‘Not going to sit here and lie’: McIlroy credits LIV for dragging PGA Tour out of ‘antiquated’ ways

Rory McIlroy believes LIV Golf’s entrance into the sport has helped force the PGA Tour away from its “antiquated system” and will “benefit” every professional golfer in the future.

The Saudi-backed tour launched last year to a storm of controversy with no-cut tournaments and staggering pay days for the winners.

Yet the PGA recently announced some of its own radical changes to its schedule in the form of elevated events with minimum purses of $30m as it looks to retain its talent going forward.

McIlroy himself was one of LIV’s most vocal critics last year, but the Northern Irishman couldn’t help but admit the rebel tour has kicked the PGA Tour into gear after decades of complacency.

“I’m not going to sit here and lie; I think the emergence of LIV, or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour, has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf,” McIlroy told reports ahead of the Players Championship.

“I think when you’ve been the biggest golf league in the biggest market in the world for the last 60 years, there’s not a lot of incentive to innovate.

“[LIV] has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA Tour and what was quite an antiquated system is being revamped to try and mirror where we’re at in the world in the 21st century with the media landscape.”

Although McIlroy notes the PGA Tour’s changes are largely made to keep up with LIV, there’s several other competitors they are fighting to gain attention from in the wider media landscape.

“The PGA Tour isn’t just competing with LIV Golf or other sports,” McIlroy said.

“It’s competing with Instagram and TikTok and everything else that’s trying to take eyeballs away from the PGA Tour.

“LIV coming along has definitely had a massive impact on the game but I think everyone who’s a professional golfer is going to benefit from it going forward.”