Rory McIlroy has said the PGA Tour needs to compensate players who stayed loyal to the tour before the recent merger with LIV Golf.
The Northern Irishman said yesterday he felt like his situation was akin to that of a “sacrificial lamb” for publicly defending the PGA Tour, only to see the PGA and DP World Tours agree a merger deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the owner of the LIV Golf series.
“The guys that stayed loyal and had offers on the table, I am not one of them, I was never offered anything from LIV, but the ones that turned down huge sums of money and stayed loyal to the PGA Tour, there has to be something for those guys,” McIlroy told Sky Sports.
“It was a massive decision to do what they did, I feel for the right reasons but now that this has all shaken out this way, I feel for those guys who had that decision to make and made the right decision, and are somewhat questioning that decision now,” McIlroy said.
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“My ambition has always to protect the PGA Tour and the aspirational nature of it. I hope for me that is still the case. I love what the PGA Tour stands for, I love the competition, the meritocracy of it all. I hope and think that will continue.”
[ Rory McIlroy says PGA Tour partnership with Saudi PIF will be good for golfOpens in new window ]
When asked if McIlroy meant financial compensation, he said “I think so ultimately that’s what we are talking about, yeah.”
Some of the players that were reportedly offered bumper LIV deals included Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and Will Zalatoris. Contract offers for these players ranged from $100 million to $800 million.
Phil Mickelson reportedly took a $200 million contract to join LIV Golf, with Dustin Johnson taking $150 million. Bryson DeChambeau took $125 million, with Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka taking $100 million.
