5 Key Takeaways From Rory McIlroy's Pebble Beach Pro-Am Press Conference

Rory McIlroy is preparing to make his season debut on the PGA Tour after several months away, with the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am holding the honor of being the first event on the World No.3's scaled-back 2025 schedule.

Having not featured in a competitive tournament on US soil since the Tour Championship in August, reporters were keen to quiz the Northern Irishman on a variety of subjects upon his return, such as golf's entertainment factor, how close a unification deal is, and Scottie Scheffler's freak hand injury.

Below are five of McIlroy's most interesting answers to multiple questions ahead of the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

BASHING GOLF HAS 'BECOME A HOBBY' TO SOME

With the subject of golf's entertainment factor a hot one to debate right now amid sliding TV ratings and the rise of content creators, McIlroy weighed in on the subject after being asked whether he felt any particular responsibility to entertain while competing.

The four-time Major winner argued that while YouTube and the likes certainly have their place due to a certain relatability, competitive tour golf should remain the pinnacle as players are the best in the world.

McIlroy said: "Yeah, it's a hard one. I think, look, we've seen like YouTube golf, for example, explode over the last couple years. People will say that that's more entertaining than maybe some of the competitive golf that's out there, but it's more relatable because you're watching guys that maybe have a similar ability to what the general public have.

"Look, it's a balance. When we're growing up dreaming of professional golfers and trying to get the best out of ourselves, the last thing on our mind is being an entertainer.

"We're competitive people at the end of the day, we want to play against the best players in the world and we want to try to come out on top. I think that in itself should be entertaining to people, but I think in this day and age, you know, it's become a hobby to bash golf and where golf is and is it entertaining, is it not entertaining?

"I came out on the wrong side of it last year, but I would say the last round of the US Open was pretty entertaining last year and that was pure competitive golf. I think the more we can get to scenarios like that, the better."

SCALE BACK THE PGA TOUR

Discussing a similar subject to the one above, McIlroy was asked whether the increase in popularity of YouTube - plus the rise of TGL and LIV Golf - has potentially caused some kind of fatigue to the consumer.

The 35-year-old agreed that it has and that it might well be in the sport's best interest to shave a few events off a year - particularly in the PGA Tour where around 40 take place each season.

Asked whether the PGA Tour product could be diminished by so much golf, generally, McIlroy replied: "I think it already has been. You know, I think it already has been diminished.

"I would say yeah, look, the one thing about like TGL's only going to last two months. You get this sort of big burst of it in January, February and a little bit of March, then it's done. It's gone for 10 months basically. I would say that is hopefully somewhat additive to the ecosystem.

"YouTube is like golf entertainment adjacent, whatever. Those guys are killing it. They found a niche and it's really cool and it serves a purpose for a lot of people. But look, I would much rather sit down and watch real golfers play real tournaments and that's just my opinion. That to me is more entertaining. But I understand that other people want something different and that's totally fine as well. I think there's space for all of this.

"Yeah, I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that's sort of available to them. So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think mightn't be a bad thing... I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many."

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THE BIGGEST ROADBLOCK TO A DEAL

Moving on to what the future of men's pro golf could look like, McIlroy suggested recent changes to the US government and LIV Golf boardroom may help expedite some sort of unification deal.

However, the four-time Major winner also pointed out that even if the right people are now in a room together, they still have to agree on what the sport looks like moving forward.

McIlroy said: "Yeah, I think the new administration are certainly going to be a bit more deal friendly, but like I'm not in those conversations, so I don't know. I would like to think that something happens pretty soon, but I've said that for the last two years."

And what is the biggest obstacle to overcome for a deal to occur? McIlroy replied: "Last year, I probably would have said that the Department of Justice and now that doesn't seem to be as of much of an obstacle anymore.

"I think from an investment standpoint, that deal should and will be done, but it doesn't solve the problem of what the landscape of golf looks like going forward. I'd say the biggest impediment is maybe the differing visions of what golf should look like in the future."

A WORLD TOUR IN 2030?

A little over a year ago, McIlroy floated the idea of a World Tour where the best players travelled to different countries - not just those in North America - to show off the sport and create a genuine version of a World Championship.

On a similar subject to above, the 35-year-old admitted he did not know when or if that would be possible but reasoned that if it were to happen, the earliest fans might see it become a reality would be 2030.

Asked when actual changes to men's pro golf might be witnessed, McIlroy said: "I'd say your five years was pretty spot on, just with the landscape of like the media rights, for example, media rights partners are locked in to 2030. They paid for a certain product, players don't want their prize funds to go down so you don't want to renegotiate the media rights.

"Yeah, maybe by the end of this decade you might see something where it could come together, but that's -- I mean, it's so pie in the sky and there's so much stuff that can happen."

HIRE A CHEF!

When news broke that Scottie Scheffler had injured his hand on broken glass while making ravioli at Christmas, most of the golfing world was a little confused. Partly because ravioli isn't a common dish on the holiday, but also because Scheffler has more than enough money to hire a personal chef.

The latter part was what McIlroy focused on when asked for his reaction to the incident ahead of Pebble Beach this week.

McIlroy said: "I think he made enough money to hire a chef. It's like why are you cooking yourself? I was hoping it was going to be more of a fun story than that.

"We were together in Vegas on the 17th of December and played that match with Brooks and Bryson. Firstly, just concern and hope he was OK. It sounds like he is, it's good that he's teeing it up this week. Yeah, get a chef."