Rory McIlroy says the primary sticking factors holding up a deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi backers of the rival LIV Golf League are the U.S. Division of Justice and conflicting views from gamers on either side.
The four-time main champion, who’s a part of a transaction committee engaged in direct negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund, mentioned there have been totally different opinions amongst all of the gamers about one of the simplest ways ahead.
The Northern Irishman additionally famous the U.S. Division of Justice, which has mentioned it will look into the deal to find out whether or not it violates antitrust regulation, was one other hurdle that was holding up negotiations.
“Division of Justice. Perhaps totally different pursuits from the gamers’ facet,” McIlroy mentioned Wednesday forward of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. “I might say perhaps half the gamers on LIV need the deal to get carried out; half in all probability do not. I might say it is in all probability related on the PGA Tour.
“As a result of similar to something, everybody’s looking for themselves and their greatest pursuits. You understand, it will profit some individuals for a deal to not get carried out, however it will clearly profit some individuals for a deal to get carried out.”
LIV Golf, whose mega-money contracts, profitable purses and no-cut, 54-hole occasions have managed to lure quite a few golf’s greatest names, held its inaugural event in June 2022.
The PGA Tour, PIF and DP World Tour introduced a framework settlement in June 2023 to deal with all their industrial operations in a for-profit entity. The framework settlement expired on the finish of 2023, however the sides continued to carry talks on how you can hammer out the small print of a deal.
McIlroy was not current when the 2 sides met final week in New York to additional talk about methods to unify the game, however regardless of the hurdles he talked about, he felt there was additionally room for optimism.
“To me it looks as if the individuals which can be actually making the selections are all rowing in the identical course, which is a extremely good factor,” McIlroy mentioned. “And even when they’re all rowing in the identical course, it nonetheless doesn’t suggest {that a} deal could get carried out as a result of it is only a very difficult set of circumstances.”
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