Rory McIlroy is hoping this year’s Ryder Cup will be free of the “noise” surrounding the LIV Golf saga. McIlroy has found himself at the centre of the drama involving the PGA Tour ‘s dispute with the LIV setup over the past year.
The Northern Irishman proved to be one of the Saudi-backed league’s most vocal critics, but has opted to take a step back from the off-course drama to focus on his efforts on the course in recent months. McIlroy’s option to drop away from the drama came in the midst of the PGA Tour’s truce with its rival circuit.
In June the Tour confirmed it had r eached a shock framework agreement with LIV’s Middle Eastern backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF).
Despite the peace talks, professional golf’s off-course drama is far from over with negotiations over the proposed deal continuing. Amid the politics, McIlroy is hoping the power of the Ryder Cup can revert the focus back onto the course for at least one week, similar to the 150th Open Championship last July.
Speaking at this week’s BMW PGA Championship, he said: “I feel like this Ryder Cup is a bit like the 150th Open at St Andrews last year where all of that noise went away for the four days that we were playing, at least. Yeah, there’s just some tournaments that in our game that are bigger and more important than all of that stuff, and obviously the Ryder Cup is right at the top of the list.
“So yeah, at the end of the day it’s about competition and about sport and competing at the highest level, and that’s what the Ryder Cup is.” Last year’s Open came in the midst of the chaos between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed league, taking place just weeks after the Tour had decided to ban players who had defected to LIV Golf.
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The 150th edition of golf’s most historic event provided a much-needed break from the dispute though, with the focus firmly back on the dealings on the course rather than off it. Whilst tensions are much lower 14 months on, there is still plenty of work to be done between the two former rivals.
On the back of the agreement announcement in June, those negotiating the peace treaty have been set a deadline of December 31 to finalise a deal. As mentioned by McIlroy, the players will no doubt be keen to focus on their golfing exploits in Rome, having vented their frustations over the handling of the agreement in the aftermath of the announcement.
The latest issue facing Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has doubt cast over the time frame of negotiations, but speaking at last month’s Tour Championship, the American expressed his confidence at the end-of-year deadline being met. “We’re confident that we’re going to reach a positive outcome for the PGA Tour,” Monahan said. “And as it relates to reason not to believe or believe, you know, at this point, given what Tyler [Duncan] just outlined and what I said, no, I don’t have any reason to think that we won’t be successful.”