Rory McIlroy was told to "f*** off" by a rival player as a meeting between PGA Tour players and commissioner Jay Monahan descended into a furious argument.
Monahan met with players on Tuesday evening after the afternoon's shock announcement that the Tour would be merging with LIV Golf. The two competitions have been embroiled in a civil war for more than a year, with players joining the breakaway tournament suspended.
Now a truce has been agreed, with the two competitions set to combine their assets and the suspended players able to apply to rejoin the PGA. The bombshell news was dropped on Tuesday, with Monahan holding a meeting later that day.
The atmosphere at that meeting was feisty to say the least as Monahan faced calls to resign and the players even began to turn on themselves. McIlroy has been a vocal critic of LIV Golf, but according to the Golf Channel, remained mostly quiet in Tuesday's meeting.
There was one flashpoint involving the Northern Irishman though, when he had a brief exchange with world number 221 Grayson Murray. The American is said to have gone off on 'tangents and outbursts'.
He then also called on Monahan to resign, insisting the commissioner had lost the trust of the players. McIlroy had a frosty response to those calls, reportedly saying "Just play better Grayson".
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That left Murray furious though, with the American hitting back at McIlroy and telling him to "f*** off". The duo were said to be cordial towards each other after the meeting, with Wes Bryan insisting there were no hard feelings.
"We chatted as a group of players, and we were laughing about the comment,” Bryan said. “No beef or hard feelings either way.” For his part, Monahan has admitted that he will be branded a hypocrite having previously been vocally opposed to LIV Golf.
"I recognise that people are going to call me a hypocrite. Any time I've said anything I've said it with the information I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that's trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players," he said.
"I accept those criticisms, but circumstances do change, and I think looking at the big picture got us to this point. It probably didn't seem this way to them, but as I looked to those players that have been loyal to the PGA Tour, I'm confident they made the right decision.
"They have helped re-architect the future of the PGA Tour, they have moved us to a more competitive model. We have significantly invested in our business in 2023, we're going to do so in '24."
McIlroy is due to speak publicly for the first time on Wednesday, having been kept in the dark about the merger until just before Tuesday's announcement. Monahan, meanwhile, will have to fight off a rising tide of anger from the PGA's players following the merger.
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