“Jimmy was basically the relationship, the sort of conduit between the PGA Tour and PIF. It’s been really unfortunate that he hasn’t been involved for the last few months. And I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that. It is. It’s really, really disappointing and I think the tour is in a worse place because of it.”
McIlroy supports an international golf circuit largely financed by PIF and operated by the PGA Tour. Since he resigned from the policy board (replaced by Jordan Spieth) last fall, behind-the-scenes influence has continued shifting more towards the players in the aftermath of Dunne and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s shadow negotiations with PIF Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
In recent weeks, board member Webb Simpson requested to step down from the board and have McIlroy finish out his term through 2025. McIlroy agreed, though his efforts were thwarted.
“It got pretty complicated and pretty messy,” McIlroy said before last week’s Wells Fargo Championship. “I think with the way it happened, I think it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.”
Board members Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Spieth support a standalone, expanded PGA Tour primarily funded by private equity. Monahan (and board member Adam Scott) insisted that McIlroy was disallowed back on the board due to process, not politics.
Instead, a transaction subcommittee was created specifically tasked with PIF negotiations. It includes Monahan, Tiger, McIlroy, Scott, player liaison Joe Ogilvie, and PGA Tour investor/Boston Red Sox owner John Henry. McIlroy has a friendly relationship with Al-Rumayyan.
Monahan, Tiger, and the board met with Al-Rumayyan in March.
“I would say my confidence level on something getting done before last week was as low at it had been,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “And then with this news with Jimmy resigning and knowing the relationship he has with the other side and how much warmth there is from the other side, it’s concerning.”
Last week, McIlroy acknowledged a friction with Tiger but downplayed the personal animus involved. At his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday, Woods said PIF negotiations have a “long way to go.”
McIlroy, the no. 2 player in the world, enters the 106th PGA Championship as a winner of back-to-back events (though neither featured Scottie Scheffler): the Zurich Classic in New Orleans and Wells Fargo. His most recent was the 2014 PGA Championship — the last time he competed at Valhalla.
