NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — There was time not long ago when Rory McIroy was firmly in favor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund investing in the PGA Tour.
That was the tact he hoped Tour leadership would take in the months following the June 6, 2023 “framework agreement” that would lead to the Saudi Arabian financial backer of LIV Golf, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), become a partner.
Events of recent weeks, however, have changed considerably, with the PIF announcing that it would no longer fund the LIV Golf League beyond this year.
And it is fair to wonder how that might have altered any possible deal with the PGA Tour, which never occurred.
“I'm glad I was wrong,” McIlroy said Tuesday at Aronimink Golf Club, site of this week’s PGA Championship. “I can admit when I'm wrong, and that was one that I did get wrong.”
In the aftermath of the Strategic Sports Groups investment of some $1.5 billion in the PGA Tour in early 2024, McIlroy made clear that he didn’t believe that should preclude a deal with the PIF.
“Having PIF as your partner as opposed to not having them as your partner, I don't think is an option for the game of golf,” McIlroy said in February of 2024, noting that PIF funding of LIV is what was keeping the game from being unified. “I think they're committed to investing in golf and in the wider world of sport and if you can get them to invest their money the right way to unify the game of golf.”
At last year’s Genesis Invitational, in the aftermath of meetings between the PGA Tour leadership and the PIF, McIlroy said:
“For me, we’ve all been done better from all of this,” he said of LIV’s entry into the game. “Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from LIV. And I’ve been on record saying this a lot, we’d never be playing for what we’re playing for this week ($20 million purse).
“So I think everyone’s just got to get over it, and we all have to say, okay, this is the start point and we move forward. We don’t look behind us, we don’t look to the past, whatever’s happened, happened. And it’s been unfortunate. But reunification is the best thing for everyone.”
Now, some 15 months later, the PIF governor Yasir Al-Rummayyan, an avid golfer and supporter of LIV Golf whom McIlroy has said in the past he has met and conversed with, has stepped down from the LIV Golf board.
Scott O’Neil, LIV’s CEO, has pledged to forge ahead without PIF funding—said to be in excess of $5 billion since the start of LIV in 2022—and hopes to secure outside investment and sponsorship.
“I think it was always a possibility to happen,” McIlroy said of the PIF’s turnaround. “Look, I think everyone knows like with everything that's happening in the Middle East (the war in Iran), that had a lot to do; but whenever you have funding tied so much to the geopolitical landscape in the world, that's a tricky road to navigate.”
LIV Golfers are still reeling from the news
News broke the week following McIlroy’s Masters victory while the LIV Golf League was about to play an event in Mexico City that the league might be in trouble. Both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times reported that the PIF’s changing priorities meant pulling out of LIV Golf.
“Look, I have friends over there,” McIlroy said. “One of my best friends caddies for (LIV golfer) Tom McKibbin, who's over there, and I would talk to him all the time about what was going on. I was saying to Ricky, even before Mexico, Have you guys heard any of this stuff?
“He was like, No, everything seems O.K. over here. It just feels like the rug was pulled from under their feet and everyone was sort of blindsided by it. But again, that's the risk that those guys chose to take. As I said, it leaves—there's a lot of uncertainty in the air right now.”
LIV Golf will play later this month in South Korea before a tournament in Spain. It has postponed or canceled a scheduled event for June to be played outside of New Orleans.
“It is something we've had to deal with, obviously, the week of Mexico and last week a little bit more, but it's just some things that are out of my control,” said Jon Rahm, one of 11 LIV golfers in this week’s PGA field.
“So when it comes to compartmentalizing, when you see it from that point of view, there's really not much to it. I have faith in the work that they're doing. I have faith that they're going to come up with a good plan.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Shares Sharp Opinion on PGA Tour’s Failed Compromise With LIV Golf: ‘I’m Glad I Was Wrong’.
