The Tour’s counter measures have involved long-trailed equity payments for their leading stars, which are expected to be ratified this week. Under those agreements, Tiger Woods is reported to be in line for $100million and McIlroy $50m in what would effectively be a loyalty bonus. When asked about those payments on Wednesday, McIlroy would only quip: ‘I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough.’
McIlroy’s original decision to leave the policy board last November was widely greeted as a productive move for his golfing career. However, he has disputed that the role excessively harmed his efforts to end a 10-year drought in the majors.
He said: ‘I would say that I’ve played some of my best golf while being a PGA Tour board member, so I don’t think it really hindered me. It was maybe just taking away some time from me pursuing things or spending time doing things that I wanted to do at home, and having to hop on calls two, three times a week and just the whole thing started to take a toll, as it has on a lot of the players.