Rory McIlroy after players-only LIV meeting: "I'm gonna make a s*** ton!"
A report has revealed more interesting details about the famous players-only meeting involving Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as they discussed the PGA Tour's response to LIV Golf.
Cast your mind back to August and you may remember the PGA Tour's biggest stars such as Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods grappling with how to deal with LIV Golf.
Woods stepped off his private plane wearing curious attire and headed to Hotel Du Pont ahead of the BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware before the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
A players-only meeting was held and despite a large majority of what was discussed remaining a secret, a few details have filtered through.
Related: Golf Saudi chief exec denies Tiger was offered $700-800m to join LIV
Such things that were discussed included the PGA Tour giving up its non-profit status, a move which would cost the Tour millions but also give them more financial freedom to deal with their mega-rich rivals.
The meeting reportedly lasted approximately three hours and one player reportedly told the New York Post at the time: "Everyone in the room left in a better spot and excited about what's potentially to come."
These were the players that attended the meeting:
- Tiger Woods
- Rory McIlroy
- Scottie Scheffler
- Patrick Cantlay
- Xander Schauffele
- Justin Thomas
- Jon Rahm
- Collin Morikawa
- Will Zalatoris
- Viktor Hovland
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Sam Burns
- Jordan Spieth
- Tony Finau
- Billy Horschel
- Cameron Young
- Joaquin Niemann
- Max Homa
- Shane Lowry
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Kevin Kisner
- Rickie Fowler
- Adam Scott
Only one player, Joaquin Niemann went on to join LIV Golf. Cameron Young revealed that the offer came too soon in his career as it was clear he was torn. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay remain heavily-linked.
While Asia's biggest golf star Hideki Matsuyama was reportedly torn between money and legacy, however his recent comments will have pleased the PGA Tour bosses.
A report by Zach Helfand of The New Yorker has shone a further light on this meeting.
According to Helfand, both Woods and McIlroy were "convinced the Tour's executives weren't acting forcefully enough to protect it from LIV's incursions."
And the fact that Woods flew in for this meeting, "Tells you how much he despises Greg Norman" according to one player.
Sweeping changes were later confirmed by Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, including the announcement of more elevated events this week.
Helfand claims that he asked McIlroy if it was difficult to turn down hundreds of millions of dollars from LIV Golf.
McIlroy reportedly told him: "I'm gonna make a s*** ton of money here, that's the thing!"
The bumper prize purses have been met with an interesting response from Phil Mickelson, who later snarked: "It's great that they magically found a couple hundred million. That's awesome."
Last week, Mickelson came out swinging against the PGA Tour, suggesting that he sees himself as now being on "the winning side".
Watch our latest YouTube video:
Ben joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
