McIlroy’s bid to rejoin PGA Tour policy board meets internal resistance

World number two Rory McIlroy’s intention of rejoining the six-member PGA Tour policy board as a player director has run into opposition from a group of colleagues, media reports said on Wednesday.

McIlroy stepped down in favour of Jordan Speith in November, and last month said he was willing to return and help sort out the PGA Tour-LIV Golf tangle that has engulfed the sport for the last two years.

Fellow director Webb Simpson was willing to step down but only in favour of the Northern Ireland golfer but reports suggested co-members Tiger Woods, Speith and Patrick Cantlay had opposed the idea.

“Rory always had great ideas of how do we move forward, how do we get the love and attention from fans back from where we had it maybe two years ago, how do we grow our business, all things related to the PGA Tour,” Simpson was quoted as having said.

Speaking ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, McIlroy said, “I think with the way it happened it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”

Back when it was first launched in 2022, McIlroy was the most vocal critic of the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf League, but has since then tempered his views considerably. He has also met people on either side of the divide including Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the sovereign Public Investment Fund that backs LIV Golf.

Talks between the PGA Tour and PIF have stalled despite a surprise ‘framework agreement’ last June and at least one firm deadline, of December 31, 2023, has gone by without any great progress. The PGA Tour has in between roped in the Strategic Sports Group as an outside investor and set up PGA Tour Enterprises, in which PIF has agreed to invest, but is yet to take on any substantial form.

Recently, McIlroy and Speith disagreed publicly over PIF’s involvement with the PGA Tour with the latter suggesting there was no need for Saudi funding since the SSG had already come in with an offer that could go up to $3 billion.

“I put my hand up to help and it was, I wouldn’t say it was rejected, it was a complicated process to get through to put me back on there,” McIlroy added in Charlotte. “So that’s all fine, no hard feelings and we’ll all move on.”

He however, did make the point that somewhere down the line the two sides would have to sit down together and work out a compromise route map to coexist, and quoted the Ireland peace accord as an example.

“I would say I’m impatient because I think we’ve got this window of opportunity to get it done, I wouldn’t say need to get it done, but it makes sense. And I just think — I sort of liken it to like when Northern Ireland went through the peace process in the ’90s and the Good Friday Agreement, neither side was happy.

“The Catholics weren’t happy, the Protestants weren’t happy, but it brought peace and then you just sort of learn to live with whatever has been negotiated, right?” he added.

For his part, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said the decision to stall McIlroy’s return did not in any way reflect his opinions, standing or influence in the game.

“Today’s news is in no way a commentary on Rory’s important perspective and influence,” Monahan said in a statement. “It’s a matter of adherence to our governance process by which a tour player becomes a board member.

“Webb remaining in his position as a member of the policy board and PGA Tour Enterprises board through the end of his term provides the continuity needed at this vital time. We are making progress in our negotiations with the PIF.”

Meanwhile, in a significant step, Tiger Woods will be the lone active player in a new sub-committee set up to participate in talks with PIF. Woods is currently one of the six player directors of the PGA Tour’s policy board, and the inclusion as reported by a section of the media on Wednesday, gives him an influential seat to oversee and direct the negotiations.

The 15-time major champion is to be a part of the “transaction sub-committee” of PGA Tour Enterprises that will handle day-to-day negotiations with PIF. Other members on the panel are Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group (SSG’s major partner) and former player Joe Ogilvie, and it has been mandated to report to the full board.

Tiger was amongst those including Monahan and Henry who met Al-Rumayyan in the Bahamas recently in a bid to break the deadlock in negotiations, following which he noted at Augusta National before the Masters, “I don’t know if we’re closer, but certainly we’re headed in the right direction. That was a very positive meeting, and I think both sides came away from the meeting feeling positive."