Rory McIlroy reveals real hold up for PGA Tour, Saudi LIV Golf deal

When the U.S. Government gets involved, things get complicated.

So it’s no wonder an agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has not yet been finalized. The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee of Investigations (PSI) has held three separate hearings related to the PGA Tour’s pending deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), the beneficiary of LIV Golf. Congress wants answers as to why the tour would sign an agreement with its biggest rival, which also happens to be a sovereign wealth fund of a foreign government. Congress also wants to know what the PIF wants out of this. Do they want more influence in the United States? A greater return on their investment? Or, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman alluded to in a Fox News interview in September 2023, do they want to sportswash—or cleanse the sins of their atrocities through sport? Hence, Congress subpoenaed both sides.

The complications do not stop there, however. They only begin here.

You have thousands of families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks who are frustrated, agitated, and, frankly, dismissive of the PGA Tour because they struck a deal with the Saudis. The tour leaned on 9/11 families for support before Jun. 6, 2023, when the tour shockingly unveiled the framework agreement between them and the PIF. Then, on that Tuesday, 9/11 families felt back-stabbed and betrayed—saddened that the tour neglected their cause.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also gotten involved, as this deal may violate antitrust stipulations. Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee even predicted that the DOJ would block this deal altogether.

So yes, this is very complex negotiations, which Rory McIlroy reiterated on Wednesday ahead of this week’s BMW PGA Championship in England.

“I think one of the stumbling blocks is the Department of Justice,” McIlroy said.

Rory McIlroy talks to the media ahead of the 2024 BMW PGA Championship.

Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

“I think trying to approach that from a collaborative standpoint seems to be the best way forward. I think to me, it seems like the people who are really making the decisions are all rowing in the same direction, which is a really good thing. And even if they are all rowing in the same direction, it still doesn’t mean that a deal may get done because it’s just a very complicated set of circumstances. But yeah, from what I hear, there’s optimism there, and that’s good to see.”

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the most problematic detail between the two sides involved the players agreeing on who gets to keep their millions. The PIF lent hundreds of millions to top players to join their start-up league. Nobody received more than Jon Rahn, who accepted a deal to jump to LIV for more than $400 million in December 2023.

However, that same report indicated that a deal between the two sides is not a given. It may still fail.

Thus, McIlroy laid out a potential vision if that were to transpire.

“If things don’t materialize with the PGA Tour, I think it would maybe bring the European Tour back to like the ‘80s and ‘90s when there were two strong tours,” McIlroy said.

“But it keeps the game divided, and I don’t like that. You know, I really want the game to come back together. It would be Plan B. It may be an alternative to the best solution. And look, selfishly, as a European, it would be wonderful to get that investment and to use that money in the right way for this tour. But it still keeps the game divided, which I just can’t quite get on board with, and I’d love to see everything and everyone come back together.”

Should the PIF strike an investment deal with the DP World Tour—formerly the European Tour—that may alleviate some concerns golf faces from the U.S. Government and 9/11 families. After all, the PGA Tour just received a $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of billionaire businessmen with significant stakes in various professional sports teams.

Still, things remain complicated, and the biggest roadblocks to striking a deal of this nature are lawmakers and bureaucracies in Washington.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.