Rory McIlroy said his decision to team up with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler in an exhibition match against LIV Golf League stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka was down to a desire to please fans of golf rather than aid negotiations between the Saudi-backed league and PGA Tour.
Talks between the PGA and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV Golf, are ongoing in New York, according to reports, about a potential investment in the hopes of repairing men's professional golf.
"I wouldn't say it's meant to send a message," McIlroy said about the exhibition match, which he agreed to be a part of last week, scheduled for December.
"It's more we wanted to do something that, I guess, all golf fans could get excited about. You've got the best player in the world [Scheffler]. You've got two guys in Bryson and Brooks that have won majors in the last two years. You've got me in there, who – I haven't done what those guys have done the last couple years but I've definitely been, I feel, one of the best players in the world.
"It's a way to show golf fans in the world that this is what could happen or these are the possibilities going forward," McIlroy continued. "I've been saying this for a long time. I think golf and golf fans get to see us together more than four times a year."
The timing of the talks have been criticised, coinciding with the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that crashed four commercial jets at New York's World Trade Center as well as at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
"Yeah, it's certainly peculiar timing," McIlroy said of the meeting. " I don't know much about the talks that are going on. I know that there is but that's not something that I'm a part of.
"I think we are all in the game of golf trying to look for a solution to all this and try to move forward. So we'll see, yeah. I know as much as you do at this point, and I'm sure news will start to trickle out here in the next few days."
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had said in August that the priority level in negotiations was “enhanced” due to player and fan feedback that made clear they wanted a resolution that brought together the best in the game.
The terms of the deal are centred on the idea the PIF would pour in an additional $1 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, a for-profit entity created with the addition of Strategic Sports Group (SSG), ESPN reported.
McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are part of the PGA Tour Enterprises transactional subcommittee, which has been negotiating with the PIF. McIlroy has expressed his frustration since the creation of LIV Golf, which began in 2021 and has splintered the sport.
But despite the current state of men's golf, McIlroy remains hopeful that a deal can be worked out.
"I think everyone in the game would love there to be one [a resolution]," McIlroy told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.
"A solution is hard to get to because there are different interests and people want different things. There's going to have to be compromise on both sides but, hopefully, they're the things they're talking about in those meetings.
"I'm hopeful and hopefully we'll be hearing some good news in the foreseeable future where things start to come back together."
