“Big Boy Stuff:” Rory McIlroy details important PGA Tour, Saudi PIF meeting after Memorial round

Key officials from the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is a beneficiary of LIV Golf, are scheduled to meet in New York on Friday to discuss the future of men’s professional golf.

it is First face-to-face meeting The transaction committee, a newly established body under PGA Tour Enterprises, will include Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, player liaison Joe Ogilvie, Fenway Sports chairman John Henry and PGA Tour Enterprises chairman and Valero Energy executive Joe Gorder.

McIlroy considered flying to New York after the second round at the Memorial but will instead watch remotely from Columbus, Bob Harig said. Sports Illustrated.

“There’s going to be some guys in that room that are trying to get a lead on the PGA Tour side,” McIlroy told Harig.

“It’s not Adam, Tiger or me. It’s Jay, Joe Gorder, Joe Ogilvie and John Henry. We’re businessmen. We’re here to offer our opinion from a players’ perspective. This is a negotiation about an investment in PGA Tour Enterprises and it’s adult stuff. I intend to make a point of listening rather than talking.”

Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images

McIlroy also does not know what impact the PIF will have on the future of golf or how much of an investment it will make in PGA Tour Enterprises.

“I, [Department of Justice] “If it’s allowed, it could be a very passive investment. I don’t know what they’re thinking. I don’t know if they’re willing to do it. We’ll see,” McIlroy said.

“There are a lot of things on the investment side that are beyond my knowledge and expertise, and certainly on the regulatory side. We are here on the exchange to provide a player’s perspective. But it’s [the Strategic Sports Group] And the tour executives.”

Ironically, McIlroy revealed this development exactly one year after Monahan and PIF Governor Yasir Al Rumayyan shocked the world on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Streets” on June 6, 2024. During the appearance, the two leaders revealed that the PGA Tour had reached a framework agreement with the PIF, signalling an end to golf’s civil war.

But a year later, the tours remain separated, with major winners playing on both the LIV Golf and PGA Tours. Currently, the top players from both tours play together in majors just four times a year, including next week’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst II.

But McIlroy’s softening stance on LIV was one of the big differences between this year and last.

If you recall, on June 7, 2023, the day after the shocking announcement, McIlroy called himself the “sacrificial lamb.”

Photo by Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images

McIlroy, who has championed the PGA Tour’s cause for more than a year, felt Monahan and tour executives had struck a deal with LIV without his knowledge, which is exactly what they did, leading McIlroy to take a more global approach to the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit.

He reaffirmed it again this Thursday.

“[LIV Golf players are] “My contract gives me 14 tournaments but the remaining 38 weeks give me the freedom to do what I want,” McIlroy said.

“The only problem is there are so many tours and golf tournaments, and only so many weeks in the year. That’s where it gets complicated – trying to figure out which tournaments are where, when they’re being played, how many players there are, what kind of players are going to be there, etc.”

All of these variables need to be considered, and earlier this week McIlroy alluded to 2026 as a target date for working out those logistics. At the very least, some progress is being made.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.