Rory McIlroy adds Masters layer to LIV's bid to 'destroy' DP World Tour

In an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, Kinnings, the DP World Tour CEO, spoke about how LIV Golf had aimed to wipe out the circuit using its financial muscle.

It now appears that the message was delivered to Kinnings during a meeting with LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil at Augusta National in April - and before LIV Golf lost its vast funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“Yeah,” replied McIlroy, speaking in a press conference on the eve of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, the first of the DP World Tour’s two season-ending Play-Offs in the Middle East, to be asked if he’d read what Kinnings had to say.

“I agree with everything that Guy said. They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race. They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour. Yeah, I agree with everything.”

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The back-to-back Masters champion added: “I think people that don't agree are probably very shortsighted. Look, there was some of the money that they used the right way, created the International Series on the Asian Tour, great for a couple years, but where did that leave the Asian Tour? They left them high and dry.

“The Asian Tour came back into the fold. Did a partnership with the PGA Tour and the European Tour. Again, this was always going to be the case.

“It was always going to be good for a few years until something like this happened, or they realised they weren't going to get any return on investment, or they were going to leave the golf space and go invest in something else and invest in something that would actually make them money.

“I think for long-term sustainability for men's professional golf, I think we are in a much better spot.”

FULL GUY KINNINGS INTERVIEW WITH THE SCOTSMAN - https://www.scotsman.com/sport/liv-wanted-to-destroy-us-dp-world-tour-ceo-opens-up-in-wide-ranging-interview-9326128