Rory McIlroy would have been wise to avoid Donald Trump’s PIF talk

The first Wednesday of November in leap years is a perilous time for public comment, as the results of the US presidential election are debated in a manner as partisan as the campaign that preceded it. This one is no different. Depending on who you ask, one political party peddled false populism and racism while showing an astonishing appetite for conspiracy theories, while the other is woefully incapacitated by its indulgence of identity ideologues, Hamas groupies and gender jihadists. Which is to say, there were already plenty to choose from without wondering if the election of Donald Trump would help pro golfers get paid more.

During a Wednesday press conference at a tournament in Abu Dhabi, Rory McIlroy was asked about progress in negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. “Given today’s news of what’s been happening in America, I think it clears the way a little bit. So we’ll see,” he offered, before adding that it would be “a huge moment” if the Justice Department under Trump was more amenable to greenlighting a deal than Biden’s DOJ might have been.

In our hyper-polarized moment, even comments that are both bland and obvious can be interpreted as endorsing the election result, something McIlroy actually did not. But the three words – “clears the way” – got a sharply sour reception. McIlroy appeared to relish the prospect of Trump meddling in a regulatory process to benefit a pampered group of golfers who have already alienated legions of fans fed up with their entitlement and greed.

A few days ago, Trump claimed he could resolve the PGA Tour-PIF dispute “in 15 minutes,” at least acknowledging that it’s a more mundane matter than the Ukraine war, which he said he wanted need 24 hours to finish. “He might,” McIlroy said in response. “He has Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, next to him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved as well.”

Even setting aside the generous encomium for Musk, who has spent months amplifying racists and anti-Semites in his social media cesspool, McIlroy knows better — a fact he was quick to admit. “I think that from the outside it is probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But apparently Trump has a good relationship with Saudi Arabia. He has a good relationship with golf. He is a lover of golf. So maybe. Who knows? But I think as president of the United States again, he probably has bigger things to focus on than golf.

“A great relationship” is one way to describe a $2 billion Saudi donation to a hedge fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, but at least McIlroy’s last observation is beyond dispute. Leaders on both sides of this negotiation will know what impact, if any, the election will have. And if any of them have been playing slow to see if the review process is less aggressive under a Trump administration, they now have a date to find out. But those are questions Jay Monahan gets paid handsomely to answer, not McIlroy.

Instead, what McIlroy inadvertently did was reinforce a widespread perception of myopic entitlement among Tour players. Millions of people woke up this morning with leaden uncertainty about things that actually matter – economic stability, wartime support, global alliances, civil rights, basic health care, immigration status. That environment is sufficiently crowded without a golfer idly speculating whether the pick might be a treat for those impatient to get their hands on some Saudi riyals.

Anyone who has paid attention to the narrative in golf over the past few years is likely immune to surprise to hear such sentiments expressed, but this example will be jarring because of where the comments originated.

What has always made McIlroy likable is the sense that he has peripheral vision, a sense of the world and its problems outside his privileged bubble. But that image took a hit on Wednesday, overshadowed by the feeling that everyone now just has ‘PIF vision’, that even he sounds like just another voice in a chorus asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’

It’s an unfair characterization of a man who has proven to be more thoughtful than most of his peers, but McIlroy has been around this difficult issue for a long time, and around divisive politics since childhood. He knows that there are some questions that are best answered with a shrug and a ‘your guess is as good as mine’ deflection. This was obviously one of them.

Still, he chose to do what he always does at press conferences (not always wisely): answer the question he was asked. In this case, on this day, he should have taken the lead from his late compatriot, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney: “Whatever you say, you say nothing.”