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Rory McIlroy says that having Bryson DeChambeau back on the PGA Tour would be in the circuit’s best interests, as he once again made the case for reunification in the men’s professional game.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational, four-time major champion McIlroy was characteristically candid as he called for an end to the great PGA Tour-LIV Golf divide.
That, he insists, starts with reinstating banned card-holders such as DeChambeau.
“We’ve all done better from all of this,” said McIlroy. “Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from this.
“I’ve been on the record saying this a lot, like we’re playing for a $20 million prize fund this week. That would have never happened if LIV hadn’t have come around.
“I think everyone’s just got to get over it and we all have to say, ‘Okay, this is the starting point and we move forward. We don’t look behind us, we don’t look to the past. Whatever’s happened has happened and it’s been unfortunate, but reunification, how we all come back together and move forward, that’s the best thing for everyone.’
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“If people are butt-hurt or have their feelings hurt because guys went or whatever, like who cares? Let’s move forward together and let’s just try to get this thing going again and do what’s best for the game.”
On the subject of DeChambeau, he added: “There are guys that were on the PGA Tour that went to play on LIV and if they still have status, sure, come back, come back and play.
“Having Bryson DeChambeau come back and play on this tour is good.”
Not that McIlroy plans on going the other way. When it was put to him that there might have to be some crossover compromise that would require PGA Tour players to commit to playing some LIV events, he replied: “I hope not.”
That’s because the Irishman has been one of the most vocal critics of the Saudi-funded venture since its emergence in the summer of 2022.
Asked how he has made his peace with the league’s existence, he replied: “Because I look at what I made in 2019 before LIV came around and I look at what I’ve made after LIV came around and it’s very different.
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“Like I don’t know what to say, I earn more money now than I did in 2019 and if LIV hadn’t have come around, I don’t know if I would have been able to say that.
“I didn’t feel that way initially because the fracture that wasn’t good for the game, it wasn’t good for the overall game. It wasn’t good for either tour, I didn’t think.
“I think we’re both sort of like this has been great for the major championships. We all get together at the major championships and that’s been a really good thing, but for both tours it’s unsustainable.
“I was opposed to 54 holes, I was opposed to the team concept in some way, but when you sort of remove yourself from it a little bit and you look at the overall picture, we’ve all done better because of this.
“The players on the PGA Tour had more leverage than they ever had to go to the tour to say we want this, we want that or whatever. But at the same time I regret some of those decisions, too, because it put the tour in a place where they were stretched financially and they sort of had to look at taking money from elsewhere to try to compete.
“It’s all very easy in hindsight to say these things, but I think we are closer to getting a resolution and hopefully we can all just move forward.”
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