Pretty much everybody in the golf world — players, officials, bureaucrats, media, sponsors, fans — is done with chewing over the sport's Great Divide. Unless and until the Powers that Be get their acts together and figure out a way toward reconciliation, there's just not much to say any longer. ("We're kind of like past the level of exhaustion," Justin Thomas said earlier this week, discussing the PGA Tour-LIV split.)
Credit Rory McIlroy, then, for spinning the conversation forward. McIlroy has taken plenty of shots at LIV Golf over the last three years, some of which he's had to walk back. But one element of LIV's strategy has struck a chord with McIlroy: the breakaway league's international focus.
"My thing is for golf to stay where it is and be relevant, it needs to be ... worldwide, it's a year-round calendar," McIlroy said on Wednesday morning prior to The Players Championship.
"Golf isn't just played in America," McIlroy added. "It didn't start in America. It's played in a lot of other places in the world."
He noted that golf's primary source of revenue is American — as in, American corporations — and that's sufficient reason to keep much of the sport stateside.
"But I think there is an opportunity to have some of the bigger tournaments outside of America," he added. "I've always been a worldwide player. I play all around the world. I start my year in the Middle East. I come over here. I go to the UK. After the FedExCup Playoffs I go back to Europe and play four or five events."
He pointed specifically to Australia, which hosts the most popular event, by far, on the LIV calendar in Adelaide. The burgeoning golf scenes in both China and the Middle East could be a lucrative source of both revenue and fandom in the coming years, as well, and LIV — whatever its other flaws — is making a strategic move to address those markets.
Regardless of how it happens, McIlroy implicitly acknowledged that reunification needs to happen for the good of the game. He contended that the best players in the world, from both LIV and the PGA Tour, need to be playing together "once a month if not more. I think 12 times a year, or maybe a smidge higher than that, I think would be a good number." The current number — four, the number of majors where the world's best will gather — simply isn't enough.
In a lighter vein, McIlroy touched on a range of other subjects, including the burgeoning popularity of YouTube golf: "I'm not of that generation," he said. "I'd much rather watch this tournament on Saturday and Sunday than watch YouTube golf."
About Tiger Woods' injury that will likely cost him the 2025 major season, McIlroy said, "It sucks. Yeah, he doesn't have much luck when it comes to injuries and his body. ... Hoping he's in good spirits and hoping he's doing okay. We obviously won't see him play golf this year, and hopefully we see him maybe play in 2026."
As for his own future, McIlroy stated without a doubt that he won't ever play on golf's senior circuit. "I will not play Champions Tour golf," he said. "Look, I've said a lot of absolutes in my time that I've walked back, but I do not envision playing Champions Tour golf. Something has went terribly wrong if I have to compete at golf at 50."
He competes this weekend at Sawgrass, teeing off on Thursday at 1:29 p.m. ET alongside Xander Schauffele and defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
