Rory McIlroy has warned that golf faces being a “fractured sport” if tensions continue between the PGA Tour and the breakaway LIV Golf series.
The Northern Irishman, who returned to the top of the men’s rankings with a defence of his CJ Cup crown on Sunday, has been a prominent critic of the Saudi-backed tour, which has lured a number of the world’s leading golfers, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka.
The PGA Tour has strongly opposed LIV Golf, suspending those who play LIV events from competing on the tour.
While McIlroy has been seen as part of that opposition, the 33-year-old has now suggested that both sides must find ways to be more civil, expressing his belief that the situation could become “irreparable” and to golf’s detriment if the battles between the two tours endure.
“This ‘us versus them’ thing has gotten way out of control already,” McIlroy said in an interview with The Guardian. “If the two entities keep doubling down in both directions, it is only going to become irreparable.
“We are going to have a fractured sport for a long time. That is no good for anyone.”
The eighth and final event of the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series will be held in Miami this weekend, with a prize of $50m on offer to the winning team.
The tournaments are held over 54 holes and feature 48 players with no cut.
Another high-profile recruit to LIV was Henrik Stenson, with the Swedish player subsequently stripped of the captaincy for next year’s Ryder Cup.
With former Team Europe colleagues Sergio García, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter also facing possible exclusion from the biannual event in Rome, McIlroy admits that he feels betrayed by those who have defected and struggles to rationalise their decisions.
“I think it is the first time in my life that I have felt betrayal, in a way,” McIlroy explained. “It’s an unfamiliar feeling to me.
“You build bonds with these people through Ryder Cups and other things. Them knowing that what they are about to do is going to jeopardise them from being a part of that ever again?
“There was a great opportunity for [Graeme McDowell] to maybe be the captain at Adare in 2027. Most of Sergio’s legacy is Ryder Cup-based, same with Poulter, Westwood.
“I would like to think the Ryder Cup means as much to them as it does to me. Maybe it does. But knowing what the consequences could be, I just could never make that decision.”
