I can be helpful: Rory McIlroy hopes to unite golf with return to PGA Tour board
- The PGA, LIV Golf, and DP World Tour are trying to reach an agreement.
- The 34-year-old discussed taking a seat with Webb Simpson.
Rory McIlroy is acting during the RBC Heritage event. Months after resigning, the Northern Irishman is set to return to the PGA Tour policy board.
“Rory McIlroy aims to foster unity in golf as he eyes a return to the PGA Tour board, signalling potential positive changes and collaboration within the sport.”
Although Rory McIlroy has stated that “hard feelings” must be set aside in order to end golf’s civil war, he still thinks he “can be helpful” if he rejoins the PGA Tour policy board.
McIlroy will return to the PGA Tour board only months after resigning, as originally revealed by the Guardian on Monday. The 34-year-old is hoping to help the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which finances LIV Golf, come to an agreement.
Nonetheless, McIlroy has previously stated that he and Patrick Cantlay “see the world quite differently.” In February, he also discussed this point of view with another player-director, Jordan Spieth. Spieth had stated that the PIF might not be required to invest because of the Tour’s multibillion-dollar agreement with Strategic Sports Group.
When asked about his anticipated U-turn prior to the Zurich Classic, where he will compete in the team tournament in New Orleans alongside his Ryder Cup colleague Shane Lowry, McIlroy replied, “I think I can be helpful.”
“I was hoping that there would be progress, but I don’t think much has been done in the last eight months. I believe I could contribute to the procedure. I suppose, but only if people want me to be involved.
“We had a conversation when Webb [Simpson] mentioned that he might leave the board. I responded by saying, ‘Look, if it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat.'”
“I believe that to be the main cause. I think I can be useful,” McIlroy continued. “I have some pretty good experience, connections within the game, and a general sense of the wider ecosystem and everything that’s going on, so I feel like I care a lot.”
“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,” McIlroy responded when asked how he would bring the players together despite their disagreements.
“I think that at this point, for the sake of the game, we all need to set those feelings aside and move forward together. We obviously realise the game is not unified right now for a reason and there’s still some hard feelings and things that need to be addressed.”
After turning down numerous approaches from the two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, McIlroy claimed to have approached Lowry about collaborating in New Orleans.
“I didn’t think Rory would want to come and play, so I basically didn’t want to ask him,” Lowry remarked. Then it was him who told me, and I responded, “Absolutely.”
“We enjoyed a couple drinks together on Wednesday following the Ryder Cup. We spoke about it that day, and then, sometime around Christmas, he texted me. “It was a lovely little gift for me to receive,” he continued. “I’m excited for this week because I enjoy playing golf from the middle of the fairway.”
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