Why Rory McIlroy feels golf fans will have to settle for 'crossover' before proper peace is reached

World No 3 offers view after Dunhill Links rounds with Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan

Rory McIlroy has spoken about how he feels golf fans will have to settle for a “crossover” between tours before PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf players are locking horns on a more regular basis.

The world No 3 expressed his view after being in the same group as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in one of his rounds in this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan in another one.

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McIlroy, who effectively launched his glittering professional career in the DP World Tour event when securing his card after being handed an invite 17 years ago, also played with the event’s driving force, South African businessman Johann Rupert.

“Yeah, it’s Johann’s way of sort of getting us all together,” said McIlroy with a smile as he talked about being in the company of three influential figures in the game in those rounds at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews.

“Yeah, it was good to spend some time with all of them and sort of talk a little bit about the situation, the goings on in the game. But, in fairness, it probably wasn’t as much talk about it as you would have thought.”

McIlroy had spoken earlier in the week about the home of golf being the “perfect place” for Monahan and Al-Rumayyan playing together in one of the rounds as ongoing talks continue between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF.

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DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings and the circuit’s chairman, Eric Nicoli, were also in Scotland for part of the £5 million tournament, which featured 14 LIV Golf players, led by Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka.

“It doesn’t have to be St Andrews to do it,” added McIlroy. “They all have their own airplanes - they can go and meet each other whenever they want (laughing).

“But I think it’s been good. It’s good to get most people together in terms of like, look at the field, you’ve got a mix of everyone in there, which is good. It is something that we don’t see as often as we should, but, you know, time will tell.”

In his interview with BBC Northern Ireland on Wedesday, McIlroy had spoken about how he was hopeful that something could materialise from those talks before the end of the year.”

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Asked if he was being optimistic in that respect, he said: “I think by year’s end, whether the Public Investment Fund will invest in PGA Tour Enterprises, but that doesn’t solve the problem of where we find ourselves in golf, the schedule and everything.

“I mean, I’d say we’ll know by the end of the year whether that’s a possibility or not, but I think all tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future and I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them and then maybe while that is happening over that period of time, whether it be one year, two years, three years, just trying to figure out the rest.

“I think the hard thing is there are legal precedents that have been set in America and here and that makes it very different. That’s the big thing. No-one likes lawyers - I certainly don’t - and, yeah, that’s a big part of the issue.

“I think there is a willingness there from all parties to try and get it to happen but you’ve got tonnes of lawyers in the middle of it.”

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