"I think the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour has benefited everyone" - Rory McIlroy admits LIV Golf has helped the PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy has made a shocking admission regarding LIV Golf, stating that it has benefited the game and everyone who plays it.

McIlroy has long been the biggest detractor and has shown no remorse for slandering the league and anyone involved in it. However, he recently admitted that he does believe that its presence has made golf better at the professional level.

The former world No. 1 said via Bunkered:

“I’m not going to sit here and lie; I think the emergence of LIV or the emergence of a competitor to the PGA Tour has benefited everyone that plays elite professional golf. I think when you’ve been the biggest golf league in the biggest market in the world for the last 60 years, there’s not a lot of incentive to innovate."

Rory McIlroy continued:

“This has caused a ton of innovation at the PGA TOUR, and what was quite, I would say, an antiquated system is being revamped to try to mirror where we’re at in the world in the 21st century with the media landscape."

He also admitted that every professional will benefit from the rebel tour's arrival from now on:

“So, yeah, you know, LIV coming along, it’s definitely had a massive impact on the game, but I think everyone who’s a professional golfer is going to benefit from it going forward.”

Rory McIlroy has rarely uttered a kind word at or about anyone or anything involved with LIV Golf. He's been the biggest proponent of the PGA Tour and LIV's biggest rival.

Nevertheless, even he agreed to the fact that LIV's arrival has changed the game of golf. From where McIlroy sits, those changes have been for the better. There's more money, more player control, and more positive changes for the Tour.

These things are still abundantly more present in LIV, but the Tour has been forced to shift to prevent more of the mass exodus that has occurred.

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Rory McIlroy loves the new PGA Tour

There have been quite a few changes to the PGA Tour recently, whether influenced by LIV Golf or not. Rory McIlroy is a fan of the tour's new direction.

He discussed the new format for the PGA Tour, saying:

“I think when more information and data was presented to them, the people that maybe had reservations about it I think came around, or at least were more informed on their opinions."

He added:

“I think the Tour executives did a really good job of basically just walking them through the slides that we saw in the board meeting last Tuesday, obviously not to the same degree of detail. We were in that board meeting for almost seven hours last Tuesday."

Rory McIlroy loves the Tour's new direction

Not everyone has the same joy for the changes that he does, though. Nevertheless, McIlroy believes the changes will be good for the game and that those who were wary will come around.

He finished by saying:

"I think it was good for them to see that and to see what the thinking is behind what we’re really trying to do here."

What they're trying to do here is obviously influenced by LIV Golf.