Rory McIlroy reveals private Tiger Woods meeting to discuss LIV merger with PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy reveals private Tiger Woods meeting to discuss LIV merger with PGA Tour

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Stuart Ballard

By Stuart Ballard


Published: 13/03/2024

- 18:32

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have regularly been questioned for their views on the merger between the two warring tours.

Rory McIlroy has revealed he spoke with Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational last month about the PGA Tour's ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and how golf as a whole will best move forward.

A historic merger between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour was announced back in June last year in a bid to finally bring an end to golf's civil war.


But negotiations have been going on for months with the original 31 December deadline for the framework agreement pushed into 2024.

The PGA Tour reached a separate landmark agreement with private equity investment fund Strategic Sports Group (SSG) worth billions at the end of January.

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods spoke about the merger at the Genesis Invitational

Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods spoke about the merger at the Genesis Invitational

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Part of the agreement gives nearly 200 players access to more than $1.5billion as equity owners in the newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises.

What it all means for golf's future remains to be seen with players also seemingly in the dark on exactly what discussions are being had in the boardroom.

Both McIlroy and Woods are seen as two of the most high-profile names on the PGA Tour and their opinion carries certain weight among their peers.

And the Northern Irishman has revealed he spoke with Woods briefly about the future of the game and what the latest developments mean for the sport.

McIlroy said: "I spoke to Tiger at Genesis a little bit, just about sort of everything.

"Whether it be the PIF negotiations or SSG and equity and okay, how are we going to -- not we, how is the TOUR going to grow and go from two and a half billion in revenue to four billion.

"We're all part of the business now. We've all got these equity grants.

"So how do we make that equity grow so it benefits the players?"

McIlroy ultimately wants a deal between the PGA Tour and PIF to be wrapped up as soon as possible to help unify the game of golf again.

Rory McIlroy wants the world of golf to move on

Rory McIlroy wants the world of golf to move on

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The 34-year-old feels golf fans have grown tired of the whole ordeal with a desire to simply see the best players face off against each other on a regular basis.

"I think it's because fans are fatigued of what's going on in the game and I think we need to try to re-engage them in a way that the focus is on the play and not on talking about equity and all the rest of it," he said.

"The sooner that this is resolved, I think it's going to be better for the game and better for everyone, the fans and the players."

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He added: "If I were a fan, I would want to watch the best players compete against each other week in, week out.

"If you just unified the game and brought us all back together in some way, that would be great for the fans, I would imagine.

"I think that would then put a positive spin on everything that has happened here, and OK, get together, we all move forward, and I think people could get excited about that."

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