Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy on PGA Tour’s Transaction Subcommittee amid PIF Investment

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVMay 10, 2024

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Rory McIlroy won’t be returning to the PGA Tour policy board he resigned from in November, but he will be joining Tiger Woods on the newly formed transaction committee, per ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.

That committee will directly negotiate with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund—which owns LIV Golf—as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to iron out the details of their previously announced merger, talks that have stretched well past the original Dec. 2023 target date for finalizing the deal.

The transaction committee will also include the executive chairman of Valero Energy’s board, Joseph W. Gorder; player liaison director Joe Ogilvie; Fenway Sports Group founder and principal owner John W. Henry; PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan; and golfer Adam Scott.

“I feel like I’ve got good relationships on both sides (of the negotiations), and hopefully I can bring something to the table and try to provide some insight and value to see if we can get this thing done,” McIlroy told reporters.

The star golfer was incredibly vocal in his distaste for LIV Golf—which many believe to be an effort by the Saudi government to sportswash its human-rights violations—and the players who defected for the PGA Tour’s rival in the past. That, combined with his frustrations from his time on the policy board, likely played a part in him not returning.

He said the potential of his return “opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before” and that there were some folks on the board “maybe uncomfortable” with him rejoining.

“I don’t necessarily think or believe that people didn’t want me involved, it was more just the process of how I could get involved again, right?” he continued. “Like the board has [gone] through this massive eight-month governance review, and what happened with Webb Simpson and I and that whole thing, that was outside of the scope of the governance, right?”

Simpson had planned to step down from the policy board, but only if McIlroy took his place. He instead will finish his term, which ends in 2025.

“I’m really comfortable that Webb is staying in that seat,” McIlroy said. “Webb is a very levelheaded, balanced, big-picture guy. If it wasn’t me taking his seat, the next-best thing was Webb staying on. Yeah, I’m happy about that.”

The six player directors on the policy board include Webb, Woods, Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati and Jordan Spieth.