Rory McIlroy, the strongest voice against the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League that caused so much disruption in the sport over the past year and a half, said Wednesday he now feels like a “sacrificial lamb” with the stunning reversal of the PGA Tour becoming partners with Saudi Arabia’s enormous wealth fund.
It was McIlroy who helped lead a players-only meeting last August that reshaped the PGA Tour to fend off the challenge of LIV Golf. He has been the loudest critic, a member of the tour’s policy board. And he was among the last to hear the news shortly before it broke.
“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb, and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” McIlroy said Wednesday at the Canadian Open, where he is the two-time reigning champion and will be seeking a third straight victory when the tournament tees off Thursday.
“Again, removing myself from the situation, I see how this is better for the game of golf. There’s no denying that,” he added. “But for me as an individual, yeah, there’s just going to have to be conversations that are had.”
McIlroy was in the players meeting Tuesday afternoon where PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan faced heavy criticism from members who wondered why the tour is taking money from Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund and why they weren’t made aware.