Rory McIlroy previously said the PGA Tour did not need a peace deal with their LIV Golf rivals.
However, it seems the Northern Irishman’s stance has shifted.
The PGA Tour has already secured £2.4billion worth of investment from Strategic Sports Group, a consortium fronted up by Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group [FSG], as part of a new for-profit entity called PGA Tour Enterprises.
The Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) first unveiled a framework agreement in June 2023 and have been deep in negotiations ever since.
A significant update emerged last month when the Tour announced they had enlisted the support of President Donald Trump to facilitate the talks.
Two discussions at the White House have occurred, one featuring PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Despite some initial momentum, hope for a prompt resolution appears to have faded.
As the Arnold Palmer Invitational approaches, McIlroy was questioned about whether the PGA Tour now required a peace treaty with their LIV counterparts following a promising start to the 2025 season.
He responded: “I wouldn’t say it 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 sentiment was shared by Spieth just over a year ago, who also claimed the Tour does not need PIF’s investment, which is expected to be around £776 million ($1 billion) if a deal goes through.
“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 that moment, Spieth’s viewpoint sparked a disagreement with McIlroy after they exchanged thoughts over their differing opinions.
Spieth recently replaced McIlroy on the Tour’s Player Advisory Council after the Northern Irishman quit in November.
It came as part of a wider effort from McIlroy to step away from negotiations about golf’s future.
According to Sports Illustrated, Spieth recently called McIlroy to check in after noticing the 34-year-old had left a group chat comprised of top Tour players.
What followed was an hour-long debate about their opposing positions on what the Tour should do next.
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.
“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 going to feel about that?
“They are still sitting out there with hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, that they’re going to pour 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?”
