Rory McIlroy would love to see the best golfers in the world playing together more regularly, but he feels that now is not the time to see that happening.
The creation of the LIV Golf Tour saw some of the best golfers in the world move away from both the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.
Recently however, Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour after agreeing to a charitable donation of $5 million, as well as other strict financial terms.
This was followed by the tour offering some of the other big names who had switched and won Majors between 2022 and 2025 - Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith amongst them - to come back with a cut-off date of 2 February.
Ultimately, McIlroy would like to see the sport's elite competitors come together more often than the four majors but he feels such a scenario is not close.
"I don't see a world where the two or three sides will give up enough," he said at a press event ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic.
"For reunification to happen, every side is going to feel like they will have lost, where you really want every side to feel like they have won. They are just too far apart for that to happen.
"Yes, relationships are better, but at the same time, that doesn't necessarily mean that every organisation will give up in its own best interest."
No more players have yet opted to make a return, with both tours continuing separately.
And while it isn't the ideal situation, McIlroy insists that the fact that the tours haven't reunited is not a big problem.
"I don't think it matters," he said. "I think the additional tours have weathered the worst of the storm.
"Golf would be better served if all the best players in the world played together a little more often than they do. We're really only seeing that four times a year at the major championships.
"But you're talking about a handful of guys that are missing, say, a Players Championship or some of the other bigger tournaments in the world.
"So, yeah, I'd like to see the best players play together maybe ten times a year instead of four times a year."
When Koepka returned to the PGA Tour, Brian Rolapp, the tour's chief executive, confirmed the additional financial limitations he would face, including "a five-year forfeiture of potential equity in the PGA Tour's Player Equity Program."
He estimated that it could cost the five-time major winner up to €72 million.
The DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, has similar penalties in place for returning players.
Asked more broadly about whether these sorts of financial penalties were the correct approach to take, McIlroy added: "Any members' organisation like this has a right to uphold its rules and regulations.
"And what the DP World Tour are doing is upholding their rules and regulations and we, as members, sign a document at the start of every year, which has you agree to these rules and regulations.
"The people that made the option to go to LIV knew what they (the rules) were, so I don't see what's wrong with that."
