Rory McIlroy believes Donald Trump could hasten PGA-LIV merger

Rory McIlroy believes Donald Trump when he says he could end the LIV Golf-PGA Tour impasse.

The PGA and Saudi-backed LIV announced plans to merge in June of 2023, but the deal hasn’t gotten finalized, which has meant that the majors are the only tournaments in which all of the world’s best and/or most famous golfers are competing against each other.

McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler remained on the PGA Tour, whereas Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson are with LIV Golf.

On a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Go!” with Bill Belichick and Jim Gray, Trump boasted that he could solve the matter in about 15 minutes.

After it was clear Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election this week, McIlroy spoke to reporters at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and said that it wasn’t so farfetched that Trump could help put the puzzle together.

“He might be able to,” McIlroy said, as covered by SI. “He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too.

“Yeah, I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously, Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf. He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?

“But I think as the President of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

On his “Let’s Go!” appearance before the election, Trump was confident that a deal would get settled — and that he could easily broker it.

“I do think [the deal] will come together,” Trump told Gray and Belichick.

“I could certainly help it. I would say it would take me the better part of 15 minutes to get that deal done.”