Northern Irishman world number one Rory McIlroy has hailed veteran Tiger Woods for gracing the PGA Tour players summit, where they discussed, among other things, how to fight the LIV Golf Series. The former world number one flew into North Carolina, where the meeting was held, as well as the venue for this week’s FedEx Cup Play-offs. Woods, who has only played three events this year, would not be playing in the play-offs.

Still, this did not stop him from attending the meeting, and McIlroy later described his presence as “impactful.” Woods has been vocal about his opposition to the new league, and it was revealed that he was offered almost a billion dollars to join the league but he declined.

Although the exact discussion that took place in the meeting is currently unknown, McIlroy said that all players were in agreement on what they should do going forward. He said: “I think the one thing that came out of it, which I think was the purpose, is all the top players on this Tour are in agreement and alignment of where we should go going forward, and that was awesome.

“We need to get the top guys together more often than we do.”

Commenting on the presence of Woods and the impact it had on the meeting, McIlroy said his (Woods’) presence was proof of how much he loves the Tour: “It’s impactful, and I think it shows how much he cares about the Tour.

“I think it shows how much he cares about the players that are coming through and are going to be the next generation.”

“He is the hero that we’ve all looked up to. His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf. His role is navigating us to a place where we all think we should be.

“I think it’s pretty apparent that whenever we all get in the room, there’s an alpha in there, and it’s not me.”

Written by: Leon Osamor