Rory McIlroy to Rejoin PGA Tour Policy Board, per Report

The world No. 2 resigned his position as a player director on the board six months ago.

Apr 20, 2024; Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA; Rory McIlroy smiles as he walks across the 14th / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Six months after resigning his position as a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board, Rory McIlroy is apparently set to rejoin the group, at the behest of former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson.

The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported Monday that Simpson is looking to resign his spot among the six player directors and has asked that McIlroy return to take his position.

The PGA Tour declined to comment on the report.

The Guardian cited sources in saying that McIlroy, No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking and a four-time major champion, would return to the board which would also include a position on the board of the newly-created PGA Tour Enterprises.

Such an appointment would need the approval of the 12 members of the PGA Tour Policy Board, which include player directors Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Jordan Spieth and Simpson. A PGA Tour official said that Simpson has not resigned his position.

Spieth replaced McIlroy on the board last fall after the Northern Irishman said he wanted to focus more of his efforts inside the ropes. When he arrives at the PGA Championship next month in Louisville, Ky., he will return to the place where he won his last major title 10 years ago.

McIlroy, who had been an outspoken critic of the LIV Golf League before softening in recent months, was among the top players who sought changes to the PGA Tour schedule that would enhance player benefits, such as the signature events.

“Rory’s resignation letter, which he sent to the full board, clearly stated that the difficult decision was made due to professional and personal commitments,” said Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, at the time of his resignation. “Given the extraordinary time and effort that Rory—and all his fellow player directors—have invested in this unprecedented, transformational period in our history, we certainly understand and respect his decision to step down in order to focus on his game and his family.”

A return to the board could signal McIlroy’s desires to see an end to the stalemate that has seen the PGA Tour and DP World Tour on opposite ends of a framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which backs LIV Golf.

McIlroy has met Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, and while he said again last week that he has no plans to ever join LIV Golf, he has made it clear that he believes a deal is necessary.

“Fundamentally he wants to do the right thing,” McIlroy said of Al-Rumayyan last month at the Players Championship. “I think I've said this before, I have spent time with Yasir and his—the people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice ... so (LIV commissioner Greg) Norman and those guys.

“I see the two entities, and I think there's a big ... I actually think there's a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV. I think you got PIF over here and LIV are sort of over here doing their own thing. So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing.”

LIV Golf is in its third year and has signed several big-name players to lucrative guaranteed contracts, including three of the past six major champions—Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith.

Asked how he viewed the distinction between LIV and the PIF, McIlroy said: “I think their disruptiveness and his—their disruptiveness, and then his ... I don't know what the right word is ... I guess his desire to be involved in the world of golf in a productive way.”

Since then, Al-Rumayyan met with Monahan and all of the player directors, including Woods, in the Bahamas.