Rory McIlroy makes St Andrews 'no better place' claim in bid to heal golf divide

Engineered by Johann Rupert, the driving force behind the DP World Tour event, 14 LIV Golf players, led by Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, are teeing up at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews.

In addition, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will be in the same group as Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chief of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in Thursday’s opening round at Carnoustie.

Monahan will then play with McIlroy at Kingsbarns on Friday before McIlroy and Al-Rumayyan will be out together on Saturday at St Andrews.

“You know, there’s no better place than the home of golf to get everyone together and talking,” McIlroy, speaking as he played a practice round on the Old Course on Wednesday morning with his dad Gerry, told BBC Northern Ireland. “It’s a great thing and a good sign that Jay and Yasir are playing together on Thursday.

“Obviously you’ve got quite a big contingent over from LIV that are playing in this event as well. I think what Johann Rupert, the man who runs this event, is trying to do is just bring the golf world back together a little bit.

“If we need to be forced together in some way (laughing), he is trying to do that, but I think it will be good. I think it is a step in the right direction. You know, time will tell if things go in the direction I want them to or a lot of people want them to.”

A meeting last month in New York to try and edge closer to a resolution in the talks involving the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF were attended by Monahan and Al-Ruyamman, as well as Tiger Woods in his role as a player director on the PGA Tour’s policy board.

In addition to Monahan and Al-Ruyamman, DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings is also attending this week’s tournament, which Rupert, an influential figure and huge golf fan, is clearly using to try and move things forward.

“There’s been a few good steps along the way and I think this is another one,” added McIlroy. “It’s a matter of getting all the constituents on board. The sponsors want the same thing, I think everyone just wants to see the game of golf come back together and have all the best players playing together and try to make it a bit more global as well.

“I think there’s a lot of people on board with that and it’s just a matter of trying to work through it, I guess the various complicated issues there are to get it done.

“I mean, I think we all understand it is not easy and, you know, change for the most part in golf is resisted because it is such a traditional sport. But I think at this point in time I think change is needed to sort of try and drive the game forward and hopefully we can get to that point.”

As for when that might be the case, the Northern Irishman hopes it can be fairly soon. “Definitely before the year’s end,” he declared. “Maybe it is going too slow for the people who follow golf.

“But I think in the business world deals of this size take time. You know, you are talking about billions of dollars changing hands, different jurisdictions in the Middle East, US and Europe.

“It’s a pretty complicated deal, but I think we’ll know more by the year’s end hopefully. We are in October, so three months to get something done and start 2025 with enthusiasm and all move forward together.”