Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau don't see the pro game coming back together anytime soon
Getty Images
It has been over two years since the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with LIV Golf, but the reunification of pro golf still seems worlds away, according to stars on both sides of the aisle.
In a conversation with CNBC’s CEO Council Forum, Rory McIlroy, who has been a big proponent of bringing pro golf back together, was not optimistic about the state of a deal between the two sides.
“I think for golf in general it would be better if there was unification,” McIlroy said. “But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s just going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”
To McIlroy, it’s clear that LIV doesn’t plan to go anywhere just yet based on the league’s willingness to operate at a massive financial deficit.
“As someone who supports the traditional structure of men’s professional golf, we have to realize we were trying to deal with people that were acting, in some ways, irrationally, just in terms of the capital they were allocating and the money they were spending,” McIlroy said. “It’s been four or five years and there hasn’t been a return yet, but they’re going to have to keep spending that money to even just maintain what they have right now. A lot of these guys’ contracts are up. They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent five or six billion U.S. dollars, and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.
“I’m way more comfortable being on the PGA Tour side than on their side but who knows what’ll happen?”
Bryson DeChambeau also doesn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. The two-time U.S. Open Champion believes the two sides are entrenched, and it will take time to get real movement on bringing the game back together.
“Man, I wish something major would happen, but I don’t think it’s going to in the immediate future. I think there are too many wants on both sides and not enough gives on the other,” DeChambeau said in a recent interview with FOX News.
“We’re just too far apart on a lot of things. It’s going to take some time, but ultimately, I do think the game of golf will grow internationally.”
Back in February, McIlroy implored players on both sides of the divide to put their differences aside and realize that they have all financially benefited from the fracture and now it’s time to bring the game back together.
“Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from this,” McIlroy said at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. “I’ve been on the record saying this a lot: We’re playing for a $20 million prize fund this week. That would have never happened if LIV hadn’t come around. I think everyone’s just got to get over it, and we all have to say, OK, 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.
“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.”
McIlroy’s plea to unify the game came with a reasonable reminder that having the players who left for LIV return will benefit them financially in the long run. After Strategic Sports Group invested $1.5 billion into the newly created PGA Tour Enterprises last January, players were given equity grants in the business that come with an eight-year vesting period. As McIlroy noted, if the PGA Tour has all the best players in the world, the value of the business and their shares will go up.
“Like for us, they’ve all got equity in this tour,” McIlroy said. “Having Bryson DeChambeau come back and play on this tour is good.”
When LIV first arrived on the scene and fractured the professional game, McIlroy was the lead voice in the PGA Tour’s battle against the Saudi-backed league. While McIlroy still believes LIV’s emergence was bad for the health of the pro game, he sees that everyone has benefited from the fracture and pro golf can’t continue in its broken state.
“I didn’t feel that way initially because of the fracture,” McIlroy said. “It 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.”
In February, it appeared like the two sides were moving closer to a deal, but the tone shifted in March, and things have been quiet ever since.
Since then, LIV Golf has reapplied for Official World Golf Rankings points, made the change to go to 72 holes and added a new qualifying route with a Q-School tweak.
“I think it’s a peculiar move because I think they could have got ranking points with three rounds,” McIlroy said at the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this month. “I don’t think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back.
“It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we’ve all done. It brings them back into not really being a destructor and sort of falling more in line with what everyone else does. But if that’s what they felt they needed to do to get the ranking points, I guess that’s what they had to do.”
LIV’s changes signal that the breakaway league is full steam ahead under new CEO Scott O’Neil and doesn’t plan to go anywhere.
Neither McIlroy nor DeChambeau sees traction in the great golf reunification plan, but DeChambeau is hopeful that, over time, the game will eventually come back together.
“I won’t speak for anybody, but I think there will be improvements for the game as time goes on,” DeChambeau told FOX News. “It’s positive disruption, and it’ll take time to let the water settle and make a perfect scenario where we all come back together.
“Ultimately, I think it’ll be good for the game over time.”
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf.com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (updated: he did it). Josh Schrock can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
