PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — If a deal ever gets done—and that remains a huge uncertainty at this point—there are numerous ideas on how the game might look as far as the number of events the biggest names in the game play against each other.
Among the biggest complaints at the moment is that the best players from the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf cannot all play together outside of the major championships.
Scottie Scheffler, the defending Masters champion, will see Jon Rahm in the same field next month at Augusta National for the first time since they both played in the British Open last July at Royal Troon.
So what’s the right number of events?
When that question was put to Rory McIlroy on Wednesday at TPC Sawgrass, he expressed a desire for worldwide events and at least a dozen—which would mean eight times outside of the major championships.
“It’s got to be once a month if not more,” McIlroy said in advance of the Players Championship. “I think 12 times a year or maybe a smidge higher than that I think would be a good number.”
McIlroy, ranked second in the Official World Golf Ranking behind Scheffler, has long advocated for global events outside of the main tours as part of an agreement between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which backs LIV Golf—and the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
He’s played the bulk of his 18-year career competing across the world while holding membership on two tours.
But where this is among the talking points is unclear. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was committed to making a deal work when he spoke to reporters Tuesday but offered few details as the situation has lingered for the better part of two years.
“I think there’s an opportunity for it to be worldwide,” McIlroy said. “I feel like golf isn’t just played in America. It didn’t start in America. It’s played in a lot of other places in the world.
“Look, the main source of capital for professional golf is in America, so the reason that tournaments are primarily and the bigger tournaments are primarily here is because of corporate America and the dollars that it brings into the game to fund some of the biggest championships in the world.
“But I think there is an opportunity to have some of the bigger tournaments outside of America. Like I’ve always been a worldwide player. I play all around the world. I start my year in the Middle East. I come over here. I go to the U.K. After the FedEx Cup Playoffs I go back to Europe and play four or five events.”
LIV Golf’s model has seen it evolve into playing more events outside of the United States and around the world.
This year it has already played tournaments in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Adelaide, Australia; and Hong Kong. This week, it is playing in Singapore. There are other stops in South Korea, Mexico City, Spain and the UK.
Fitting the LIV model into the PGA Tour as part of the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises has proven to be complicated, however. There appear to be differing views on how that should work—if at all. Does team golf work? Is 14 LIV events too many?
“I think it is part of the stumbling block,” said Adam Scott, who won the Players Championship in 2004 and is a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board. “The Tour’s being very careful and respectful of everyone and wanting to give everyone, the golf fans and the media and the players, the product that they want
“But we're starting from two different sides of this, so I think it's hard to find the balance that's acceptable for everybody. And it also may not be ultimately possible.”
If possible, McIlroy said he’d stump for bigger events in Australia, where LIV Golf has played to its best crowds but where a tournament such as the Australian Open has struggled with sponsorship issues. “I think that could be one that could be elevated along with some others,” he said.
As part of the division in the game, the PGA Tour has been criticized for its domestic footprint which sees only two events—the former Zozo Classic in Japan and the co-sanctioned Scottish Open—played outside of North America.
Much of that goes back to McIlroy’s point that corporate America is a big backer of golf and wants events in convenient time zones and with the most opportunity for television ratings.
Asked if the Tour would be amenable to more global events, McIlroy pointed to the DP World Tour’s involvement in the negotiations. The Tour has an alliance with the circuit already.
“The DP World Tour are part of this, so that’s the international tour,” McIlroy said. “They’ve always been a part. The narrative has always been PGA Tour and PIF, but the DP World Tour were in that framework agreement, too. That’s a part of it as well.”
The framework agreement was first announced on June 6, 2023, and there have been numerous stops and starts in the process. The Tour has received $1.5 billion in investment from Strategic Sports Group as part of its for-profit entity.
Meanwhile, LIV Golf has continued to forge on, hiring a new CEO in Scott O'Neil to replace Greg Norman and expanding its offices while making future scheduling plans.
Monahan said Tuesday there is not a set date to continue negotiations.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Puts a Number on How Often Golf’s Top Players Should Compete Together.
