The merger will be a hot topic on the golf scene for a long time, it seems, considering that the negotiations have been going on for almost 14 months. At yesterday’s press conference, perhaps the two most important figures of this Tour, Rory McIlroy and PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, shared their sentiments regarding the merger.
Rory McIlroy believes that individuals should forget about the past and focus on the future, with the desire to solve current problems as soon as possible.
McIlroy believes that it is not sustainable if everyone performs at the Majors.
“We all get together at the major championships, and that’s been a really good thing, but for both tours, it’s unsustainable,” McIlroy said, as quoted by SB Nation.
“It’s unsustainable.”
Rory McIlroy’s views
The Northern Irish golfer was against LIV Golf, the ideas they were promoting, as well as many other things. However, McIlroy suddenly changed his views, aware that LIV Golf is here and that it will be difficult to expel him from the world of golf.
The best thing? It seems that the merger is the only solution, despite the majority’s displeasure. Rory revealed that he was against a lot of things on this Tour, but a few years later, he realized that such a situation brought benefits to everyone. McIlroy put special emphasis on the negotiating power of PGA Tour players, but also on many other things.
“I was opposed to a lot of it. I was opposed to 54 holes, I was opposed to the team concept in some way, but when you remove yourself from it a little bit and you look at the overall picture, like we’ve all done better because of this,” McIlroy said.
“The players on the PGA Tour had more leverage than they ever had to go to the Tour to say we want this, we want that or whatever. But at the same time, I regret some of those decisions too because it put the Tour in a place where they were stretched financially, and they had to look at taking money from elsewhere to try to compete. But like it’s all easy in hindsight, it’s all very easy in hindsight to say these things, but I think we are closer to getting a resolution, and hopefully, we can all just move forward.”
The question is when both sides will reach a final agreement and whether it will happen in the near future. The optimism that comes from Jay Monahan is the reason why we can rejoice, but of course, it is too early to make any predictions about what awaits us.
The most important thing is that both sides are open to a final agreement, especially US President Donald Trump, who believes in the Saudis and their visions for this sport.
Tennis World USA