Rory McIlroy knows a thing or two about highly publicized splits.
And he isn’t getting his hopes up about golf’s two biggest tours getting back together any time soon.
The Northern Irish golf star threw cold water on the notion of seeing the PGA Tour and LIV Golf merge after the breakaway league formed in 2021.
Speaking during CNBC’s CEO Council Forum on Thursday, McIlroy called the Saudi-backed organization’s spending “irrational” and that it would be difficult to see how the much-talked about merger will happen.
“You see some of these other sports that have been fractured for so long,” McIlroy said. “You look at boxing for example, or you look at what’s happened in motor racing in the United States with Indy and NASCAR and everything else, I think for golf in general it would be better if there was unification.
“But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s just going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”
LIV Golf formed in 2021 and tried to gain a foothold in the sport by luring away many of the PGA Tour’s top stars with huge contracts – with many reportedly coming in at more than $100 million US.
McIlroy said that LIV Golf’s spending has been irrational and that it would take just as many billions of dollars to maintain its current base.
“As someone who supports the traditional structure of men’s professional golf, we have to realize we were trying to deal with people that were acting, in some ways, irrationally, just in terms of the capital they were allocating and the money they were spending,”
“It’s been four or five years and there hasn’t been a return yet, but they’re going to have to keep spending that money to even just maintain what they have right now.
“A lot of these guys’ contracts are up. They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent five or six billion and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.”
McIlroy also admitted that while he’s comfortable with life on the PGA Tour, he doesn’t know what the future will hold.
“I’m way more comfortable being on the PGA Tour side than on their side, but who knows what’ll happen?”
Bryson DeChambeau weighs in
On the other side of the golf tour divide, LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau recently admitted the two parties currently are far apart in terms of a merger.
“I wish something major would happen, but I don’t think it’s going to in the immediate future,” DeChambeau told Fox News earlier this week.
“I think there are too many wants on both sides and not enough gives on the other.
“We’re just too far apart on a lot of things. It’s going to take some time, but ultimately, I do think the game of golf will grow internationally.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan made the shock announcement that the PGA and LIV Golf were talking about a potential merger during the Canadian Open in 2023, but since then talks have been slow moving with no official announcement seemingly in sight.