Rory McIlroy delivers fractured LIV Golf verdict | Golf News

Popular golfer Rory McIlroy is never shy to weigh in on the LIV Golf-PGA Tour unification discourse that’s embroiled the game over the last two years.

However, the 2025 Masters Champion admitted in a current interview on CNBC that he thinks “golf is in such a great place” while other sports activities stay fractured. 

McIlroy raised NASCAR as an instance. The circuit is still in the midst of a lawsuit with Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing (and Front Row Motorsports) suing the group. 

“Golf is in such a good place, but at the same time, you see some of these other sports that have been fractured for so long,” he said on CNBC’s CEO Council Forum. 

“You look at boxing, for example, or you look at what’s happened in motor racing in the United States, with Indy and NASCAR and everything else.”

“For golf in general, it would be better if there were unification. But I just think with what’s happened over the last few years, it’s going to be very difficult to be able to do that.”

The two leagues attempted to merge in 2023 before talks stalled, though the temporary agreement allowed LIV golfers to compete in major tournaments. 

Tiger Woods and PGA commissioner Jay Monahan appeared at the White House in February in hopes of expediting unification talks (which ultimately stalled). 

The PGA hired Brian Rolapp as its new CEO over the summer, giving McIlroy hope for the future. “I think the leadership that [new PGA TOUR CEO] Brian [Rolapp] has shown already and where he wants the PGA Tour to go, you know, I think everyone on the PGA Tour feels like we’re in a good place and trust that his guidance and leadership will position us in the in the right place.”

Some gamers, like Justin Thomas, have run out of hope. “There’s just so many of us, actually on both sides, both us on tour and I believe the LIV gamers, that we do not actually know what’s going on and we’re just taking part in golf and hoping for the best and because there’s a lot that we do not know and that we will not control,” he said earlier this 12 months.