Rory McIlroy Peels Back Curtain On ‘Heated’ PGA Players-Only Meeting

Tempers unsurprisingly flared Tuesday during the PGA Tour’s players-only meeting not long after commissioner Jay Monahan ushered in an agreement to partner the Tour with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf.

While speaking with reporters Wednesday, staunch PGA Tour defender and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy peeled back the curtain on the meeting, which reportedly last 75 minutes and included Monahan being called a “hypocrite” given he spoke out against LIV Golf since the inception of the series.

“Yeah, look, it was heated,” McIlroy told reporters at Oakdale Golf and Country Club on Wednesday, per the PGA Tour. “People were surprised. People felt like they were in the dark about all this. Most of the gripes come from the guys that are trying to hold on to keep their cards and they feel like things have already been taken away from them this year with the designated events, smaller fields, no cuts, weighted FedEx Cup points with the stronger fields.

“So they were already feeling somewhat vulnerable and whenever this news was brought about, there’s only going to be one reaction to that,” McIlroy said. “And I understand that. And honestly it’s hard for me to relate to those guys because I’ve never been in that position, I try to emphasize with it, but it’s hard for me to relate to them fully. But I certainly empathize with their point of view.”

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Johnson Wagner, a former PGA Tour player who now contributes to Golf Channel, had access to an audio stream of the meeting and said he felt there was a 90/10 negative/positive split, per Golf Channel.

McIlroy reportedly also found himself in the crossfire with Grayson Murray, who spoke up and called for the resignation of Monahan. McIlroy told Murray to “play better,” which caused backlash from other PGA Tour players and ultimately caused Murray to swear at McIlroy, per multiple reports.

McIlroy told reporters that while he still hates LIV Golf, the agreement made by the PGA Tour merges the Tour with the DP World Tour and PIF, not LIV. McIlroy also believes that it merge ultimately will be good for the game of golf, despite the fact he himself feels like a “sacrificial lamb” for how it played out.