RORY MCILROY believes Tiger Woods needs to be involved when select golfers from the PGA Tour meet with the Saudi backers of the LIV circuit in a key milestone for golf’s peace process on Monday.
Woods is the only one of the Tour’s six player directors who has not yet confirmed publicly that he will be part of face-to-face talks with the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Woods’ silence is down to his absence from The Players Championship this week, though it is widely expected that he will be there – a point McIlroy sees as essential given the precarious state of golf’s politics.
He said: ‘He’s a player director. He’s on the board, so absolutely he needs to be involved.’
The six players – Woods, Jordan Spieth, Cantlay, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati – will meet Al-Rumayyan in an effort to kick-start merger negotiations at a stage when clarity and progress have been in short supply.
Rory McIlroy believes Tiger Woods needs to be at Monday’s talks with LIV Golf
McIlroy on Woods: ‘He’s on the board, so absolutely he needs to be involved’
McIlroy resigned from the Tour’s policy board in exasperation last year and has since publicly disagreed with Spieth over the next steps. Spieth said the Tour did not ‘need’ Saudi investment on the back of their $3billion deal with American-based Strategic Sports Group – a sentiment echoed by Woods. For his part, McIlroy is convinced an a formalisation of last year’s shock merger is essential to end the hostilities with LIV.
Speaking after his 19th-placed finish at The Players Championship, McIlroy was at pains to distinguish between the PIF and LIV, saying: ‘I’ve said this before, I have spent time with Yasir, and the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, so Greg Norman and those guys. I see the two entities, and I think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV.
‘I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over there doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.’
Asked how PIF’s motivations might differ to those of the LIV breakaway circuit, McIlroy added: ‘They’re a sovereign wealth fund. They want to park money for decades and not worry about it. They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sport in some way.’
Woods is the only one of the Tour’s six player directors who has not yet confirmed publicly that he will be part of face-to-face talks with the Kingdom’s PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan (center)
McIlroy believes LIV and the PGA Tour can co-exist but did cast doubt over LIV’s long-term existence. He said: ‘I think there’s a way to incorporate. I think, you know, they’re big on team golf and they want to see team golf survive in some way in the calendar. I don’t think it has to necessarily look like LIV.
‘I think in my mind you should leave the individual golf and then you play your team golf on the sort of periphery of that. But, again, it’s going to require patience. People have contracts at LIV up until 2028, 2029. I don’t know if they’re going to see that all the way out, but I definitely see LIV playing in its current form for the next couple years anyway while everything gets figured out.
‘I don’t think this is an overnight solution, but if we can get the investment in, then at least we can start working towards a compromise where we’re not going to make everyone happy, but at least make everyone understand why we’re doing what we’re doing.’
