SAN DIEGO — If the PGA Tour is closer to achieving “reunification” of the men’s game as the result of a deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Rory McIlroy made clear Wednesday that players are going to have to move on from past rancor.

In a 25-minute interview session with reporters at Torrey Pines, site of this week’s relocated Genesis Invitational, McIlroy also disclosed that he played golf with President Trump last month and believes he is “on our side,” can influence the negotiations because he has “access” to Mohammed bin Salman and that Trump told him he’s not a fan of the LIV Golf format.

“For me, we’ve all done better from all of this,” said McIlroy, who is coming off a victory two weeks ago at Pebble Beach. “Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from LIV. And I’ve been on record saying this a lot, we’d never be playing for what we’re playing for this week ($20 million) if it weren’t for LIV.

“So I think everyone’s just got to get over it and we all have to say, O.K., this is the starting point and we move forward. We don’t look behind us, we don’t look to the past, whatever’s happened, happened. And it’s been unfortunate. But reunification is the best thing for everyone.

“So if people are butthurt or got their feelings hurt because guys went (to LIV Golf) and whatever, who cares? Let’s move forward together and let’s just try to get this thing going again and do what’s best for the game. From my point of view, I don’t think it’s complicated.”

Later, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan met with the media and reemphasized the idea of reunification and the goal to “operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that one tour.” He and player rep Adam Scott met with Trump last week and expressed optimism that a deal is closer.

How that impacts LIV Golf and what it will entail was not addressed. Monahan said the meeting last week with Trump “ultimately gets us one step closer to (a deal) but there’s a lot more work to do.”

McIlroy said he believes players who competed on the PGA Tour, went to LIV Golf and still have status should be allowed to play.

“For all of us who have equity in this tour, having Bryson Dechambeau come back and play is good,” he said.

Last week, the PGA Tour announced that commissioner Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott had met with Trump, who had previously criticized the Tour in the wake of the launch of LIV Golf.

Trump has signaled that he would direct the Department of Justice—which is scrutinizing proposals between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF—to sign off on a deal.

A deal to reunify golf has crawled since the announcement of the framework agreement on June 6, 2023.

In January 2024, the PGA Tour announced it had entered into a deal to get $1.5 billion in investment from Strategic Sports Group, a private equity group of investors.

The PIF deal would also pump more money into PGA Tour Enterprises but Monahan acknowledge that “what the fans” care about is how the game comes back together.

McIlroy said he is better off financially since LIV Golf came around, as other players.

“No, I didn’t feel that way initially because of the fracture that—like it wasn’t good for the game, it wasn’t good for the overall game. It wasn’t good for either tour, I didn’t think,” he said. “I think we’re both sort of like this has been great for the major championships. We all get together at the major championships and that’s been a really good thing, but for both tours it’s unsustainable.

“I think that’s where I was opposed to a lot of it. I was opposed to 54 holes, I was opposed to the team concept in some way, but when you sort of remove yourself from it a little bit and you look at the overall picture, like we’ve all done better because of this. The players on the PGA Tour had more leverage than they ever had to go to the Tour to say we want this, we want that or whatever. But at the same time I regret some of those decisions too because it put the Tour in a place where they were stretched financially and they sort of had to look at taking money from elsewhere to try to compete. But like it’s all easy in hindsight, it’s all very easy in hindsight to say these things, but I think we are closer to getting a resolution and hopefully we can all just move forward.”

McIlroy said Trump’s involvement may be key because “he can do a lot of things. He has direct access to Yasir’s boss (Yasis Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF). Now many people have that. Not many people can stay, I want you to get this deal done, and by the way, I’m speaking to your boss, I’m going to tell him the same thing.”d

That’s when McIlroy disclosed that he played golf with Trump last month and was told that the president is not a fan of LIV’s 54-hole team format, despite his properties hosting several events, including one in April at Doral in Florida.

“I thought we had a good discussion,” McIlroy said. “I learned that he’s not a fan of the LIV format. I was like, but you’ve hosted their events. He was like, yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I like it. So I think he’s on the Tour’s side.”

McIlroy did not suggest that LIV Golf would not exist, but he also said he was not interested in taking part in any of LIV’s events if that idea came to pass.

“I always felt like LIV’s best chance was to try to replicate their team championship for the teams to go head-to-head together instead of they all just go out and play and they add their scores up at the end of the day,” he said. “I don’t think that gets people going. But I think when the teams go head-to-head like they do in their team championship … I think that has a possibility of working.

“Instead of that maybe being once a year and then these stroke play events, could you reduce the stroke play events and do more of that a few times a year. I think that is a way—because especially if these guys are going to come back and play, I don’t want to say real, they play real golf but more like championship individual golf, then is there more of an opportunity for these teams to go more head-to-head because I think that makes for a more compelling product, at least in my eyes. I’m just one person.”