Rory McIIroy declines to attend LIV Golf meetings
It appears that negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are back on again but one person who will be missing from these talks is Rory McIlroy.
Despite his influence with the PGA, McIlroy decided to skip the meeting and go play at The Memorial this weekend. It may be a surprise for some but McIlroy has said in the last few weeks that he wants to concentrate on just golf.
“Looking a few years down the line, LIV is going to continue to sort of keep going down its path. But hopefully with maybe more of a collaboration or an understanding between the tours. Maybe there is some cross-pollination there where players can start to play on both. I guess that will all be talked about in the coming weeks,” he said. “The transaction committee regularly meet every Monday, Wednesday and Friday amongst themselves, and representatives from the PIF have been present in recent weeks. “There’s going to be people in that room on the PGA Tour side who are going to take the lead,” McIlroy continued.
McIlroy also says there will be hardly any representatives at this meeting from the players which also may explain why he didn’t attend.
“And it’s not going to be Adam, Tiger or I. That’s going to be Jay, Joe Gorder, Joe Ogilvie, John Henry. It’s going to be the business guys. We’re there to maybe give a perspective from a player’s point of view.“This is a negotiation about an investment in the PGA Tour Enterprises, this is big boy stuff. And I’ll certainly be doing more listening than I will be doing talking,” he added.
McIlroy added it is unknown at this point what PIF’s role might be going forward. “I think depending on what the DOJ (the U.S. Department of Justice) allows, it might have to be a very passive investment,” he said. “I don’t know what’s in their head. I don’t know if that is something that they are willing to do. We’ll find out.”
The two tours were supposed to merge last spring but so far, the battle between the two has continued which has affected both sides. More PGA players are leaving for LIV Golf which continues to cause a strain between the two.
Then there are the jabs taken back and forth between golfers on both sides including McIlroy which finally has taken its toll on him and even his friendships with golfers on both sides including Tiger Woods.
