ORLANDO — If it wasn’t already, it is becoming more apparent that the Feb. 20 meeting at the White House involving the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund that was meant to be another step in bringing men’s professional golf back together may have actually widened the gap.

The mood in the aftermath of the meeting, which included President Trump along with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott and Yasir Al-Rumayyan of the PIF, has been decidedly less upbeat after initial optimism that a deal was close.

Monahan pushed back on that Tuesday in a meeting with reporters at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

But his own words in the aftermath—in both a statement and in person—of the meeting suggest otherwise.

And Rory McIlroy added to it Wednesday in a pre-tournament news conference when he was asked about the continuing divide.

“Look, I think it takes two to tango,” McIlroy said at the Bay Hill Club. “So if one party is willing and ready and the other isn’t, it sort of makes it tough.”

He also referred to the “landscape looking different” than it did a few weeks ago and admitted he doesn’t believe the PGA Tour necessarily needs a deal.

McIlroy, who is on a transaction committee that deals with the PIF but is not on the PGA Tour Policy Board, was not at either of the White House meetings.

The first meeting on Feb. 4 led to considerable optimism from the Tour side, leading to both Monahan and Woods at the Genesis Invitational to express their views about the reunification of the game while offering more positivity than at any time over the past 18 months.

But that changed after the latest meeting and it was obvious from the more measured statement the Tour released in aftermath, simply thanking Trump and talking about “starting a dialogue” even though these discussions have been ongoing since June 2023.

Although he offered no details, McIlroy’s inference Wednesday that a deal that the Tour put forth and that it felt confident about being accepted was rebuffed by the PIF, specifically Al-Rumayyan—who has never spoken publicly about any aspect of the negotiations.

“I think the narrative around golf, I wouldn’t say needs a deal, I think the narrative around golf would welcome a deal in terms of just having all the best players together again,” McIlroy said. “But I don’t think the PGA Tour needs a deal. I think the momentum is pretty strong. TV’s (ratings) been good, TGL’s been hopefully pretty additive to the overall situation.

“And I would say, again, I answered this question at Torrey Pines (three) weeks ago, (when) the landscape might have looked a little different then than it does now … and I think a deal would still be the ideal scenario for golf as a whole. But from a pure PGA Tour perspective, I don’t think it necessarily needs it.”

In theory, a deal or alliance would bring the LIV Golf League under PGA Tour Enterprises, which has already received $1.5 billion in investment from the private equity company called Strategic Sports Group.

The idea behind those funds is to help grow the PGA Tour business through various means. Monahan said at Torrey Pines that, so far, the investment is sitting mostly idle as the negotiations continue.

As part of a deal with the PIF, LIV Golf was supposed to undergo a valuation that would be added to any cash investment, believed to be more than $1 billion.

The exact cause of the holdup is unclear. LIV Golf has operated with a business-as-usual mantra since all of this began and is playing the third of its 14 events this week with a tournament in Hong Kong. The league moves to Singapore next week and has an event at Doral the week prior to the Masters.

It has increased its investment in the product by signing deals with future venues and adding more personnel and office space.

McIlroy’s inference Wednesday was that a compromise was not close.

Asked how he could see it working, McIlroy said: “I gave a lot of thought to it a couple of years ago, but less now,” referring to his time on the Policy Board. “No. I mean, like you could create exemption categories that you try to capture who you want to capture, major winners in the last three years, plus player champions, I don’t know. But, yeah, that’s, again, I’m—not my department.”

Asked if he felt a deal is now farther away, McIlroy said “I don’t think it’s ever felt that close … but it doesn’t feel like it’s any closer.”