Tour board soap-opera drama reveals rifts
McIlroy's views at odds with former board mates; will U.S. Open create pathways for LIV?
Did Team Cantlay-Woods stifle McIlroy’s comeback bid? (William West/AFP via Getty Images)
Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Championship, another episode of “As the Tour Turns” was released.
This week’s star, Rory McIlroy, didn’t disappoint as he answered questions from the assembled media about his on-again-off-again position on the PGA Tour Policy Board.
In this episode, McIlroy took the path of least resistance and explained that he was interested, but rebuffed by some of the members — none of whom were mentioned. But it’s a good bet that Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay are not in the McIlroy camp.
It’s understandable why. Since McIlroy left the board in November, he has been openly supportive of getting the band back together so to speak.
Oddly, unless you have amnesia, you’ll remember the same McIlroy was vehemently opposed to LIV and the players that made the leap to the Saudi-backed tour.
It’s all so complicated. First McIlroy is for the PGA Tour and against LIV. He was the most vocal critic of the players and the new entity when Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka left for greener pastures in 2022.
His pro-tour and anti-LIV position was manna from heaven for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan — right until the commish decided to go in another direction, cutting McIlroy off at the knees and leaving him swinging in the wind after the fateful June 6 “framework agreement” announcement.
Dumbstruck, the Ulsterman put on a brave face of support. But his stature on the board seemed diminished, leaving McIlroy with one decision — does he stay or does he go.
McIlroy decided to leave the board and go his own way, free of the shackles of speaking the party line and now projecting his own ideas and feelings.
After Jon Rahm left for LIV at the end of 2023, McIlroy was vocal about the need to have Rahm play for the Europeans in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in 2025.
And how the PGA Tour needs to provide more value to the sponsors and television.
And of course, who could forget his idea of a global tour and how PGA Tour players are going to have to give a little and travel overseas to expose the world to the best players.
Rory McIlroy’s unification views seem to be at odds with ex-board mates. (Scott Michaux)
None of these ideas fits in the current narrative of Cantlay and Woods, who seem very comfortable taking the equity money from the Strategic Sports Group and ignoring the PIF and LIV.
Now it turns out that Woods, Monahan and others involved in the PGA Tour are going to visit Yasir Al-Rumayyan and see the sights of Saudi Arabia.
Of course, between servings of hummus and pomegranate seeds, progress on the “framework agreement” that was announced last June and was to be finalized into a definitive agreement by the end of 2023, currently resides in the ether.
An extension until before the Masters came and went without an agreement, leaving everyone wondering what happened. Was the extension extended again or is the deal dead?
It seems negotiations are preceding, but to what end? What is taking so bloody long?
It seems simple, PIF wants to throw a bunch of money at the PGA Tour in exchange for some concessions.
What those concessions are is anyone’s guess. But whatever they are, it’s clear Tiger and Patrick are not amenable to the terms on the table, which means letting someone who speaks for the other side, like McIlroy, back onto the board would not help their case one iota.
So here we are. McIlroy remains on the outside looking in and, while not totally his fault, he has quickly become persona-non-grata as many do when they come up against Woods, who has a long one-way memory.
Can you say elephant in the room?
Oddly enough, it may be Yasir Al-Rumayyan in the end who may resurrect McIlroy’s standing, since they are clearly on the same page. But that discussion is for another time and place since much must happen before the PIF has any say in the future of the PGA Tour or PGA Tour Enterprises.
And it looks like that will happen over Cantlay’s and Woods’ dead bodies.
Mike Whan says exemption pathways could get a closer look. (Chris Keane/USGA)
Whan leaves door ajar for LIV access
The United States Golf Association has opened the door for non-qualifying LIV players to get an exemption in to the U.S. Open in the future.
It’s a door that provides more creditability for the three-year-old tour and its players.
It’s also an understanding by the second oldest major championship that getting the best players together is the most important — and not only the ones playing on the PGA and DP World tours.
The USGA has never disqualified a LIV golfer from playing in the U.S. Open, but the pathway was limited to those not already exempt to having to qualify.
Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA, made comments about possibly expanding the pathways on an episode of “Fairways of Life” on Wednesday.
“If they are separate and separate entities, then yeah I can certainly envision a pathway no different than we provide a pathway at the DP World Tour, we provide a smaller pathway at Korn Ferry,” Whan said about creating pathways for LIV players. “So it’s feasible for me. It’s not necessary because we don’t stop anybody from getting in and our field isn’t closed off. But I think even with that said it wouldn’t shock me that if things stay kind of the way they are today and if that's the go-forward plan, we'll take a look at least some of our exempt categories as well.”
Two years ago, certain professional golfers decided to leave their comfortable home on the DP World and PGA tours to join LIV Golf.
The first event took place just a week before the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. When they all got back together that week after Charl Schwartzel won the first LIV event in London, it was a three-ring circus.
There were plenty of questions but no answers.
The professional golf world was turned on its head and no one had the slightest idea what to do but protect their turf.
There was no Maginot Line or a moat with a castle to hide behind or inside, and eventually the powers that ran professional golf — the five families of the Masters, USGA, R&A, PGA of America and the PGA Tour — would be forced to come up with a solution on how to address the split.
But as Matthew Fitzpatrick was winning his first major, many believed LIV to be a fluke and its life expectancy would be less than a tsetse fly.
Slowly, the five families got the message that LIV Golf had a benefactor that was bigger and badder and with deeper pockets than anything that the families could throw at them.
The first to get this was the PGA Tour, that understood they did not have anywhere near the financial fire power to fight off PIF and on June 6, 2023, an armistice was signed that stopped the legal war. But has not ended the conflict.
Now it seems the other families are slowly acquiescing.
The Masters gave a special international exemption to non-qualifying LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann to play at Augusta this year.
The PGA Championship offered seven invitations to non-exempt LIV golfers to play next week at Valhalla.
It’s fair to say there is a crack in the dam and as the fissure gets bigger the probability of LIV surviving becomes greater.
The five families understand the importance of providing the best product to the fans, since in many cases that revenue generated from those major events pays the bills for the year. So it’s important not to screw it up.
Valhalla’s Limestone Hole (No. 13) will get a lot of air time. (PGA of America)
PGA Championship Viewing
The second major championship of the year is next week and it will be hard to miss the PGA Championship.
The tournament will get wall-to-wall coverage via ESPN+ (the streaming app), ESPN and CBS-TV. Coverage begins early for the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday and ESPN will also have streaming coverage on the weekend when CBS picks up the bulk over the coverage.
For a complete list of airtimes, TV talent, hole announcers and all the bells and whistles associated with the various telecasts, check out Geoff Shackelford’s Substack, The Quadrilateral, where he tackles all of it in detail.