Rory McIlroy says golf will be relevant for just four weeks a year if it continues down the path it is on where its biggest stars are playing on competing tours.
It's after Jon Rahm's LIV Golf move was confirmed, with the Spaniard departing the PGA Tour and leaving for the Saudi-backed circuit amid negotiations between the PGA/DP World Tours and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
It leaves the PGA Tour weakened without the World No.3 and a player who won four times this year including his second Major title at The Masters.
Rahm joins a tour featuring the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson as the divide in men's professional golf appears to have widened where the biggest names are spread across LIV and the PGA Tour.
Four-time Major champion Rory McIlroy knows that is a bad thing for the sport.
McIlroy, who has been one of the strongest proponents of the PGA Tour and public critics of rival LIV Golf, says he wants to "forget about what's happened in the past" and "all move forward together" in an interview with Sky Sports' Jamie Weir.
"My fear is that we continue down this path where we have competing tours, and it divides the eyeballs that are on the game, some people like LIV, the majority of people like PGA Tour," McIlroy told Sky Sports.
"But if LIV start to take a few players each and every year, it's really going to be divided. And that's no good for anyone, you're basically cannibalising yourself as a sport.
"Sort of the same as what boxing has done with all the different organizations and a few other sports as well. So to me having all the best golfers under the one umbrella is the best way forward, because I think that's really what the public wants."
The PGA and DP World Tours have until 31st December to agree a deal with the PIF, which backs LIV Golf, and McIlroy is hopeful that the competing tours can "let bygones be bygones" and move forward together as one.
"My fear is, and the Majors are already so big, if we keep going down this path, all the best players are only gonna get together four times a year," he said.
"So that means golf is only going to be relevant four times a year, and that's good for no one in the game.
"That's my feeling of it. We need to get everyone back together and try to forget about what's happened in the past, let bygones be bygones and we all move forward together, and I think that's what's going to be the best thing for the professional game."
As we wait for a seismic announcement which may or may not come imminently, this is Rory on his fears for where professional golf is headed pic.twitter.com/yA0HTZn4dgDecember 7, 2023
In the same interview with Weir, McIlroy said the Ryder Cup rules need to be rewritten to ensure Rahm continues to play for Team Europe.
Despite McIlroy previously saying he felt like a "sacrificial lamb" after the shock merger news on June 6, he has stated his hopes that PIF will be involved with the PGA Tour.
“The way I’ve looked at it is if the PIF are really interested in golf and they want to get in the system, at least if we provide them with a pathway to play within the system where they are not taking over the sport," McIlroy told Off The Ball's Golf Weekly podcast in September.
“It neutralises any threat of LIV becoming something that it hopefully shouldn’t become. And they play within the boundaries that are set within our sport, and we all go from there."
He reiterated those comments last month.
"Obviously, there’s been other suitors that have been involved and offering their services and their help. But hopefully, when this is all said and done, I sincerely hope that the PIF are involved and we can bring the game of golf back together," he said.
