PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Rory McIlroy remains hopeful that a deal between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund “should and will be done.”
Fixing the other fractures in the game, he acknowledged, could take a while longer.
McIlroy said two months ago, following the U.S. presidential election, that Donald Trump’s return to the White House should help “clear the way” for the deal between the two warring sides in terms of Department of Justice approval. Trump is an avid golfer, McIlroy said, and he’d likely relish the opportunity to say that he helped heal the sport by being more deal-friendly.
Indeed, now that Trump is back in Washington, McIlroy said, the DOJ “doesn’t seem to be as much of an obstacle anymore.”
“I think from an investment standpoint, that deal should and will be done,” McIlroy said Tuesday at Pebble Beach, where he is making his season debut on Tour.
It could even happen “pretty soon,” he said, before cautioning: “But I’ve said that for the last two years.”
That deal is complicated, because of the regulatory approval, but even trickier might be how to heal the fractured golf landscape with so many players, executives, shareholders and partners involved in the process, all with different viewpoints and priorities.
“The biggest impediment is maybe the differing visions of what golf should look in the future,” McIlroy said.
And there’s no immediate fix for that.
