Outgoing DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley says he is "convinced the game will be unified" one day, but appeared to suggest he is no longer confident that moment will arrive before he departs the Wentworth-based circuit this Spring.
Pelley announced his exit from the DP World Tour in early January before revealing that he had asked to delay his moving date until shortly before The Masters takes place in April as he "truly believes" that a merger deal between all three main tours in men's professional golf will be completed before then.
But with the most famous tournament in golf on the horizon, it looks as though there is no end in sight to the sport's 'civil war'. Only a seismic investment deal involving the PGA Tour, which may later involve the PIF, has threatened to move the needle in that regard.
Speaking exclusively to The Times ahead of his return to Canada in order to take his "dream job" in heading up Toronto's four main sports franchises, Pelley stated that he is “convinced the game will be unified” but appeared to broaden his previously specified target.
Pelley said: “Whether it be in six months, a year, two years or ten years, I think people are coming to the realisation that a collective product is in the best interest of global golf. It is the only way growth and prize funds continue at this level. It is inevitable.”
In the same interview, the 60-year-old stated he is in agreement with Rory McIlroy over the prospect of something like a "World Tour" being the best way forward for the men's game.
Pelley has allegedly been frustrated with some US-based golfers preferring not to travel any more than they already do, thus making a more global game tougher to launch.
“They’re entitled to their opinion but I’m very much aligned with Rory,” says Pelley, who labelled McIlroy “a special athlete and human being whose honesty is his greatest attribute”.
“Rory is the player I have leant on the most, going back to the beginning of [golf’s civil war]. You need people who aren’t afraid to say what they really think.”
However, regarding much else relating to the future, Pelley was reportedly reluctant to be drawn in and refused to back up McIlroy's call for Ryder Cup rules to be altered in order for players like Jon Rahm to fuel Team Europe's cause.
“Of course you want Jon Rahm to play in the Ryder Cup but qualification doesn’t start until September, so it’s a hypothetical,” said Pelley.
But what about the biggest annual tournaments? The events which put golf on a platform that allows the sport to show what it can really offer. Some of them stand not to include a handful of LIV's brightest, Joaquin Niemann - for example - who is only in The Masters after receiving a special invite.
When posed questions on the current state of the Majors - arguably the factor in golf's self-sabotage which stands to hurt fans the most - the DP World Tour's current boss simply reiterated his earlier belief that golf will come together again in the not-too-distant future.
Pelley said: “The majors will always be the majors. One or two players not being there will not affect their legacy whatsoever. And as I say, I’m convinced the game will be unified, so these questions will go away.”
