Rory McIlroy noted that members of LIV Golf were "saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour" at this year's Masters, just days before the league's financial backer, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, withdrew its financial support for the league. McIlroy's comments come after DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings shared a similar revelation with The Scotsman. "I agree with everything that Guy said.
They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race," McIlroy shared. "They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour. ... "I think people that don't agree are probably very shortsighted.
Look, there was some of the money that they used the right way, created the International Series on the Asian Tour, great for a couple years. But where did that leave the Asian Tour? They left them high and dry.
Asian Tour came back into the fold, did a partnership with the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Again, this was always going to be the case. "It was always going to be good for a few years until something like this happened, or they realized they weren't going to get any return on investment, or they were going to leave the golf space and go invest in something else and invest in something that would actually make them money.
For long-term sustainability for men's professional golf, we are in a much better spot." Kinnings divulged plenty in his wide-ranging interview. He appears keen on the PGA Tour moving its schedule from February through August, which would give the DP World Tour a window to take center stage in the golf ecosystem. The DP World Tour headman also acknowledged the balance of appeasing membership while welcoming players from LIV Golf back into the fold, an entity which aimed to take down his league.
"It's got to be as fair as it can be and as merit-based as it can be, but there is probably no perfect solution," Kinnings said. "Regardless of who the players are, they've got to prove themselves in the system. I understand what some players are saying, because things have been said in the past.
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