Rory McIlroy’s Interview Is Latest Sign That the PGA Tour Is in Big Trouble

McIlroy was once the Tour’s leading voice against LIV Golf. Now he's resigned to a new world order, where the PGA Tour is playing from behind.

There is a lot to unpack from Rory McIlroy’s extended interview with the Stick to Football podcast, which was released Wednesday.

It seemed like he was closing the loop on the five stages of grief.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. They’re all there.

Once the face of the PGA Tour's fight against LIV Golf, McIlroy sounded a different tune this week / USA Today

The four-time major winner has experienced it all over the last two years, during which he has been the PGA Tour’s designated defender against the insurgent Saudis and their PIF-backed LIV Golf.

McIlroy’s voice rang the loudest whenever LIV Golf and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia were discussed.

McIlroy is in his early 30s, the prime of his career, and in addition to defending Ponte Vedra and commissioner Jay Monahan, he eventually joined ranks with Tiger Woods to get players more involved in the future of the Tour and take more control of a policy board that appeared to be floundering.

McIlroy spoke out and joined Woods at the famous meeting in Delaware during the 2022 BMW Championship. McIlroy, then a policy board member, pushed for change.

Despite all his work as one of the Tour’s leading voices, McIlroy left the policy board in November while citing personal and professional commitments.

Now free, McIlroy has been unshackled from the role of unblinking defender of the PGA Tour and Monahan.

His first shot across the bow landed after Jon Rahm left for LIV, and McIlroy stated that Rahm must be part of the next European Ryder Cup team in New York next year.

Then, stunningly, McIlroy said that he has accepted LIV as part of the sport, after spending years denouncing the idea.

For two years, McIlroy was clear on his position about LIV, but in one fell swoop, those comments were washed away. Now one of the PGA Tour’s staunchest allies is changing the narrative and questioning the business model of the professional game.

“I think what LIV and the Saudis have exposed is that you’re asking for millions of dollars to sponsor these events, and you’re not able to guarantee to the sponsors that the players are going to show up,” McIlroy said on the podcast. “I can’t believe the PGA Tour has done so well for so long.”

Put another way, the PGA Tour is the only sport that is not dependent on the gate, or the amount of money generated from ticket sales. It is the only sport where if not one ticket is sold, the prize purse would be unaffected.

The money for the purse comes from television networks and sponsors. Any money generated from hospitality, ticket sales, apparel or food and beverage goes to the tournament, and if any money is left after expenses, that goes to the charities involved with the event.

But a new wrinkle, in response to LIV Golf, has the Tour attempting to milk additional money out the tournament to cover their mismanagement of the purses. That additional fee can come from only two places: the bottom line or the money donated to the charities.

McIlroy is not clairvoyant, but he can see the writing on the wall.

“You’re never going to win a fight if you’re going money for money because we’ve seen that in other sports, where no one is spending money like the Saudis,” McIlroy said. “It put the PGA Tour in a position where they had to spend a lot of money that put them on a path that was unsustainable, and now you’re seeing some sponsors are pulling out because the Tour is asking for so much money and the sponsors can’t afford it—they’re asking sponsors to pay $20 [million] to $25 million to sponsor an event, but they’re not seeing the value in it as they can’t guarantee the top 50 guys will be playing, so they won’t give them the money.”

Finally, someone understands the dilemma the Tour finds itself in.

Golf’s television ratings are down, the cost of sponsorship is up and the PGA Tour brand, along with the professional golf brand, has taken a hit. The sport is no longer the best place to park your sponsorship dollars if you are a major corporation.

It’s still unclear whether the Tour’s new agreement with the PIF, which is reportedly still being hammered out, will make a big difference with sponsorship economics.

McIlroy has had a front-row seat to most of what has occurred since the first LIV event in London. He didn’t come right out and say that the PGA Tour is in trouble or that it’s future is uncertain. But ultimately what is needed is more enlightened guidance and potentially someone else steering the ship.

Players are great at hitting a little white ball on green grass, but only a small handful may also be good enough at running a professional golf tour.

None of the current crop are Deane Beman, the second commissioner of the PGA Tour who served in the role for 20 years, from 1974 to ’94.

Beman won both the British and U.S. Amateur and four PGA Tour events before becoming commissioner. A hard-charging, no-nonsense leader, Beman was the rare example of an elite player who had the right makeup to be a successful commissioner.

What McIlroy has laid bare is that a Beman-esque figure does not currently exist on the PGA Tour.

For most of the PGA Tour’s existence it has been the big dog in the room, with no question about its power or place in pro golf.

That all changed when LIV Golf arrived with the PIF behind it.

Now the Tour is playing from a position of weakness, a point made even clearer from McIlroy’s comments.

Where the Tour will go from here remains a question, but one thing is crystal clear: Confidence is eroding every day in the leadership in Ponte Vedra.