Rory McIlroy send a strong threat to Liverpool owner John Henry in a private PGA Tour chat
John Henry led Strategic Sports Group to partner on the PGA Tour with the American Circuit’s association with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Arabia (PIF)
The investment comes after the Tour announced plans to partner with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to end the ongoing feeding frenzy by rivals, most recently LIV Gulf. until June
More than a year after the announcement of the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF, a final agreement has yet to be reached.
Meanwhile, Henry and SSG began construction in early 2024, pledging billions of dollars to America’s orbit in months of little progress with Saudi Arabia.
However, it was not Henry’s only foray into the world of golf after FSG announced its support of Boston Common, one of six franchises participating in the soon-to-be-launched innovative golf league, TGL. McIlroy, who co-founded TGL with Tiger Woods, was confirmed as one of four players at Boston Common and Henry hosted him behind the board at Fenway Park.
According to the Boston Globe , Henry asked McIlroy if he felt he “owned” the tour, to which the Northern Irishman replied bluntly, “No.” A few days later, it was reported that Henry and his SSG partners hosted Tour player coaches – including McIlroy and Woods – to brief them on their PGA Tour plans.
SSG was not alone though, with three other bidders making the tour before it was eventually decided that Henry and the others had beaten the golfing elite. McIlroy has since resigned from the Tour board as player-director last November.
However, he insisted he would vote in favor of SSG’s investment after welcoming the new partnership in February. “I would definitely vote for it,” he commented. “I think the group that was put together to invest in PGA Tour Enterprises is probably not the PGA Tour Enterprises, it’s PGA Tour Enterprises.
“It’s a great group of people with a lot of experience owning the sport. for the past 30 years. I got to know these guys pretty well, especially with the Fenway Consortium.
We worked with them to sell them most of my TGL team, so we’ve been working pretty closely together for the last year. They are a great group of people and have the best intentions for the game of golf, which is great. Yes, I thought it was good news.“.
