20 February 2024 , 07:00
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The two-year saga between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf rumbles on, as do merger talks between the two parties with no sign of an imminent resolution.
Four-time major McIlroy has stepped back from the drama in recent months after leading the battle for the PGA Tour when the Saudi Arabia-bankrolled LIV was founded in 2022. But the 34-year-old might have proposed the answer to the elite game’s problems in the shape of a world tour.
McIlroy’s idea is inspired by the Champions League in European football, with the best players from either tour qualifying for a new competition that would bookend the season.
Could it work, and which players would be involved if such a competition ever materialised? There are many blanks to fill in, but it is certainly an interesting concept which could get the best players on the planet on the course together at the same time more often than merely at the majors.
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McIlroy’s vision
Speaking after his third round in Los Angeles on Saturday, McIlroy was asked about how he would set about reunifying the game of golf at the elite level. His answer gave significant food for thought.
The Northern Irishman said: “I would think it would be one tour. I think you would just create a tour for the top 80 players in the world. Then I think everything sort of feeds up in that one. The way I look at it, it would be like [the] Champions League in European football.
“It sort of sits above the rest of the leagues and then all those leagues sort of feed up into that and the best of the best play against each other in the Champions League is how I would think about it.”
McIlroy admits the idea is “pie in the sky” right now, and he has given up his power to drive changes by resigning from his post on the PGA Tour’s policy board three months ago. But it is certainly an idea worth exploring, with the potential for all sides to benefit.
McIlroy remains invested in shaping the future of the game despite resigning from the PGA Tour's policy board (Getty)Fitting it into the calendar
Major season is sacrosanct, and neither the PGA Tour – which inked a $3 billion (£2.4b) investment deal with Strategic Sports Group earlier this month – nor LIV are going to cede the prime dates in the middle of the year, so spring and summer is out of the question for making this competition work.
Instead, a split season starting in the winter before a hiatus before returning later on for high-stakes playoffs seems the way to go, much like the Champions League from which McIlroy took his inspiration.
Of course, signature events like The Genesis Invitational, The Players and LIV’s Las Vegas tour stop make sense to be avoided, but there are a smattering of PGA Tour events at both ends of the season which the top players tend to swerve anyway. Those tournaments, such as The Sony Open and the Farmers Insurance Open could run simultaneously to World Tour events without causing much upset to fans.
Using this season’s schedule as a framework, the FedEx Cup Playoffs conclude on September 1, while LIV’s regular season finishes on August 18. Individual and team championship events will follow, but the dates are yet to be confirmed. The DP World Tour’s Race To Dubai must also be taken into account, with the DP World Tour Championship concluding on November 17.
Those key dates show there is a window in between for a number of playoff events to decide the winner of this hypothetical world tour. It would bring the best players in the world together more often, and although it would increase playing commitments, the prospect of huge prize money is sure to ensure players turn up.
The event would also be hugely attractive to sponsors, too, with big audiences sure to tune in to watch major championship-quality fields compete for meaningful prizes.
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A global flavour
LIV has leaned into being a global tour, with events in the UK, Mexico, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Spain and Saudi Arabia this season, as well as five stops in the United States. The PGA Tour, however, is heavily concentrated in North America, with fewer and fewer players showcasing their talents around the world.
A World Tour competition would grow the game by taking the best players to more markets, and it would also make the product more compelling by visiting a diverse selection of courses that pose different challenges.
LIV has had success taking its tour on the road, attracting huge crowds in Australia (Getty Images)McIlroy said: “I think there has to be a component of the southern hemisphere, Australia, South Africa… and the Far East, whether that be Korea, Japan, China. Obviously the Middle East as well. We’ve been going to the Middle East for a long time, but obviously Dubai, Saudi, and then sort of working our way from east to west and back into the US for the sort of spring, summertime.
“I don’t think it will look too dissimilar to what it is right now, but maybe the front end of the year and the back end of the year might look a little different. I don’t think we need to blow everything up, but there definitely needs to be some tweaks, I think.”
Who’s in?
If this idea ever comes to pass, there would certainly be plenty of haggling from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf about the number of qualifying spots each tour gets. Using the Official World Golf Ranking is out of the question due to LIV’s players plummeting down the rankings, with no points on offer in the 54-hole tournaments.
With McIlroy’s proposal of 80, an even split seems wholly unrealistic with LIV having just 54 players on its roster. Sixty places for the PGA Tour and 20 for LIV seems about right, give or take a few either way. Qualifying can be determined by the previous season’s FedEX Cup and LIV Golf individual standings.
Based on the 2023 standings, the 20 players invited from LIV would include Talor Gooch, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. From the PGA Tour, star names like Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy would all be assured a place. Jon Rahm would also get a spot from his PGA Tour successes last season before defecting to LIV.
Who’s out?
Based on last season’s results, Justin Thomas would be the biggest name to miss out after he failed to qualify for the 70-man FedEx Cup playoffs. Shane Lowry and Billy Horschel would also not be involved.
From LIV, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell would fail to make the cut. Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, the winner of LIV’s season opener in Mexico earlier this month, would be the unlucky man in 21st place.
Could it happen?
The past two years in the world of golf show nothing is out of the question, and there is certainly money to be made here, which puts the world tour concept well and truly on the table, particularly if the PGA Tour and LIV would have ownership stakes in the hypothetical competition.
As McIlroy says, right now it is “pie in the sky”, but it could be a solution for the rival tours to co-exist while giving fans what they want: the best players in the world teeing it up together more often than just four times a year.