Rory McIlroy has made an unexpected comparison between the Good Friday Agreement and the drive for a resolution to the ongoing LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour feud.
McIlroy has been one of the loudest voices in the ongoing dispute between the long-established PGA Tour and the breakaway LIV Series, since the Saudi-funded tour first broke ground in 2022.
The four-time Major champion recently firmly shut down rumours that he was set to pull a sensational 180 and jump ship to LIV - and he has now driven home his desire for the feuding tours to come to a resolution ASAP.
In an unexpected turn, McIlroy cited the 1998 Good Friday Agreement as an example of what the world of golf needed to set things straight.
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Rory McIlroy makes surprise Good Friday Agreement comparison to LIV v PGA Tour feud
Having grown up on the outskirts of Belfast in the 1990s, the Good Friday Agreement will have been a seminal moment in Rory McIlroy's young life, as it was for anyone who lived through it - and anyone who has lived through the peace it secured for the decades to come.
Ahead of this weekend's Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy spoke to the media and cited the historic 1998 agreement as something the world of golf should seek to emulate.
I would say I'm impatient because I think we've got this window of opportunity to get it done...both sides [LIV and PGA] from a business perspective I wouldn't say need to get it done, but it makes sense.
I sort of liken it to when Northern Ireland went through the peace process in the '90s and the Good Friday Agreement, neither side was happy. Catholics weren't happy, Protestants weren't happy, but it brought peace and then you just sort of learn to live with whatever has been negotiated, right?
That was in 1998 or whatever it was and 20, 25, 30 years ahead, my generation doesn't know any different. It's just this is what it's always been like and we've never known anything but peace.
That's sort of how I...I guess it's my little way of trying to think about it and trying to make both sides see that there could be a compromise here. It's probably not going to feel great for either side but, if it's a place where the game of golf starts to thrive again and we can all get back together, then I think it's ultimately a really good thing.
An unexpected but admittedly sound analogy from McIlroy.
Whatever peace settlement does arrive between the two factions of world golf, it seems unlikely that Rory McIlroy will play as hands-on a role as many had touted over the past few weeks.
Here's Rory McIlroy talking about the PGA Tour policy board and the "subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason." pic.twitter.com/0skNOwtWxz
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 8, 2024
McIlroy had appeared destined to return to the PGA Tour Policy Board after a hiatus of several months but, in his media duties on Wednesday, he confirmed the move had been blocked by a "subset of people on the board."
It got pretty complicated and messy, I think, with the way it happened. I think it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. There was a subset of people on the baord who were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.
I think the best course of action is if there are some people on there who aren't comfortable with me coming back on then I think Webb [Simpson] just stays on and sees out his term. I think he's gotten to a place where he's comfortable with doing that, and I just sort of keep doing what I'm doing.
Rory McIlroy enters this weekend's action on a high, after his win at the Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry a fortnight ago.
McIlroy tees off at the Wells Fargo Championship on Thursday alongside Tom Kim and Max Homa. His first round gets underway at 5:39pm Irish time.
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