McIlroy making every effort to let rumoured LIV-bound Cam Smith know the score

BATTLE: Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, right, and Cameron Smith, of Australia, left. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith – the most prominent protagonists down the stretch at the Old Course in the 150th Open Championship – will play together in the opening round of the Tour Championship at East Lake.

The subplot goes much deeper than the Numbers 2 and 4 players in the world trying to chase down No. 1 Scottie Scheffler from six shots behind. McIlroy has been firmly in the PGA Tour’s camp since the first rumblings of the LIV Golf Series began last year, and Smith is rumored to have already signed himself over to the Saudi-backed venture for a reported $100 million.

McIlroy said Wednesday he made every effort to let Smith know what he might be getting himself into and what he could be leaving behind.

“I had a conversation with Cameron Smith two days after the Open,” McIlroy said of the Aussie who chased him down and beat him to the claret jug at St. Andrews. 

“Firstly, I wanted to congratulate him, but also I wanted guys that are thinking one way or another – honestly I don't care if they leave or not; it's not going to make a difference to me – but I would at least like people to make a decision that is completely informed and basically know this is what's coming down the pipeline. This is what you may be leaving behind.

“I just don't want people making decisions hearing information from one side and not from another. So I think that's sort of been my whole thing this entire time. I've always said guys can do whatever they want. Guys can make a decision that they feel is best for themselves and their families. But I want guys to make decisions based on all of the facts.

“Sometimes I don't think some guys made those decisions based on having all the facts in front of them.” McIlroy believes that the PGA Tour changes announced this week will make the tour attractive to the best players in golf who want to test themselves and build their legacy against the game’s best more often and in more meaningful events. He’d like to ensure that more players like Smith and Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka don’t pass up on that opportunity.

There’s room in the golf world, McIlroy said, for LIV Golf and the PGA Tour to coexist without cannibalizing one another.

“A bunch of tours have coexisted over the last I don't know how many years,” he said. “You've had the PGA Tour, the European Tour, the Asian Tour, the Sunshine – there's a million different golf tours that have all been able to coexist in some way. … “There's levels to it, right, and everyone is trying to make it to the top level of professional golf, which is the PGA Tour.

“Look, the PGA Tour are going to do what they're going to do. LIV are going to do what they're going to do. I think at this point, Jay (Monahan) said it best, the PGA Tour are just trying to control what they can control and try to put forward the best product possible for people to tune into, for sponsors to get excited about, for TV to get excited about, and for the players to get excited about.

“I think having the top players in the world playing together more often and competing against each other more … I think it's what everyone wants. It's what the players want. It's what the fans want, most importantly. And I think once we solve for that, a lot of the rest of the stuff sort of takes care of itself.”