Rory McIlroy has said “hard feelings” will need to be put aside to achieve peace in golf’s civil war but believes he “can be helpful” if he returns to the PGA Tour policy board.
As first reported by the Guardian on Monday, McIlroy is set to rejoin the PGA Tour board just months after stepping down. The 34-year-old will hope to assist in striking a deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf.
McIlroy has previously said that he and Patrick Cantlay “see the world quite differently,” however, and also had an exchange of views with Jordan Spieth, another player-director, in February. Spieth had suggested the Tour’s multi-billion dollar deal with Strategic Sports Group meant investment from the PIF might not be needed.
“I think I can be helpful,” McIlroy said when asked about his expected U-turn before the Zurich Classic, where he will partner his Ryder Cup teammate, Shane Lowry, in the team event in New Orleans.
“I don’t think there’s been much progress made in the last eight months and I was hopeful that there would be. I think I could be helpful to the process. But only if people want me involved, I guess.
“When Webb [Simpson] and I talked, and he talked about potentially coming off the board, I said: ‘Look, if it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat’, and that was the conversation we had.
“I think that’s the whole reason. I feel like I can be helpful,” McIlroy added. “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.”
Asked how he would achieve unification in the game given his differences of opinion with fellow players, McIlroy said: “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 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, but I think at this point, for the good of the game, we all need to put those feelings aside and all move forward together.”
McIlroy said that he had approached Lowry about teaming up in New Orleans, having previously resisted repeated overtures from the two-times Masters champion, Bubba Watson.
“I basically didn’t want to ask Rory because I didn’t think that he would want to come and play,” Lowry said. “Then he was the one that said it to me and I was like, absolutely.”
“The Wednesday after the Ryder Cup we had a nice few drinks together. We talked about it that day and then he sent me a text around Christmas time and it was a nice little present for me to get,” he added. “I like playing golf from the middle of the fairway, so I’m looking forward to this week.”