Rory McIlroy has declared the Australian Open might develop into golf’s “fifth main” as a part of a world tour which stays his “dream situation” as officers look to create a brand new panorama for the game.
Negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi authorities’s Public Funding Fund, the backers of LIV golf who want to pour billions into the game, to finalise a deal which might form the game’s future, stay ongoing.
McIlroy lately backtracked on his sturdy anti-LIV stance and has taken a extra holistic view of the potential for more money to probably improve golf’s income past $6 billion from its present mark of simply over $3 billion.
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The four-time main, who defeated Adam Scott on the ultimate gap at Royal Sydney in 2013 to win the Australian Open earlier than returning the subsequent yr, lauded the importance of occasions world wide to the game.
He mentioned the programs in Australia are “so good” and the legacy of 1 the oldest nationwide opens in golf, received by legends together with jack Nicklaus, Gary Participant and Arnold Palmer may very well be a part of a world tour if officers had been daring sufficient to take the leap.
“The Australian Open, for instance, ought to nearly be the fifth main,” McIlroy mentioned in an interview with Golf Digest in Dubai.
“The market down there’s large with potential. They love golf. They love sport.
“They’ve been starved of top-level golf. And the programs are so good.
“Revenues on the PGA Tour proper now are about $US2.3 billion ($A3.4 billion).
“So how can we get that quantity as much as 4 or six (A$9bn)? “It’s by wanting outward. They should suppose internationally and unfold their wings a bit.
“My dream situation is a world tour, with the proviso that company America has to stay a giant a part of all of it. However there’s an untapped business alternative on the market.”
LIV golf has taken the leap in to Australia and it’s occasion in Adelaide in 2023 was thought to be the perfect ever for the fledgling tour headed up by {golfing} legend Greg Norman.
It may very well be even larger in 2024 with the inclusion of Masters champion Jon Rahm who confirmed his big-money defection late in 2023.
McIlroy mentioned he hoped the brand new panorama would supply extra worldwide alternatives,, taking occasions across the like “Method One”.
“The South African Open is one other I’d have within the combine. Then you’ve locations like Singapore and Hong Kong and Japan. What a market Japan represents.
“That will be one other alternative. We might find yourself with one thing that resembles Method One, however with slightly extra of an American presence.
“Throw within the 4 majors and you’ve got a superb schedule for the highest 70-100 guys, regardless of the quantity is. We’d have, say a 22-event schedule. That will look fairly good to me.“
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