Rory McIlroy had his say on the PGA Tour’s ongoing negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), after both sides met with Donald Trump in recent weeks
Rory McIlroy is now in agreement with fellow PGA Tour star Jordan Spieth, after claiming that American-based circuit do not “need” a peace deal with their LIV Golf rivals.
The PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) first announced a framework agreement in June 2023, and have been locked in negotiations ever since. The latest major update came last month, after the Tour confirmed they had drafted in the help of President Donald Trump to aid talks.
Two meetings at the White House have followed, one including PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Despite some momentum, it appears hope over a soon-to-be-completed deal has died down.
Ahead of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy was asked whether the PGA Tour now needed a peace treaty with their LIV counterparts following a succesful start to the 2025 season. He responded: “I wouldn’t say needs a deal, I think the narrative around golf would welcome a deal in terms of just having all the best players together again. But I don’t think the PGA Tour needs a deal.”
He continued: “I answered this question at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, before, you know, the landscape might have looked a little different then than it does now over these past couple of weeks, and I think a deal would still be the — I think it would still be the ideal scenario for golf as a whole.
“But from a pure PGA Tour perspective, I don’t think it, I don’t think it necessarily needs it.” This was a sentiment shared by Spieth just over year ago, who also claimed the Tour are not in need of PIF’s investment, which is expected to be around £776 million ($1bn) if a deal goes through.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth initially disagreed ( Image: Getty Images)
“I don’t think [PIF investment] is needed,” Spieth said at last season’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. “The idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right now without anything else, with the option of other investors.”
At the time Spieth’s stance led to a disagreement with McIlroy, after the pair shared a phone call over their differing views. Speaking of their private discussion last February, the Northern Irishman said: “My thing was if I’m the original investor that thought that they were going to get this deal done back in July, and I’m hearing a board member say that, you know, we don’t really need them, now, how are they going to think about that, what are they gonna feel about that?
“They are still sitting out there with hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, that they’re gonna pour it into sport. And I know what Jordan was saying, I absolutely know what he was saying and what he was trying to say. But if I were PIF and I was hearing that coming from here, the day after doing this SSG deal, it wouldn’t have made me too happy, I guess?”
