Top golfer Rory McIlroy, who has become the unofficial face of the PGA Tour and boycotted Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf, capitulated on Wednesday to the merger, saying it would “ultimately be good for the U.S. game of golf”.
“I still hate LIV,” said McIlroy, who is third in the PGA Men’s Tour overall standings ahead of Wednesday’s match in Canada. “Whether you like it or not, the (Public Investment Fund) will continue to spend money on golf. At least the PGA Tour now controls how that money is spent.”
McIlroy’s comments came a day after the PGA and Saudi Arabia’s PIF announced plans to jointly control professional golf’s commercial entity, effectively merging the two parties following a two-year feud in the sport.
The surprise alliance ends ongoing litigation between the PGA and LIV Golf, a rivalry tour that has attracted top competitors such as Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson with contracts reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
McIlroy and PGA leadership have long resisted Saudi competition, Northern Irishman said before The LIV Tour “teared apart” the golf world, and he stayed at the PGA to “do things for all the right reasons.”
On Wednesday, McIlroy referred to a framework agreement between the PGA and PIF in which tour executive Jay Monaghan would serve as chief executive of an as-yet-unnamed joint commercial entity. PIF President Yasir al-Rumayyan will serve as chairman, and the fund will retain a right of first refusal on any future capital investment in the company.
“If you were looking at one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world, would you rather have them as a partner or as an enemy?” McIlroy said at a news conference ahead of the RBC Canadian Open. “At the end of the day, money talks and you’d rather (PIF) be a partner.”
News of the merger between the PGA and PIF sparked outrage from families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, who said in a statement on Tuesday that “the PGA and Monaghan appear to be simply earning more Saudi shillings and spending billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation.”
Bryson DeChambeau, a professional golfer who joined LIV Golf last year, was asked by CNN on Tuesday how he would reconcile allegations that Saudi agents murdered Washington Post reporter Jamal Kasho Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi allegations related to the 9/11 attacks.
“What happened is absolutely horrific,” he said. “I think as time goes by, 20 years on, we’re at a point now where we start working together to make things better.” . way of presenting oneself. Nobody is perfect, but we all try to improve our lives.”