


The pending merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has not changed Rory McIlroy’s opinion on the Saudi-backed league.
Not one bit.
“If LIV Golf was the last place on Earth to play golf, I would retire. That’s how I feel about it,” McIlroy said early Thursday morning after the first round of the Scottish Open. “I’d play the majors, but I’d be pretty comfortable.”
The question was asked after the Saudi PIF’s “Best of Both Worlds” scenario of having Tiger Woods and McIlroy captain LIV teams and play in at least 10 events a year was revealed during Tuesday’s Senate hearings about the potential merger.
The proposal ended up going nowhere, though.
“It’s important to understand that documents released as part of the senate hearing included proposals that PIF/LIV or their representatives made to the PGA Tour, which were quickly rejected and never put into the Framework Agreement,” a source told Golf.com.
The superstar golfers have each made their disdain known for the breakaway organization.
Woods turned down a “high nine-figure deal” in 2022 while saying that PGA Tour players who left “turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position.”
When the merger was announced, McIlroy admitted, “I still hate LIV…. and “I hope it goes away, and I fully expect that it does.”
An anonymous LIV Golf executive also called McIlroy a “little bitch” in June, according to golf reporter Alan Shipnuck.
McIlroy hasn’t let the distraction get in the way of his play, though.
PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ending a war — by joining forces.
The two golf leagues, along with the European DP World Tour, are merging into one company after a period of fierce rivalry, one where LIV Golf defectors were banned from competing on the Tour.
LIV, financed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund and led by legendary golfer Greg Norman, lured some of the top names in golf last year with reported nine-figure contracts, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
Other huge golf names, however, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, stayed loyal to the Tour, despite being offered a massive amount of money.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger
Norman said last year Woods turned down a payday in the range of $700 million-$800 million to stick with the PGA Tour.
With the merger, the Saudi-backed LIV and the Tour are ending an antitrust battle and agreed to end all litigation between the two sides.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA TOUR’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model.”
READ MORE
He got off to a wonderful start ahead of the Scottish Open on Thursday, shooting 6-under par, and is near the top of the leaderboard in the first round.