CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | After a swirl of activity Wednesday related to the PGA Tour’s Policy Board, including news that Rory McIlroy won’t be returning to the 11-member leadership group, the question remains: Does this move the tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund any closer to an agreement?
Not immediately, but this was always going to be a long, difficult process.
The moves this week – McIlroy confirmed that he will not return to the board from which he resigned in November, with Webb Simpson agreeing to remain on the board through 2025 and that Tiger Woods will be the only player director on a five-person transactions committee that will negotiate directly with the PIF – suggest that putting things in order within the PGA Tour remains fluid.
Sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Global Golf Post that there are no meaningful discussions happening between the tour and the PIF and that LIV is resistant to making a deal.
The news, first reported by the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson on Wednesday night, that Woods along with tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Policy Board chairman Joe Gorder, Fenway Sports Group principal owner John Henry and director liaison Joe Ogilvie have been tasked with negotiating with the PIF regarding the Saudi fund’s potential minority investment in PGA Tour Enterprises suggests discussions between the two sides could soon intensify.
However, the changing dynamics point to the challenges involved in negotiating any potential agreement with the PIF nearly a year after the unexpected framework agreement was announced.
McIlroy’s revelation Wednesday that his interest in rejoining the Policy Board as one of six player directors had been rejected was surprising given his place in the game and his willingness to consider compromise with the PIF and LIV Golf.
“There was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.” – Rory McIlroy
Monahan issued a statement saying the Policy Board was adhering to its processes for determining its members and the decision was not a negative reflection on McIlroy. When Woods expressed an interest in joining the Policy Board last fall, a new spot on the board was added for him, with no term limit.
The McIlroy scenario, however, raises questions.
“There was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason,” McIlroy said Wednesday at Quail Hollow Club, site of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
Simpson stressed the point of McIlroy having an active role without being a board member.
“We kind of had to figure out, OK, where is his place, how can we – how can we honor our role as board members and our commitment to the tour, but also bring in a guy at least to voice his ideas and just see how he can help us,” Simpson said.
While McIlroy, a 35-year-old four-time major champion, has maintained his anti-LIV stance and said last month that he will play the PGA Tour for the remainder of his career, he has been outspoken about the need for an agreement to heal the fracture within the game, suggesting that to operate otherwise would not be in the best interest of the PGA Tour.
He likened the current situation to the peace process that led to the Good Friday Agreement between Catholics and Protestants in his native Northern Ireland in 1998. Neither side, McIlroy said, got everything that it wanted, but the deal led to peace.
“It’s probably not going to feel great for either side, but if it’s a place where the game of golf starts to thrive again and we can all get back together, then I think that’s ultimately a really good thing,” McIlroy said.
The fact that McIlroy grew frustrated enough by divisions among player directors on the board that he resigned last fall is an indication of the difficult dynamics in play, and it may have factored into some of the resistance he received when he broached the idea of rejoining the board.
It’s no secret that Patrick Cantlay has taken a strong role among the player directors and that has created friction. In an interview with the Irish Independent late last year, McIlroy conceded that he and Cantlay “see the world quite differently.”
Though Cantlay has been reluctant to discuss details of his work on the Policy Board, he is said to have more of a hardline approach to negotiating with the PIF, including any potential sanctions for players who left the PGA Tour for LIV.
“I think it’s a very big, complicated business. Changing direction and shaping changes takes time, and I think everybody has to realize that,” Cantlay said three weeks ago at the RBC Heritage.
Having Woods and independent director Joe Gorder, said to be a Cantlay ally, on the five-person transactions committee could be viewed as a sign of the tour’s approach to future negotiations.
Woods and Jordan Spieth also are said to be more reluctant to compromise than McIlroy. After Spieth said in early February at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that the tour didn’t necessarily need to make a deal with the PIF, he and McIlroy had an hour-long conversation about the issue.
There also have been reports that while Woods and McIlroy are still friendly, their relationship has cooled as a consequence of seeing different paths forward.
Having Woods and independent director Joe Gorder, said to be a Cantlay ally, on the five-person transactions committee could be viewed as a sign of the tour’s approach to future negotiations.
The tour has been bolstered by the addition of Signature Sports Group (SSG) as an investor in PGA Tour Enterprises, a new for-profit business, investing an initial $1.5 billion into the organization, the bulk of which will go to player equity payments.
Despite not returning to the board, McIlroy sounded a hopeful note this week.
“I’m still optimistic. I think Webb staying on is a really good thing,” McIlroy said.
“I think he’s got a really balanced voice in all of this and I think he sees the bigger picture, which is great. My fear was if Webb stepped off and it wasn’t me that was going in his place, what could potentially happen.”