Rory McIlroy said that he wasn’t trying to send a message by signing up for a made-for-TV event that will pit two of the best PGA Tour players against two of the top attractions on LIV Golf.
“We all thought it was a good idea,” McIlroy said Wednesday at the Irish Open, “and something that hopefully is a sign of things to come in the future.”
PGA Tour stars Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy will square off against LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in Las Vegas in mid-December.
McIlroy has said for much of the past year that the warring sides need to reach a deal for the good of the sport, and that fans deserve to see the best players in the world together more than just four times a year at the major championships.
This match, McIlroy said, was him doing his part.
“We wanted to do something that all golf fans could get excited about,” he said. “It’s a way to show golf fans that this is what could happen, or these are the possibilities going forward. I’ve been saying this for a long time. I think golf and golf fans should get to see us more than four times a year. That’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Representatives from the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund reportedly met this week in New York City as talks progress on a possible deal that would infuse billions of dollars into the PGA Tour Enterprises and potentially create a pathway back for LIV defectors.
McIlroy, who is part of the transaction subcommittee that directly negotiates with the Saudis, has expressed frustration at the slow pace of the negotiations. He said last month that he hasn’t part of a subcommittee call since June, and he added Wednesday that he wasn’t involved in the meetings this week.
“It’s certainly peculiar timing,” he said. “I don’t know much about the talks that are going on. I know there is, but that’s not something that I’m a part of. We are all in the game of golf trying to look for a solution to all this and try to move forward. So we’ll see. I know as much as you do at this point.”