
For months, Rory McIlroy walked the ramparts of the PGA Tour fortress, besieged by the Saudi-funded LIV Golf. He and other holdouts spoke about staying true to the PGA's traditions, even as their peers accepted millions and millions of dollars in incentive money and guaranteed payouts to join its rival.
Now, McIlroy says, he feels like "a sacrificial lamb," after the PGA Tour made a deal to merge with LIV Golf's backers, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.