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• Paul McGinley: PGA Tour players will feel like the losers out of golf merger

  Paul McGinley believes commissioner Jay Monahan faces a “real problem” to persuade PGA Tour loyalists they are not the losers in golf’s peace deal.

  Players reacted with shock and a sense of betrayal at the proposed merger of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s commercial operations with those of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf.

  Rory McIlroy, whose previously close friendship with Sergio Garcia broke down after the Spaniard joined LIV, admitted he felt like “a sacrificial lamb” after being the most prominent supporter of the PGA Tour, only to see it join forces with an entity he “still hates”.

  Monahan faced calls to resign at a heated players’ meeting on Tuesday and McGinley believes he faces a huge task to win over the players who, in some cases, turned down massive payouts to remain loyal to the PGA Tour.

  “He’s obviously in a very tricky position,” former Ryder Cup captain McGinley told Sky Sports News.

  “He’s got his players to back him, he’s been very, very strong anti-LIV, he’s been very, very strong trying to build up the PGA Tour. A lot of players have not gone over to LIV because of his persuasion and now all of a sudden there’s a deal done and these guys look like they’re isolated.

  “And that’s the issue I have with the statement that came out a couple of days ago.

  “When a deal is done in the City they make sure that both sides are the winners. And when this was announced this doesn’t look like there were two sides that were winners here.

  “It may look like the LIV guys that went over there and took the money are now coming back in and they’re the winners.

  “They’ve been very giddy on social media and they look like they’re the smartest guys in the room now because they went over there and that really isolates the PGA Tour players who remained loyal.

  “I think that’s where there’s a disconnect for Jay and that’s where he’s got a real problem.

  “The release sounded, and the optics of it were, there were winners and losers and the PGA Tour players looked like they came out on the wrong end of that. That’s why there’s so much angst among them at the moment.”

  It has been reported the merger will face scrutiny from anti-trust regulators in both the United States and Europe, with Monahan openly admitting that a competitor had been “taken off the board”.

  And McGinley believes there is no guarantee the deal will go ahead as planned.

  “The work only starts now, there’s so many complexities here if there is going to be this merger,” he added.

  “There’s so much to entangle here. How are you going to bring the guys from LIV back in, how are you going to make it equitable for the guys who remained loyal to the tours? What’s the schedule going to look like?

  “It looks like a huge amount of complexity. This is far from over or a fait accompli. I think there’s so much that has to happen before we get to even a stage where there’s a kind of equilibrium, never mind anything put in place.

  “The players will be looking at what’s in it for me, how much prize money am I going to get, what’s my job security?

  “The players in Europe are going to think that I’m glad we have this strategic alliance (with the PGA Tour) in place, that puts us at the top table and gives us access to these incredible amounts of funds.

  “Everything is open and on the table. I think the LIV events are very, very complex to integrate back in again because the players own equity in these teams.

  “So if you’re going to have the likes of Rory McIlroy playing in these team events, where the other players are benefiting because they have equity and he doesn’t, how do you make that right?”

• McIlroy 'wasted a lot of energy' backing PGA Tour in LIV row

  Andrew 'Beef' Johnston feels Rory McIlroy "wasted a lot of energy" in his staunch support of the PGA Tour.

  McIlroy was one of the biggest opponents of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, which lured huge names from the PGA Tour, including Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau.

  Yet in a shocking turn of events this week, it was announced that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) had merged with LIV Tour's backers – Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

  That has left McIlroy, who said he still "hates LIV" in an awkward position, and Johnston feels the world number three has expended unnecessary energy defending the PGA Tour.

  "Potentially, I think in some respect it could help him because I think he's just going to turn around and say, 'Alright, I'm going to concentrate and I'm going to do me'," said Johnston in an interview with Stats Perform.

  "And that's what he should [do]. I've kind of been hoping Rory would do that. He shouldn't have to get involved and back the PGA Tour as hard as he has.

  "I think he's wasted a lot of energy on that and I'd love to just see him focus on golf and pick up more titles and more majors because he's one of the best golfers we've seen.

  "I just want to see him concentrate on his golf. So hopefully he gets through this meeting and he just goes, 'Do you know what I'm looking forward, just let it be.' And he can crack on. I'd like to see him do that, to be honest."

  Reflecting on the news, Johnston said: "It's just insane. It's nuts. For what, two years, it's been so far away from that, so far away from doing that.

  "I think I was talking about it a week ago or so. I said 'There's never ever going to be a deal because there's lawsuits going on and everything's kicking off, and no one will budge at all'. And all of a sudden, bang! That news comes out of the blue. And when I mean out of the blue, I don't think anyone knew.

  "I don't even think Tiger [Woods] or Rory knew. I mean if they don't know that none of us are going to know."

  Asked if it was a positive step for the sport, Johnston said: "It depends how they format it.

  "If they format it where a player can tee up on any of the three tours knowing that if I have a good couple of seasons I can get into the Ryder Cup, I could get into LIV or however they're going to format the tournaments, and there's a way that you could be rewarded for playing good golf and getting into these high money bonus events, which I'm sure is going to happen, then great.

  "There's going to be a lot of unhappy people and a lot of unhappy players right now. My first thoughts are people who have backed the tour, like Rory and Jon Rahm, people like that, and they've turned down a hell of a lot of money.

  "They really propped the Tour and backed the Tour only to be sort of stabbed in the back. Absolutely blindsided by this. I can't imagine how they're feeling, they've got to be absolutely fuming about it."

  Search for 'Beef’s Golf Club' to hear Beef’s full podcast.

  Instagram: @beefsgolfclub

• Rory McIlroy left feeling ‘like a sacrificial lamb’ after golf merger

  Rory McIlroy admitted he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” and still “hated” LIV Golf as he responded to the shock declaration of peace in golf’s civil war.

  McIlroy and Tiger Woods had established themselves as the biggest supporters of the PGA Tour in its battle with LIV Golf, but were both kept in the dark about the stunning deal announced on Tuesday.

  Fellow players reacted with surprise and a sense of betrayal at the news that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were merging their commercial operations with the golf-related businesses of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV.

  McIlroy, whose previously close friendship with Sergio Garcia broke down after the Spaniard joined LIV, said: “It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens.

  “Removing myself from the situation, I see how this is better for the game of golf, there’s no denying it.”

  McIlroy, who said he was never offered any money to join LIV, was asked if those who did turn down massive offers should be compensated.

  The world number three said: “The simple answer is yes. The complex answer is how does that happen?

  “That’s all up in the air at the minute. For me as an individual, there’s just going to have to be conversations that are had.”

  McIlroy attempted to distinguish between LIV Golf and the PIF, admitting: “It’s not LIV. I still hate LIV. I hope it goes away and I would fully expect that it does.

  “That’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF, very different from LIV.”