Rory McIlroy unloads on LIV Golf in press conference after merger

Rory McIlroy served as the earnest PR face of the PGA as the tour battled against the controversial Saudi-backed LIV. Just last week, he even was taking social media fire from Phil Mickelson.

Then the PGA powers-that-be abruptly decided to stop fighting LIV and initiate a merger. The PGA and LIV announced the news Tuesday morning. And 24 hours later, players like Rory McIlroy still are reeling. The golfer said he’d heard rumblings that the PGA and LIV folks had been talking. But he said he didn’t know how serious it was until he hopped on a conference call at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. The PGA announced the news later that morning.

“It’s not LIV. That’s the thing. I still hate LIV,” McIlroy said. “Like, I hate LIV. I hope it goes away, and I would fully expect that it does. That’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF. Very different from LIV.”

The DP World Tour is the European arm of pro golf. And the PIF is the acronym for the Public Investment Fund set up by the Saudi government a half-century ago. So it’s the money. The LIV was a different sort of approach to a pro golf tour. The tournaments were a day and 18 holes shorter than on the PGA. There was no cut and golfers competed as a team. The purses were bountiful and the participants received huge signing bonuses, some in the nine figures. LIV pilfered some of the PGA’s brightest stars including Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson.

Rory McIlroy says he feels like a ‘sacrificial lamb’

Rory McIlroy turned down the LIV money and defended the PGA for the past year. He talked about all that at a press conference Wednesday for the RBC Canadian Open outside Toronto. McIlroy is the two-time defending champion.

“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” McIlroy said. “Again, removing myself from the situation, I see how this is better for the game of golf. There’s no denying that. But for me as an individual, yeah, I, there’s just going to have to be conversations that are had.”

There was a players’ only meeting Tuesday to talk about what had unfolded earlier in the day. A few players like Rory McIlroy had a bit of advanced notice about the merger. Others found out the news by reading social media or seeing it on online sites.

“I’ve come to terms with it. I see what’s happened in other sports,” Rory McIlroy said. “I see what’s happened in other businesses. And, honestly, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is what’s going to happen. It’s very hard to keep up with people that have more money than anyone else. And, again, if they want to put that money into the game of golf, then why don’t we partner with them and make sure that it’s done in the right way. And that’s sort of where my head’s at.”