Rory McIlroy says LIV Golf players will not just be welcomed back into the PGA Tour fold if the proposed merger with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) goes ahead, warning “there still has to be consequences to actions.”
Still visibly reeling from the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF will all join together to form a new golfing entity, McIlroy let rip at his scheduled press conference ahead of the defence of his Canadian Open title.
McIlroy, who was the main defender and spokesman for the PGA Tour during their battle with LIV Golf, admitted feeling like “a sacrificial lamb” after Jay Monahan performed a huge U-turn and decided to partner up with the PIF.
While adding that “I still hate LIV”, McIlroy addressed the issue of players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and chief instigator Phil Mickelson possibly returning to the PGA Tour to play.
It looks likely that they’ll be allowed back onto the PGA Tour at some stage, but Monahan said they simply wouldn’t just walk back in – and McIlroy also backed that up saying that those who left for LIV had to suffer some consequences.
“There still has to be consequences to actions,” said McIlroy. “The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this Tour, started litigation against it.
“We can't just welcome them back in. Like, that's not going to happen.
“And I think that was the one thing that Jay was trying to get across yesterday is like, guys, we're not just going to bring these guys back in and pretend like nothing's happened. That is not going to happen.”
McIlroy, who insists he never received an official offer to join LIV, added that redressing the financial balance for those who did turn down huge offers to stay on the PGA Tour was the ideal scenario – even if there seems no easy way to do that.
And while PGA Tour events will be boosted by big-name players returning, the anger among the membership stems from players who are struggling to keep their cards possibly being knocked off the Tour to make way for returning LIV players.
“What that looks like for individual players in terms of keeping a Tour card and bringing players back into the fold and then that sacrifices other people, that's where the anger comes from, right. And I understand that,” McIlroy added.
Some players, such as Matt Fitzpatrick, have previously said that LIV players should never be allowed back on the PGA Tour, so it’s yet another interesting facet of this proposed move that will take a lot of sorting out.
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