Rory: I Still Hate LIV - 5 Things From McIlroy's Press Conference

Rory McIlroy has spent the past year and a bit being thrust out there, front and centre, as the mouthpiece for the PGA Tour. He's fallen out with a host of players, like his Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia, and he's taken on Greg Norman and the LIV Golf crowd in front of everyone. He and Tiger were the leaders in the new world of elevated events to boost purses for their peers (and themselves) but he was as much in the dark as everyone else as the PGA Tour, Saudi Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour all came together.

McIlroy's press conference in Canada this week was the most anticipated of the lot and here are five takeaways from the World No. 3 and poster boy of the PGA Tour.

1) 'I learned about it pretty much at the same time everyone else did'
I got a text message on Monday night. From Jimmy Dunne. Saying, Hey can I give you a call in the morning. So I said sure. Jimmy rang me at about 6:30 yesterday morning. We had a chat. Took me through the news. Took me through the deal, structure of the deal. What it meant for us. What it meant for the DP World Tour.
I learned about it pretty much at the same time everyone else did. And, yeah, it was a surprise. I knew there had been discussions going on in the background. I knew that lines of communication had been opened up. I obviously didn't expect it to happen as quickly as it did. But I really think that, you know, from what I gather, the Tour felt they were in a real position of strength coming off of the back of the DP World Tour winning their legal case in London. It sort of weakened the other side's position.
The way Jimmy described it, Rory, sometimes you got 280 over water, you just got to go for it. And that's what they did. I think ultimately, when I try to remove myself from the situation and I look at the bigger picture and I look at 10 years down the line, I think ultimately this is going to be, it's going to be good for the game of professional golf. It unifies it and it secures its financial future.

2) 'At the end of the day money talks and you would rather have them as a partner'
The one thing that I think was really misconstrued was all the headlines were PGA Tour merges with LIV. And LIV's got nothing to do with this, right. It's the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund are basically partnering to create a new company. That's where I was a little frustrated. Because all I've wanted to do and all I've wanted in the past year, from basically this tournament, is to protect the future of the PGA Tour and protect the aspirational nature of what the PGA Tour stands for. And I hope that this does that.
If you look at the structure of how it's structured now, this new company sits above everything. Jay's the CEO of that. So technically anyone that is involved with LIV now would answer to Jay. So the PGA TOUR have control of everything. And one thing as well is, whether you like it or not, the PIF were going to keep spending the money in golf. At least the PGA TOUR now controls how that money is spent. At the end of the day money talks and you would rather have them as a partner.

3) 'I do have confidence in Jay Monahan'
I've dealt with Jay (Monahan) a lot closer than a lot of those guys have. From where we were a couple of weeks ago to where we are now, I think the future of the PGA Tour looks brighter as a whole, as an entity. What that looks like for individual players in terms of keeping a Tour card and bringing players back into the fold and then that sacrifices other people, that's where the anger comes from, right. And I understand that.
There still has to be consequences to actions. The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this Tour, started litigation against it. We can't just welcome them back in. And I think that was the one thing that Jay was trying to get across and pretend like nothing's happened. That is not going to happen.
I said it to Jay, you've galvanised everyone against something and that thing that you galvanised everyone against you've now partnered with. So, yeah, of course I understand it. It is hypocritical. It sounds hypocritical.
But I do have confidence in him. I think you ask the people around him that deal with him in a business sense, whether it's the directors of the board of the PGA Tour or the title sponsors that he deals with, I mean, he seems to be a very impressive individual when it comes to business.

4) 'I still hate LIV'
It's not LIV. I think that's the thing. I still hate LIV. Like, I hate LIV. I hope it goes away. And I would fully expect that it does. And I think that's where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF. Very different from LIV. All I've tried to do is protect what the PGA TOUR is and what the PGA Tour stands for. And I think it will continue to do that. So, look, going forward I hope that there's, you know, there may be a team element and you're going to see, maybe me, maybe whoever else play in some sort of team golf. But I don't think it will look anything like LIV has looked and I think that's a good thing.

5) 'If you're not a member of the European Tour you can't play the Ryder Cup'
I don't think it changes. The ruling in that arbitration court was upheld that the European Tour can uphold the rules and regulations and sanction people for leaving the Tour, for harming the Tour. And again, I think it's a moot point, because all those guys have resigned their membership. If you're not a member of the European Tour you can't play the Ryder Cup. So to me it's a moot point.