made it easier for guys to jump over." He called Rahm’s decision "a smart business move" and "I think he sees that things will come back together and he’s in a lucky position."
At the season-ending DP World Tour event in Dubai in 2022, McIlroy said he met Al Rumayyan and said "what do you want?" and "we had a good chat."
"When I got back to America at the start of 2023, I was on the board of the PGA Tour and told them that someone must talk to this guy," McIlroy said. "There was a plan put in place that one of the board members would try and develop a relationship with him to see if we could try and figure something out and all move forward together. I knew there were certain conversations being had, but I didn’t know it would happen so quickly. Then on June 6, the framework was announced—a lot of players were angered by it because they were completely blindsided by it."
McIlroy said he was aware that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board members Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy, were having conversations. "It happened very quickly," he said. “The PGA Tour were telling everyone that these are the bad guys coming to take over our Tour, and then suddenly, two months later, the did a deal with them!"