4-time main championship winner Rory McIlroy on Tuesday mentioned he plans to complete his profession on the PGA Tour, denying a printed report by a London newspaper that he had been provided $850 million and an fairness stake within the LIV Golf League.
McIlroy mentioned neither he nor his brokers have ever mentioned a possible deal to lure him to the LIV Golf League, which is being financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF).
“I actually do not know the way this stuff get began,” McIlroy instructed Golf Channel whereas on the observe vary at Harbour City Golf Hyperlinks in Hilton Head, South Carolina, the location of this week’s RBC Heritage. “I’ve by no means been provided a quantity from LIV, and I’ve by no means contemplated going to LIV. Once more, I believe I’ve made it clear over the previous two years that I do not assume it is one thing for me.
“It doesn’t suggest that I choose individuals who have went and performed over there. I believe one of many issues that I’ve realized over the previous two years is that folks could make their very own selections for no matter they assume is finest for themselves, and who’re we to evaluate them for that? However personally, for me, my future is right here on the PGA Tour, and it is by no means been any totally different.”
McIlroy, a 24-time winner on the tour, can be scheduled to play with Eire’s Shane Lowry in subsequent week’s Zurich Basic of New Orleans, a crew occasion.
“It is by no means even been a dialog for us,” McIlroy mentioned. “It is unlucky we now have to take care of it, and that is the state our sport is in. I am clearly right here and going to the PGA Tour occasion subsequent week, and I am going to play the PGA Tour the remainder of my profession.”
Sean O’Flaherty, McIlroy’s agent, instructed the Irish Impartial in an electronic mail that there was “zero fact” to a report by Metropolis A.M., a London monetary paper, that the second-ranked golfer on the earth was mulling over an $850 million supply from the LIV Golf League that would come with an fairness stake of about 2%.
O’Flaherty known as the report “faux information.”
“I believe during the last two years, there’s been so many rumors of men,” McIlroy mentioned. “I believe the one factor I’ve realized as effectively is guys must hold an open thoughts, and I am certain there’s been gamers which might be nonetheless enjoying on the PGA Tour which have talked to the fellows from LIV and had presents and no matter.”
Though the PGA Tour and the PIF signed a framework settlement on June 6 to type an alliance, the perimeters have not been in a position to finalize an settlement. The framework settlement, which expired Dec. 31, was prolonged as negotiations proceed.
LIV Golf lured then-world No. 3 Jon Rahm into its ranks in December with a deal reportedly price greater than $350 million.
On March 18, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan met with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and gamers administrators from the tour’s coverage board, together with Tiger Woods, within the Bahamas.
McIlroy, who tied for twenty second eventually week’s Masters, has been one of many extra vocal critics of LIV Golf and its crew idea.
“I nonetheless hate LIV,” he instructed reporters on the 2023 RBC Canadian Open in Toronto final June. “Like, I hate LIV. Like, I hope it goes away.”
After the PGA Tour’s pending alliance with the PIF was introduced, McIlroy mentioned he felt like a “sacrificial lamb.”
Over the previous a number of months, McIlroy has softened his place on permitting gamers who left for LIV Golf to come back again to the PGA Tour and whether or not they need to be capable of compete within the Ryder Cup.
