Merging of PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV!!

Qatar beat them to that one...

Thinking about it a bit longer, this was always going to be the end result that suited the pga tour & the liv golfers. If Monahan has to be the fall guy to get it done, he's gonna be rewarded handsomly for it at the cost of his job. How they'll get the current PGA pro's to come around is another story, maybe just pay them all lump sums and milk that saudi cow for all its worth.

A new tour, as unlikely as it is to happen, would get massive sponsorship and TV deals. Not just in America but worldwide. It'd get a lot of support from huge organisations everywhere.

It's just too much work for the players though. They'd have to go and find top class professionals in multiple areas of business and sports to get it up and running.

Not sure how people think McIlroy looks bad in all this. He stuck to his guns. The PGA and DP look like complete scumbags to be honest.

If you can't buy the players, I guess you buy the execs.

I agree, to this point McIlroy has been brilliant. The question is what move does he make now? If he just goes along with it he'll be called a hypocrite just like Monahan and nobody will believe he wasn't involved in all of this.

I think the players have to come out with a strong statement and all withdraw from a tournament. That'll show they weren't part of this, how it shakes out after that is anyone's guess.

The Travellers and the Rocket Mortgage follow the US Open, they are both high profile enough for the players to make a statement.

I’d often be one of them but not on this occasion.

When Donald Trump comes out supporting a merger you know something's very wrong.

I honestly can't see that happening, even though I might like it to. These guys ultimately are people who play golf for money and if enough of it is spread around, they'll play. I think they might find a way to show Monahan the door, but unless they set up a rival tour, which lets be honest, isn't going to happen, they're effectively boxed in. No top player is going to retire because of this, they'll play and the world will move on. The vibe seems to me (reading between the lines) to be that the players are annoyed they weren't in the loop, not that they've a problem with Saudi money. Does anyone really look at the origin of every cent they receive anyway ? Even the ones who made a song and dance about legacy and tradition and all that, will be ok, they still get their Majors and old tournaments and now a lot more moolah with it. Rory & JT and those guys will be able to play it like they were shafted, which they were.

I can't see a way out of this for McIlroy.

He spent the past 2 yrs being the poster boy for The PGA and now they hung him out to dry plain and simple. I read somewhere he was getting a payment from The PGA to sit on the player's committee but he put his cards on the table the past 2 yrs, his own form suffering as a result. A lot of this his own doing I'll grant, if he avoided the media side and just played golf he would have more wins. On course interviews during The Masters was mad stuff IMO.

He spoke of his legacy when turning down the Saudi millions. The corner he's backed into now means that legacy is in the crap if he keeps playing.

I'll probaly get roasted for this but,

He has more money to last a few lifetimes, all his on course earnings could be diverted to his charitable foundation from now on.

The tax implications and the undoubted boost in sponsorship would easily ease the pain of lost earnings.

McIlroy would walk out of this with his legacy and repetition in the stratosphere with his middle finger raised to the people who shafted him.

Pelley has to be one of the worst living humans. No morals, stupid idea after stupid idea, totally incompetent individual. It's so hard to believe that he's actually on the side of the European Tour as no rival could have done a better job destroying it than he has, and he's still f**king there.

No need to quit just don't profit from the game as I said in my post.

I firmly believe, if he went to a tournament low key, avoid interviews and promotions of an organisation who didn't think enough of him to give him a heads up, he would be in a better place to compete.

The distractions are his problem IMO.

I think he will support it. He's a company man. McIlroy didn't take on the attack dog role out of the goodness of his heart. The likes of himself, Lowry and Horschell were being fed lines throughout the whole thing by Monahan the whole time. Everybody was on point every few weeks with the exact same message. McIlroys bread will be buttered.

There's no way PIF would have risked throwing this out and having McIlroy or Tiger being fully against it, as it would be undermined instantly.

He'll support it, say it's good that golf has come back together, lots of healing needed and when asked about Saudi Arabia, he'll throw out the Gary Neville line.

It's the likes of Lowry and Horschell that wont have their bread buttered by PIF. They are expendable and to be honest, the way they've behaved over the last year, I have no sympathy for them.

McIlroy it seems has been pushed under the bus as opposed to looking bad over it all. He has been the spokesperson for the PGA tour instead of Monahan the last while which shouldn't have been the case and it probably affected his golf as a result. Might be time for Rory to give up the player advisory council chairman (If it is a case him and the players weren't consulted) and get back to playing his golf without that distraction.