12 September – Rory McIlroy says his decision to join world number 1 Scottie Scheffler against LIV Golf League stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka was motivated by pleasing golf fans, not for the boost it might bring.
“I wouldn’t say it was intended to send any message,” McIlroy said Wednesday of the exhibition event, which he agreed to play last week in December. “We want to do something that I think all golf fans will be excited about. You have the best player in the world (Scheffler). You have players like Bryson and Brooks, two guys who have won the Grand Slam the last two years.
“This is a way to show golf fans around the world that this can happen or that these are possibilities,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been saying this for a long time. I think golf and golf fans see us together more than four times a year.”
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV Golf, announced last week that they planned to meet in New York to discuss potential investments in hopes of improving men’s professional golf. Wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which four commercial planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“Yeah, it was definitely an awkward moment,” McIlroy said of the meeting. “I don’t know much about the negotiations that are going on, I know there are negotiations going on but I’m not involved in them.
“I think we’re all trying to find solutions to all these issues in golf and move forward. So we’ll see, yeah. I know as much as you do right now and I’m sure there’s going to be news here in a few days.
McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are members of the PGA Tour’s corporate transactions subcommittee, which is in talks with the PIF. Since LIV Golf first launched in 2021, McIlroy has expressed his frustration that it has divided the sport.
But despite the current state of men’s golf, McIlroy is hopeful a compromise can be found.
“I think everyone involved in the sport wants to see the issue resolved,” McIlroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.
“It’s difficult to reach a solution because interests differ and people want different things. Both sides have to compromise, but hopefully the things they discuss in these meetings are the same.”
“I hope that in the near future, when things get back on track, we will hear some good news.”
——Visual-level media
