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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Rory McIlroy said Wednesday he wasn’t trying to send a message by agreeing to team up with world No. 1 golfer Scotty Scheffler in a televised match against LIV golf league stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in December.
The match announcement last week came as officials from the Professional Golfers Association and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund prepare to meet in New York this week to continue talks about a potential investment that could reunite the fractured sport.
The Public Investment Fund funds LIV Golf, which has lured DeChambeau, Koepka, Jon Rahm and others from the PGA Tour.
“I don’t know much about the talks that are going on. I know there are talks but I’m not part of them,” McIlroy said at a news conference on Wednesday at the Irish Open.
“Yeah, I mean, I think we’re all playing golf and trying to figure this all out and move on. So we’ll see, yeah. I know everything you know at this point, and I’m sure the news will start coming out here in the next few days.”
McIlroy is a member of the PGA’s Transactions Subcommittee that has been negotiating with the Saudis, along with golfers Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
Last week, McIlroy confirmed he had agreed to play in an exhibition match against the LIV Golf All-Stars, which is expected to be held at an unspecified golf course in Las Vegas.
The PGA Tour is expected to grant McIlroy and Scheffler media passes to appear at the event, as it has done at other charity events in the past.
McIlroy said his decision to participate had nothing to do with his frustration with the division that has consumed men’s professional golf for much of the past three years.
“I don’t think it was meant to send a message,” McIlroy said. “We wanted to do something that would excite every golf fan. We have the best player in the world. There are two players, Bryson and Brooks, who have won majors the last two years. I haven’t achieved what those two players have achieved the last two years, but I feel like I’m one of the best players in the world.”
Because LIV Golf players are suspended by the PGA Tour and cannot compete in circuit events, the only times golfers from both circuits compete against each other are in the four major tournaments: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and The Open.
“It’s a way to show the golf fans around the world that this is what can happen or that these are the possibilities in the future,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been saying this for a long time: I think golf and golf fans see us together more than four times a year.”
“I think that’s what we tried to do. It’s the middle of December. There’s not a lot of golf happening, so we’re trying to get people excited about something before the season starts again. I think we all thought it was a good idea and hopefully it’s a sign of things to come in the future.”
