Rory McIlroy has given a new update on a potentially historic golf merger.
Rory McIlroy has explained that people who “no-one likes” are the ones holding up a potential merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.
McIlroy had been one of the more vocal critics when the possibility of the two circuits merging was first broached, but that stance has since softened and he has played a role in the two parties coming to the table and ending golf’s civil war.
He initially called the Saudi-backed league a “money grab” and has remained on the PGA Tour, aligned with Tiger Woods, but had a change of heart and since insisted that his previous comments were harsh.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan recently played a round together at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
But despite a rare public appearance together, which many fans felt was a hint that talks were progressing to a conclusion, McIlroy illustrated that the fate of a new ‘World Tour’ is ultimately in the frustrating hands of lawyers.
“I think by year’s end, whether the Public Investment Fund will invest in PGA Tour Enterprises, but that doesn’t solve the problem of where we find ourselves in golf, the schedule and everything,” McIlroy told BBC Northern Ireland.
“I mean, I’d say we’ll know by the end of the year whether that’s a possibility or not, but I think all tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future.
“I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them and then maybe while that is happening over that period of time, whether it be one year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest.