Rory McIlroy has disagreed with Jon Rahm’s assessment of professional golf ahead of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
Rahm is making his Dubai Desert Classic debut this weekend before turning his attention to the LIV Golf season, which begins at the start of February in Riyadh.
The Spaniard rocked the golfing world just over 12 months ago when he quit the PGA Tour and signed for Saudi-backed LIV. As a result, Rahm is now one of golf’s highest-earning players.
Since joining LIV, Rahm has never been afraid to share his thoughts on the current state of professional golf as protracted talks between the PIF and PGA Tour continue.
Now, the two-time major winner has claimed golf is in its “golden era,” despite some of the best players rarely competing against each other.
“But I think we’re living in a golden era right now for golf where the possibilities are endless. A big tour in Europe and a worldwide and a massive and massive tour, the PGA Tour. And you have another big product with LIV, and now you’re even adding the TGL. When it comes to golf, the possibilities are there right now,” Rahm said on Tuesday.
McIlroy, however, disagrees.
Rory McIlroy reacts to Jon Rahm’s ‘golden era’ claim
McIlroy, who has long yearned for the reunification of golf’s best players, believes Rahm has a “rose-tinted” view of the professional game.
“Very rose-tined glasses if you ask me,” McIlroy said during his pre-tournament press conference.
“Yeah, look, I think what I would say is with everything that’s happened in the game over the past two or three years, I think what I maybe could envision is that the domination of the American side of things might come back a little bit in terms of, not that the game has never been global, but you know, sort of trying to build on the opportunities globally. So I think where we are, I think we are in a good position to try to grow that part of it.”
The Northern Irishman added: “There’s amazing players, right? There are amazing players that play in all different tours and parts of the world and everything, which is great. But at the same time, it’s become too fractured and too disjointed. I would share his optimism if the game wasn’t as disjointed and as fractured as it was. You know, maybe we’ll get to that point sometime in the near future, and if we do, then I would say, I would share that optimism.”
When could LIV Golf and PGA Tour reunite?
After promising noises emerged during the off-season, a merger within the next year seems unlikely.
Working out a suitable way to reintegrate LIV players is proving challenging. Those who took the money and quit the PGA Tour can’t be welcomed back with open arms, and those who remained loyal deserve some compensation. These are all issues that must be ironed out.
What’s more, there’s the small matter of deciding what to do with LIV Golf if a merger takes place. Does the league disappear, or are PGA Tour players going to compete?
One sign that a deal could be close is Tony Finau’s recent decision to remain on the PGA Tour. The Salt Lake City native was reportedly close to joining LIV in December before shutting down the rumours. Perhaps Finau knows something the golfing world does not.
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