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.
“I think the hard thing is there are legal precedents that have been set in America and here and that makes it very different. That’s the big thing. No-one likes lawyers – I certainly don’t – and, yeah, that’s a big part of the issue.
“I think there is a willingness there from all parties to try and get it to happen but you’ve got tonnes of lawyers in the middle of it.”
Over a year has passed since the PGA Tour and LIV Golf announced the creation of a new entity that would combine both their assets, as well as those of the DP World Tour.
But roughly 16 months on, little concrete process has been made amid failure to meet several deadlines, leaving many to question whether peace will be brought to the sport.
But McIlroy believes that a definitive answer will come by the end of 2024, though for now it is in the hands of the lawyers.
