Rory McIlroy makes LIV Golf promise after rejoining PGA Tour policy board
Rory McIlroy left the PGA Tour’s policy board last year but has returned to the fold – with a merger deal still be finalised Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)
Rory McIlroy wants to return to the PGA Tour policy board this week to drive through a unification deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
“I think I can be helpful,” said the Ulsterman. McIlroy was the leading critic of LIV Golf until last June’s shock “framework agreement” between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), who fund Greg Norman’s breakaway league.
The world No.2 quit his role on the board in November after admitting he felt like a “sacrificial lamb” and now supports a peace deal to see the PIF invest in the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods reported “positive” talks in the Bahamas last month with Newcastle chairman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan – but an agreement is still to be struck.
Now McIlroy is ready to replace Webb Simpson on the policy board – he still needs unanimous approval to return – and get involved in talks. “I don’t think there’s been much progress made in the last eight months, and I was hopeful that there would be,” he said. “I think I could be helpful to the process.
“I feel like I care a lot, and I have some pretty good experience and good connections within the game and sort of around the wider sort of ecosystem and everything that’s going on. I’m willing to do it if that’s what people want, I guess.”
Viewing figures are down 20 per cent on the PGA Tour this season with many stars, like world No.3 Jon Rahm, signing for LIV. McIlroy has claimed Al-Rumayyan wanted to do the “right thing” with PIF’s investment in golf.
Asked if he will seek unification, the four-time Major winner said: “Absolutely, yeah. I think it’s the only way forward for the game of golf.
“I want compromise but also try to articulate your points as well as you can and try to help people see the benefits of what unification could do for the game and what it could do for this tour in particular. We all need to move forward together.”
Speaking before LIV Adelaide, Greg Norman insisted he had never made McIlroy an offer but said: “If Rory was willing to sit down and have a conversation with us, would we be happy to sit down with him? 100 per cent, no different than any other player who would be interested in coming on and playing with us.”
McIlroy last week again pledged his future to the PGA Tour and is set to receive equity in the new for-profit company set up with the initial $1.5bn investment from the Strategic Sports Group – a consortium including Liverpool owners Fenway Sports.
The Ulsterman is set to be awarded shares worth up to $50million (£40m) with Woods getting closer to $100m ($80m). About $1billion (£800m) will be allocated to players although the vast majority will go to the top 36 who are most likely to defect to LIV. The value of the shares would rocket if a peace deal is done.
Speaking before his first appearances at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans – he will partner Shane Lowry – McIlroy was asked if the equity payments were enough. “I think the one thing we’ve learned in golf over the last two years is there’s never enough,” he said.
