‘Afraid To Say Tiger [Woods]’: Rory McIlroy’s Latest LIV Golf Rant Sparks Rumors of Rift With Former Friend

The golf world has been chasing behind one consistent question for a long time! “What is the update on the PIF merger?” But, there have been no concrete answers to it. Even on Wednesday, at the practice round presser of the Tour Championship, Jay Monahan was asked where they stood at the pending agreement with LIV Golf’s beneficiary. But, once again, he kept on dodging the topic.

One thing has been confirmed with the release of the 2025 PGA Tour schedule and no sight of the breakaway league in it. There likely seems to be no merger any time soon. However, looks like Rory McIlroy, who is part of the Transaction Subcommittee, has his own two cents on the unification of the two leagues and the delayed process.

In an interview with Golf.com on Thursday, Rory McIlroy stated that he had high hopes for golf and its future. But, they have not been met this season. “More of the same, I guess. I thought there would have been more progress made, which is unfortunate. I think at this point, everyone’s just getting bored of it, just getting tired of it. It’s just become a bit of a cloud over golf. But a very niche cloud, y’know”, he said, hinting that it would be better to have one league, where all the players could compete together more often.

There is a board member who is kept in the loop of the discussion and is made part of it. Apart from that, the entire process remains confidential in front of the rest of the Tour players. In the interview, it felt as if McIlroy was pointing fingers at a particular someone, without revealing the name. He added, “I wish more would have been done, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of willingness from some people to try to fix it.”

While Rory McIlroy thought he could play it safe, the golf world was smarter. It took them no time to catch his hints and guess who probably might be the person.

The golf community’s suspicions lie about Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Adam Scott are players on PGA Tour Enterprises’ new transaction subcommittee, negotiating with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. On most occasions when the Tour has met Al Yasir, it has been Tiger Woods addressing the crowd, and hinting at progress. This happened in the New York Presser in June as well. However, looks like despite trying to ignite the fire of hope in the golf community, Tiger Woods is on the list of NO. 1 suspects for the accusation made by Rory McIlroy.

At least that is what the golf fans sternly believe. They left comments like, “Team Tiger is holding up negotiations”. While another fan even hinted at his agent, Mark Steinberg, involved in the process. They wrote, “TW and Steinberg”.

Additionally, the sole decision also lies on Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour. The fans believe that had he truly wanted there to be some progress, there would have been now, as he sits on top of the discussion and his decision, along with that of Greg Norman, will always go on top priority. But the people believe that he has been acting on Tiger Woods’ suggestions.

Taking to this, one of them wrote, “As one of your counterparts so adroitly opined, until and if Tiger decides this needs to happen, it’s going nowhere.  Eamon Lynch, whose articles drive me mad as it relate to LIV, even admitted that Monahan is taking his direction from the Players Council aka Tiger.”

The PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian PIF announced a shock merger agreement with each other after weeks of undisclosed negotiations last year. It aimed to serve as a unifying factor for the sport and was to be brought into action on December 31, 2023. However, it has been delayed ever since, and now the golf world is pretty much frustrated.

The root cause of it? Tiger Woods and Jay Monahan. Taking to this, one of them spat out their anger and commented, “Jay needs to take a drive with Tiger off a cliff”.

While another no longer wanted Rory McIlroy to be beating behind the bush, and directly call out names in the interviews. So the real culprit, for whom according to them the golf world suffering the split, was revealed. They wrote, “He’s afraid to say Tiger”.

What are your thoughts on the PIF merger? Let us know in the comments section below!