Rory McIlroy on upcoming meetings with Saudi PIF: ‘This is big-boy stuff’

Rory McIlroy said he plans to do more listening than talking when the PGA Tour’s transaction subcommittee meets with representatives from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, including governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, on Friday afternoon in New York.

McIlroy, who is playing in this week’s Memorial Tournament in Ohio, told reporters after the opening round that he will join the meeting remotely via video conference. The other members of the subcommittee, including Tiger Woods, will meet in-person with the PIF as they try to work toward an agreement that would see a potential investment in the new PGA Tour Enterprises and help unify the fractured sport.

Since being named to the transaction subcommittee last month – which will be tasked with negotiating directly with the PIF – McIlroy said the group has talked three times a week with the Saudis. Friday’s meeting in New York will mark their first in-person gathering. The other members of the committee are Adam Scott, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board liaison Joe Ogilvie, Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder and Fenway Sports Group principal John Henry.

“There’s going to be people in that room on the PGA Tour side who are going to take the lead,” McIlroy told reporters at Muirfield Village, as quoted by Bob Harig of SI.com. “And it’s not going to be Adam, Tiger or I. It’s going to be the business guys. We’re there to maybe give a perspective from a player’s point of view.

“This is a negotiation about an investment in the PGA Tour Enterprises, this is big-boy stuff. And I’ll certainly be doing more listening than I will be doing talking.”

This is believed to be the first time that Al-Rumayyan has met with the Tour players since their March meeting in the Bahamas that included a round of golf with Woods.

Last month, Woods stressed that progress on a deal with the PIF has been made, but it has been a slow process – a point that was underscored Thursday by the one-year anniversary of the shocking framework agreement between the two warring sides.

McIlroy said that he didn’t foresee LIV “slowing down” in the coming years, citing the recent purchase of office space in New York, an organization that totals more than 200 employees and some player contracts that run through 2029.

“Looking a few years down the line, LIV is going to continue to sort of keep going down its path,” McIlroy said, via SI. “But hopefully with maybe more of a collaboration, or an understanding between the tours. Maybe there is some cross-pollination there where players can start to play on both. I guess that will all be talked about in the coming weeks.”