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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Rory McIlroy said Wednesday he wasn’t trying to send a message by agreeing to team up with world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler in a made-for-TV match against LIV Golf League stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in December.
Last week’s announcement of the match came as officials from the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund prepared to meet in New York this week to continue talks about a potential investment that might bring the fractured sport back together.
The PIF is financing LIV Golf, which has lured DeChambeau, Koepka, Jon Rahm and others from the PGA Tour.
“I don’t know much about the talks that are going on. I know that there is but that’s not something that I’m a part of,” McIlroy said Wednesday during a news conference at the Irish Open.
“Yeah, I mean, I think we are all in the game of golf trying to look for a solution to all this and try to move forward. So we’ll see, yeah. I know as much as you do at this point, and I’m sure news will start to trickle out here in the next few days.”
McIlroy is a member of a PGA Tour Enterprises transactional subcommittee that has been negotiating with the Saudis, along with golfers Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
Last week, McIlroy confirmed that he’d agreed to participate in the exhibition match against the LIV Golf stars, which is expected to take place at an undetermined golf course in Las Vegas.
The PGA Tour is expected to grant McIlroy and Scheffler media releases to appear in the event, like it has done in other events for charity in the past.
McIlroy said his decision to participate had nothing to do with his frustration over the divide that has consumed men’s professional golf for much of the past three years.
“I wouldn’t say it’s meant to send a message,” McIlroy said. “It’s more we wanted to do something that, I guess, all golf fans could get excited about. You’ve got the best player in the world. You’ve got two guys in Bryson and Brooks that have won majors in the last two years. I haven’t done what those guys have done the last couple years, but I’ve definitely been, I feel, one of the best players in the world.”
Because LIV Golf players were suspended by the PGA Tour and can’t compete in the circuit’s events, about the only times golfers from both circuits compete against each other is at the four majors: Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open.
“It’s a way to show golf fans in the world that this is what could happen or these are the possibilities going forward,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been saying this for a long time: I think golf and golf fans get to see us together more than four times a year.
“I think that’s what we’ve tried to do. It’s in the middle of December. There’s not a lot going on in the game of golf, so [we’re] trying to get people excited about something before the season starts again. I think we all thought it was a good idea and something that hopefully is a sign of things to come in the future.”