"Maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done half probably don't"

There’s a pace of play issue in golf again but it doesn’t involve what happens on the course as Rory McIlroy labelled the US Department of Justice and players on both the PGA Tour and LIV to blame for the lack of a peace deal in golf’s civil war.

A framework agreement was announced in June 2023 but talks between the PIF, PGA Tour and DP World Tour continue to rumble on with no signs of a clear end in sight.

Talks continued last week in New York but any potential deal will come under the watchful eye of the DOJ which has already removed a non solicitation clause from the framework agreement and McIlroy views the DOJ and players as a huge obstacle in striking a deal.

“Department of Justice. Maybe different interests from the players’ side,” said McIlroy who is playing at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth.

“I’d say maybe half the players on LIV want the deal to get done, half probably don’t. I’d say it’s probably similar on the PGA Tour.

“Because just like anything, everyone’s looking out for themselves and their best interests. It would benefit some people for a deal not to get done, but it would obviously benefit some people for a deal to get done.

“I think when you have a members-run organisation it complicates things a little bit, especially when some of those players are having to make decisions on the business side of things.

“I think the tours want it to happen. The investors certainly want it to happen because they can see the benefit for themselves.”

McIlroy is pleased to see that there is an appetite to get the deal done but doesn’t think the process will be any quicker than it has been.

“It seems like the people that are really making the decisions are all rowing in the same direction, which is a really good thing [but] even if they are all rowing in the same direction, it still doesn’t mean that a deal may get done because it’s just a very complicated set of circumstances.

“But from what I hear there’s optimism there, and that’s good to see.”

An alternative could be that the Saudis cut ties from this deal and get into bed with the DP World Tour which would bring much needed investment, better fields and larger prize funds and maybe give golf in Europe a retro feel, a throwback to what it was back in the 1990s.

“If things don’t materialise with the PGA Tour, I think it would maybe bring the European Tour back to like the ’80s and ’90s when there was like really two strong tours,” McIlroy added.

“But it keeps the game divided and I don’t like that. It would be Plan B. It would be maybe an alternative to the best solution.

“Selfishly, as a European, it would be wonderful to get that investment and to use that money in the right way for this tour.

“But it still keeps the game divided, which I just can’t quite get on board with, and I’d love to see everything and everyone come back together.”

Earlier this week Ian Poulter came out saying he still harbours ambitions of captaining Europe in a Ryder Cup one day.

The Englishman hasn’t been involved in any capacity since joining LIV in 2022 nor has Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey or Henrik Stenson who revoked his captaincy for Marco Simone Golf Club last year as Luke Donald stepped into the role superbly.

For McIlroy, it’s a case of out of sight, out of mind with Poulter and Westwood which makes it difficult for them to be welcomed back into the Ryder Cup fold.

“I think it’s hard because we don’t really see them anymore, especially — I’m not sure if Poults gave up his European Tour Membership. You know, you need someone around that’s comfortable. You look at what Luke has done the last few years, he’s really made an effort to come over. He played in Czech Republic. He was in Switzerland.

“He’s making an effort to be around the players and be — make the players feel comfortable with him, the up-and-comers that haven’t had a chance yet to be on a team or trying to make a team.

“With the guys that left, Poulter, Westwood, we don’t — how can these young up and comers, you know, build a rapport with them when they are never here? You can’t see them. I think that’s a really important part of a Ryder Cup and a Ryder Cup captaincy.

“I’m not saying that Poulter doesn’t have the credentials to be a Ryder Cup Captain, but I just think with the current state of where everything is, you need someone that’s around and showing their face as much as they can. Right now, that honestly just can’t be them because they are elsewhere.”