McIlroy won’t rejoin PGA Tour board, says others were ‘uncomfortable’ with his potential return,
Rory McIlroy won’t rejoin PGA Tour board, says others were ‘uncomfortable’ with his potential return
Rory McIlroy has confirmed he won’t be returning to the PGA Tour board, blaming resistance from a “subset of people on the board”.
Webb Simpson, one of six player-directors, recently offered to give up his seat — but only if McIlroy were to replace him. McIlroy would have needed board approval to be reinstated to a position that he resigned from last November.
McIlroy said ahead of this weekend’s Wells Fargo Championship conversations surrounding his potential return became “pretty complicated and messy”, which reminded him of why he left in the first place.
Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will not be returning to the PGA Tour board. (Getty)
“I think with the way it happened it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before,” McIlroy said.
“I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”
McIlroy’s reinstatement would have been viewed as a chance to help improve the PGA Tour’s stalled negotiations with the Saudi financial backers of LIV Golf.
The world No.2 said when he stepped down he could no longer commit the time and energy that board work required with the PGA Tour trying to finalise an agreement with the Public Investment Fund.
Unable to finalise a deal by the end of last year, the PGA Tour brought in Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor. That deal could be worth as much as $4.5 billion.
“I put my hand up to help and it was, I wouldn’t say it was rejected, (but) it was a complicated process to get through to put me back on there,” McIlroy said of potentially returning the board. “So that’s all fine, no hard feelings and we’ll all move on.”
Simpson said he now plans to finish out his three-year term on the board. He said he offered to give up his seat to McIlroy because he’s a “global superstar” and would give Europeans a needed voice in major tour decisions.
McIlroy has cited resistance from those on the board for the move. (Getty)
“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 said.
But there are some on the board who remain at odds with the four-time major champion. McIlroy has in recent months changed his views about LIV Golf, and even suggested LIV players should be allowed to return to the PGA Tour without penalty.
McIlroy also disagreed in February with Jordan Spieth’s comments that a deal with PIF was not needed because of the SSG investment, although it would help with unification.
McIlroy suggested one solution for growing the game would be going to a more global schedule that includes more tournaments overseas, but also questioned whether American players would want to travel out of the United States for a dozen events.
Regardless, McIlroy remains bothered by the state of the game and wants to see a resolution for the good of the fans, a growing faction of which have become unhappy — or even worse, apathetic — with the splintering of players on two watered-down tours.
McIlroy said it’s all about finding a compromise for both sides, even though neither side may walk away completely happy.
“I would say I’m impatient because I think we’ve got this window of opportunity to get it done, because both sides from a business perspective … I wouldn’t say need to get it done, but it makes sense,” McIlroy said.
“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. Catholics weren’t happy, Protestants weren’t happy, but it brought peace and then you just sort of learn to live with whatever has been negotiated, right?”
