PGA players, leaders see LIV Golf as fight for sport's future

Rory McIlroy, who wrote off the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational series as "dead in the water" in February, said on Tuesday it instead will "shape the future of professional golf."

The controversial rival to the US PGA and DP World tours guided by Australian legend Greg Norman was a major topic of conversation at Southern Hills ahead of Thursday's start of the PGA Championship.

McIlroy, a four-time major winner, said in February that LIV Golf would be little more than a glorified 50-and-over tour, saying, "It's dead in the water in my opinion. I just can't see any reason why anyone would go."

With LIV Golf's first event next month in London set to pay a record $25 million, McIlroy's tune has changed even with no players so far committed to the upstart series.

"I might have been a little presumptuous at that point," McIlroy said. "It seems like it's still going. Greg and everyone behind it are very determined.

"Guys are going to make decisions. Honestly it's going to shape the future of professional golf one way or another, so I think we're just going to have to see how it all shakes out."

One very interested viewer is PGA of America chief executive Seth Waugh, who ripped LIV Golf and the changes money would bring to the sport.

"We don't think this is good for the game," Waugh said. "We're big supporters of the ecosystem as it stands. The (LIV) league structure is somewhat flawed.

"Bringing outside money into the game is going to change it forever, if that, in fact, happens. The tour is owned by the players, and that means that everything ultimately flows back to the players.

"As soon as you put any money into it, it's going to create a need for return, a need for exit, and a lot of things that change the dynamics of it, which