Rory McIlroy, the leading voice against Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf, which has caused so much uproar in golf, said on Wednesday he now feels like a “sacrificial lamb” after the PGA Tour became a partner in giant wealth fund Saudi Arabia had become.
It was McIlroy who last August helped chair a players-only meeting that redesigned the PGA Tour to stave off LIV Golf’s challenge. He was the tour’s loudest critic and a member of the policy board. And he was among the last to hear the news shortly before it became known.
“It’s hard for me not to sit up here and kind of feel like a sacrificial lamb and like I gave myself out there and that’s what happened,” McIlroy said at the RBC Canadian Open, where he is a two-time winner defending champion.
“If I withdraw from the situation one more time, I see that this is better for the game of golf. There’s no denying that,” he said, “but for me as an individual, it’s just necessary for conversations to happen.”
McIlroy attended Tuesday afternoon’s players’ briefing where PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan faced severe criticism from members who questioned why the Tour was taking monies from the Public Investment Fund and why they weren’t informed.
But the four-time major champion was also resigned that Saudi Arabia would continue to invest in golf and that turning an enemy into a minority investor would help in the long run.
“I see what has happened in other sports. I see what’s happened in other companies,” he said. “It’s very hard to keep up with people who have more money than everyone else. Again, if they want to put that money into golf, why don’t we partner with them and make sure it’s done the right way? And that’s kind of my head.
McIlroy opposed the idea of merging the PGA Tour with LIV Golf. The future of LIV Golf is still unclear, the rival league that Greg Norman runs and which paid contract bounty of $100 million or more to attract players and then $25 million to 48-man fields with no cut over 54 offered holes.
The agreement, which has not yet been finalised, provides for the PGA Tour, European Tour and Public Investment Fund to combine commercial entities. One of PIF’s businesses is LIV Golf, which will be essentially under the control of the new company, which is yet to be named.
“I still hate LIV — I hate LIV,” McIlroy said. “I hope it goes away. And I would fully expect that. And I think that’s the difference.”
Monahan is the CEO of the new company. Yasir al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, will be the chairman. That board also includes Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy, the two PGA Tour board members who brought Monahan and al-Rumayyan together.
“So technically, anyone involved with LIV right now would answer Jay,” McIlroy said.
Sports Illustrated reported that Norman, LIV’s commissioner and CEO, held a 30-minute conference call with employees Wednesday morning to reassure them that LIV was alive and well.
Quoting an unidentified person on the call, it quoted Norman as saying, “The rooster is now wide open to commercial sponsorships, blue chip companies and television broadcasters.” LIV is and will remain a separate company. Our business model will not change. We changed history and we’re not going anywhere.”
Monahan took to the Golf Channel ahead of the Canadian Open and called the agreement “a great day, something that will stand the test of time”.
But he conceded that “the suddenness comes as a shock to members,” which he says is a setback that can only be healed by talking to players and explaining the new direction.
“I don’t expect everyone to get it right away,” Monahan said.
McIlroy said he felt the future of the tour was brighter overall. The key point going forward is how the tour handles the return of players who have defected to LIV Golf – eleven of whom, including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, have sued the tour for antitrust violations.
These claims are dismissed under the agreement.
“That’s where the anger comes from. And I understand that,” McIlroy said. “Action must still have consequences. The people who left the PGA Tour did irreparable harm to that Tour and filed lawsuits against it. We can’t just welcome them back to us. That will not happen.
“I think the only thing Jay wanted to say yesterday was, ‘Guys, we’re not just going to bring these guys back and pretend nothing happened.'”
The split has cost McIlroy longstanding friendships, including with Sergio Garcia. He said all he wanted was to protect the future of the PGA Tour and he hopes this agreement will ensure that.
McIlroy said LIV Golf never made him an offer because he knew from the start he was going nowhere.
“Like it or not, the PIF would continue to spend money on golf. At least now the PGA Tour controls how that money is spent,” he said. “When you think of one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, would you rather have it as a partner or an enemy? At the end of the day, money matters and you would rather have them as a partner.”
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