Rory McIlroy’s true feelings on Saudi Arabia chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan as LIV Golf agreement nears
Rory McIlroy has already stated that he believes Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) director Yasir Al-Rumayyan holds the key to bringing professional golf back together.
McIlroy is among a group of top PGA Tour stars in action at the Dunhill Links Championship this week, along with LIV Golf stars such as Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Tyrell Hatton.
The Northern Irishman is paired with his dad for the competition and will play in fourballs including PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF chief Al-Rumayyan throughout the week.
The pro-am event is seen as a huge opportunity for golf’s warring tours to come together and thrash out an agreement on how best to move the sport forward.
A framework agreement was reached last year, but the men’s professional game remains split in two with negotiations ongoing.
McIlroy has been one of the most outspoken critics on LIV Golf, but has softened his stance against those who jumped ship from the PGA Tour for the riches on offer.
The 35-year-old admitted earlier this year that he had been ‘too judgemental’ of the players who joined LIV, however he personally hasn’t been swayed by the Saudi-backed league.
Despite his own aversions to the breakaway tour, McIlroy has been full of praise for PIF director Al-Rumayyan.
Speaking earlier this year, McIlroy singled out the 54-year-old as the man who can bring professional golf back together.
“Fundamentally he wants to do the right thing,” McIlroy said back in March.
“I think I’ve said this before: I have spent time with Yasir, and the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice, so Norman and those guys.
“I see the two entities, and I actually think there’s a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV.
“I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing.
“So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalise that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”
McIlroy is fully on board with PIF’s financial backing of the PGA Tour too, but he doesn’t want LIV’s team element to be a part of the professional game.
“They want to park money for decades and not worry about it,” he added.
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“They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sport in some way.
“They’re big on team golf and they want to see team golf survive in some way in the calendar.
“I don’t think it has to necessarily look like LIV.
“I think in my mind you should leave the individual golf the individual golf and then you play your team golf on the sort of periphery of that.”