Rory McIlroy posts back-to-back rounds of 69 at the Tour Championship as Sir Nick Faldo believes LIV Golf should remain separate from the game’s established tours
Rory McIlroy posted his second successive round of 69 at the Tour Championship at East Lake to move to -8 for the tournament.
The front nine would yield seven pars and two birdies on 4 and 6, with McIlroy then gaining another stroke on 14.
McIlroy would drop a shot on the par 4 16th but parred the final two holes to move into -8.
World number one Scottie Scheffler remains several shots clear at the PGA Tour’s season finale.
Meanwhile, Sir Nick Faldo believes LIV Golf should remain separate from the game’s established tours and that Jon Rahm was wrong to think he could bring about a swift resolution to golf’s civil war.
Progress on the “Framework Agreement” announced by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in June last year has been infuriatingly slow, with mixed messages coming from both sides.
Tyrrell Hatton said on Wednesday that “certain conversations” this month meant he was more positive about a deal being done, but PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan hinted on the same day that Strategic Sports Group’s 1.5billion US dollars investment has changed the landscape.
“We now have the structure and the resources we need to define the future of professional golf on our terms and the significant support of a world-class group of investors,” Monahan said ahead of the Tour Championship.
Faldo would be happy if Monahan’s remarks meant LIV Golf stayed in its own lane, telling the PA news agency: “I think they are an island and go and do their own thing. That’s absolutely fine with me, go and play their tour.
“And I think we are now seeing that, wow, they’ve had three seasons and they haven’t made much impact on the [viewing] numbers.
“Quite amusingly pickleball was bigger than their two stars [Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm] in a play-off, the sort of excitement everyone wants. But it got beat for viewership by pickleball.
“I think bottom line is that the players have got the last laugh because they are being rewarded so much either through the size of the prize money or appearance fees and they are not moving the needle.
“And I can’t see that changing because, as we know, it’s been so damaging to the public’s attitude to golf.”