Rory McIlroy has ‘dream scenario’ for a new world tour
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Rory McIlroy at the US Grand Prix in October 2023. The Northern Irishman has a vision that golf could one day be like Formula One in which the sport travels around the world.
PHOTO: AFP
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DUBAI – As the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to negotiate the sport’s future, Rory McIlroy has said that he has a “dream scenario” with a global approach, tapping into markets such as Australia, South Africa, Japan and even Singapore.
“Going forward, if everything is on the table, venues have to be a big part of the consideration. We need to make sure the courses are worthy of the players who are going to be competing,” the Northern Irishman said in an interview on Jan 9 with Golf Digest in Dubai.
“My dream scenario is a world tour, with the proviso that corporate America has to remain a big part of it all. Saudi Arabia, too. That’s just basic economics.”
And he added that “there is an untapped commercial opportunity out there”.
“Investors always want to make a return on their money. Revenues at the PGA Tour right now are about US$2.3 billion (S$3.1 billion). So how do we get that number up to four or six? To me, it is by looking outward,” the world No. 2 said.
“They need to think internationally and spread their wings a bit. I’ve been banging that drum for a while.”
The PGA Tour is continuing negotiations to finalise an alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf. The deadline was Dec 31 before it was extended.
The PGA Tour had revealed a so-called framework agreement to merge commercial interests with the PIF in a surprise announcement in June.
McIlroy does have an opinion on expanding international opportunities for the planet’s best golfers. Having played in many parts of the globe, he has facts and sees a new world that could solve the current conflict.
“Whether they are rotated on the new global circuit, or we go with the same ones every year, I’m OK with either. The Australian Open, for example, should almost be the fifth Major. The market down there is huge with potential. They love golf. They love sport. They have been starved of top-level golf. And the courses are so good,” he said.
“The South African Open is another I’d have in the mix. Then you have places like Singapore and Hong Kong and Japan. What a market Japan represents. That would be another opportunity.
“We could end up with something that resembles Formula One, but with a little more of an American presence. Throw in the four Majors and you have a brilliant schedule for the top 70-100 guys, whatever the number is. We’d have, say a 22-event schedule. That would look pretty good to me.”
One of the biggest stars in professional golf, McIlroy has a new perspective after his previous criticism of LIV Golf, which has the financial resources to successfully recruit many of the PGA Tour’s established players, including Phil Mickelson at the start and, most recently, Jon Rahm.
A four-time Major champion, the 34-year-old has been the face of the PGA Tour during this period but resigned from the PGA Tour policy board in November, saying that he needed to focus on playing and also his family.
“Getting out of all things political has definitely cleared my head,” he told Golf Digest.
“I don’t feel like I’m caught up in it all. For the last two years, every time I’d be walking from the locker room to the range, I’d be stopped by someone with a couple of questions. I get that I made myself the go-to guy. I was on the board and knew what was going on. So I felt like I could speak.
“Now, if someone asks me, I can honestly say I don’t know what is going on. I can’t give the best opinion any more. Because they aren’t based on absolute facts.” REUTERS
