The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced plans for a shock merger with the PIF in June, but they failed to reach an agreement before a planned deadline of late 2023.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan recently met with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is also chairman of Newcastle United.
A report in Golfweek said PGA Tour player directors were also scheduled to meet with Al-Rumayyan, with Jordan Spieth adding Saturday that they were “encouraged” to meet with the PIF.
Spieth and Cantlay are two of six player directors on the PGA Tour board, alongside Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati.
McIlroy resigned from the PGA Tour’s policy council in November.
Speaking at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Cantlay said he plans to do “a lot more listening than talking” at the meeting and will “have a lot more information afterward.”
The American added that while he doubted the two sides would “address anything substantial in the first meeting”, he is “very much in favor” of any possible deal to reunite golf which would be ” in the best interest of the members of the PGA Tour.
McIlroy said he wanted Al-Rumayyan to show the players that “fundamentally, he wants to do the right thing,” adding that those who represented LIV, like commissioner Greg Norman, did the governor “a disservice” of the PIF.
“There is a very big gap between PIF and LIV,” McIlroy added. “The closer we get to Yasir, the PIF and hopefully finalizing this investment, it will be a very good thing.
“This is a sovereign wealth fund. They want to park money for decades without worrying about it.
“They want to invest in smart, secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is certainly one of them, especially if they’re looking to invest in sports in some way.”
The emergence of the LIV Tour in 2022 has fractured men’s professional golf.
Several top players, including Masters champion Jon Rahm, have been attracted to its huge prize pools and no-cut events, which also include a team format.
McIlroy said he believed LIV would still exist in its current form “for the next couple of years” while the details of the merger were finalized.
He added: “They are passionate about team golf and they want to see team golf survive in some way in the calendar.
“I don’t think it necessarily has to look like LIV. In my mind, you should leave individual golf and then play team golf on the outskirts of that.
“I don’t think it’s an overnight solution. But if we can get investment, then at least we can start working towards a compromise where we’re not going to make everyone happy, but at least make understand to everyone why we do what we do.”