Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, PGA Tour and DP World Tour looking to conclude Framework Agreement; Rory McIlroy hopes "different interests" will not wreck deal and leave landscape "fractured" - watch McIlroy in Dubai Desert Classic live on Sky Sports this week
Wednesday 17 January 2024 16:31, UK
Rory McIlroy hopes any deal between Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour could lead to a Champions League-style look for golf moving forward.
A Framework Agreement was announced in June of last year with an initial deadline of December 31 for a pact to be reached but that has now been extended to spring 2024.
Four-time major winner McIlroy fears golf could be "fractured forever" if the parties remain at odds.
Speaking ahead of the DP World Tour's Dubai Desert Classic, at which he is defending champion, McIlroy said: "If you want to create something that is real value for the game of golf, I think it's this top-level tour and then all the other tours feed into it.
"There's promotion and relegation and you have to earn your way in and you have to earn your spot to stay in. I think that's really important, too.
"The way I view it is a bit like Champions League in football. It's like the best of the best in Europe and then all of the other leagues feed up into it.
"I think it has to be global in nature. You need to figure out a structure where all these other tours feed into that so it gives people a chance to come up."
Asked what could potentially scupper a deal, McIlroy said: "Different interests. What we need to do first is align interests - of the players, the business, the fans and the media and try to get everyone aligned. Once you do that, then you can move forward.
"If this global tour somehow comes to fruition in the next few years, could you imagine bringing the best 70 or 80 golfers in the world to India for a tournament?
"I think that would change the game and the perception of the game in a country like that. There's so much opportunity out there to go global.
"Golf is at an inflection point, and if golf doesn't do it now, I fear that it will never do it and we'll have this fractured landscape forever."
Former Masters champion Adam Scott said: "I think an unsettling thing for players currently is we don't know what it's going to look like and what it is going forward.
"That's where you see players making decisions to move to LIV Golf or not to move to LIV with uncertainty and risk taking, and it would be nice to see some kind of clear vision of where the professional game is working towards soon.
"I think you've got to look at what's here and now and the reality is that it seems LIV is going forward no matter what, and they have a considerable number of great players in the game.
"It's really good getting to a place where we can at least operate and function. I think there's got to be give and take on both sides for that to happen but hopefully that's achievable."
McIlroy will be aiming for a fourth Dubai Desert Classic title this week, with last year's success following triumphs in 2009 and 2015.
The world No 2 was on course for victory at the Dubai Invitational on Sunday before his final-hole bogey and back-to-back birdies for Tommy Fleetwood saw the Englishman win instead.
"[These events] still quench my thirst. There would be no reason to tee up if they didn't," said McIlroy.
"Winning is winning, competing is competing - it doesn't matter whether it's the Dubai Desert Classic over here or whether it's the Honda Classic, or whatever it is.
"I love competing. I love to try to win golf tournaments. Majors are really, really important in this game but it's not the only thing that matters in my mind. There are other things."
Watch the Dubai Desert Classic live on Sky Sports Golf from Thursday through to Sunday. Coverage of day one begins at 3.30am. Stream golf and more top sport with NOW.
