Rory McIlroy has once again spoken clearly, his usual clarity, about the significant rift in professional golf following the emergence of LIV Golf. The Northern Irishman, one of the most influential voices on the PGA Tour throughout this process, expressed support for a kind of amnesty for the players who left for LIV Golf if the ultimate goal is to rebuild the sport’s unity and strengthen the tour.
“I think the players who went to LIV Golf have already faced the consequences”
McIlroy made these comments on the podcast The Overlap, where he acknowledged that he might have been too harsh on those who took the Saudi path and argued that, by now, the punishment has been enough… especially in terms of reputation.
These were his words, verbatim:
“I don’t like what LIV has done to our sport because it has created this huge fracture. The last time on this podcast, I might have been too critical of the guys who left, because not everyone is in the same position as me. If you’re offered double the money to do the same job, it’s quite hard to say no,” he explained.
Be that as it may, Rory still doesn’t find the Saudi league appealing. “I think the problem with LIV is that it hasn’t really connected with people. I think it has some good elements… I’ve watched a bit and just don’t… maybe I’m too much of a traditionalist to understand it, but it doesn’t seem to have anything,” he pointed out.
The Northern Irish golfer understands that the rift created by the PIF and LIV Golf has only served to line the pockets of a few. “They came into golf saying: ‘we’re going to be different, we’re going to be this, we’re going to be that.’ Even the fact that they’ve now moved from 54 holes to 72 holes to get world ranking points… it’s like you’re doing the same as everyone else. So, what’s different? Apart from the money.”
McIlroy went a step further when discussing the future of the project and the cost it might have for LIV to maintain its momentum if it doesn’t manage to captivate the general public. And there he linked it to the idea of reunification: if the plan doesn’t work as expected, how long can it be sustained?
“I don’t know, but if LIV isn’t capturing the imagination and they’ve spent so much money on this project and it’s not generating a return, I don’t know how much longer they can sustain it.”
In that scenario, Rory insisted that if the return of figures like Bryson DeChambeau or Brooks Koepka made the PGA Tour stronger, he wouldn’t stand in the way. However, he clarified that it’s not an individual decision and that the final word belongs to the tour’s members as a whole. “I think those who left have already paid the consequences. They’ve made money, but they’ve paid their price in terms of reputation and some of the things they’ve lost by going there… If Bryson DeChambeau returning, and other players, made the Tour as a whole stronger, I would be fine with it. But it’s not just up to me and I’m aware that not everyone is in my situation. It would be a decision that the PGA Tour members would have to make collectively.”
As things stand, McIlroy doesn’t change his criticism of LIV’s impact (“a huge fracture”), but he does open the door wide to reconciliation. Amnesty and reconciliation. However, for golf to become a unified block again, someone will have to make peace. Perhaps this is the hardest part of all.
