Rory McIlroy resigns from PGA Tour policy board as deadline for merger with Saudi Arabia PIF nears

Rory McIlroy has stepped down from the PGA Tour policy board, the PGA Tour announced on Tuesday. The news comes one day after the 12-man group met at the Tour’s headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida, to discuss the state of negotiations with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, in addition to a number of other suitors, to house commercial operations under a new for-profit entity dubbed PGA Tour Enterprises. A Dec. 31 deadline for the agreement to be solidified had been set, though it reportedly could be pushed back over antitrust concerns and player demands. 

“I wanted to inform you that Rory McIlroy has resigned from the PGA Tour Policy Board,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wrote in a memo to membership. “Rory’s resignation letter, which he sent to the full Board late this afternoon, clearly stated that the difficult decision was made due to professional and personal commitments.”

The Northern Irishman first joined the Player Advisory Council in 2019 and went onto serve as the PAC Chairman in 2021. McIlroy’s roles and responsibilities off the golf course increased as the tumultuous relationship with LIV Golf began to surface during his tenure as a player director the last two years.

“[It is] not what I signed for whenever I went on the board,” McIlroy said Tuesday at the DP World Tour Championship. “But yeah, the game of professional golf has been in flux for the last two years. Again, the overall game I think is in really good shape. But everyone focuses on this top level because it is what it is, and it’s an entertainment product and it’s a show, but the faster that it gets rectified, I think the better for everyone.”

The PGA Tour also announced Tuesday the addition of Valero Energy executive Joe Gorder to the board. Gorder will serve as the fifth independent director, replacing Randall Stephenson, who resigned in early July after citing concerns over the agreement with the Saudi PIF.

In addition to Gorder’s announcement came the news that Patrick Cantlay was reappointed as the fifth player director for a term from 2024-26. McIlroy recently detailed his relationship with Cantlay when describing the skirmish between he and Joe LaCava at the 2023 Ryder Cup. 

Ed Herlihy will continue as policy board chairman, while Mark Flaherty will serve a second four-year term from 2024-27.

“Given the extraordinary time and effort that Rory — and all of his fellow Player Directors — have invested in the Tour during 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,” Monahan continued.

“Per the PGA Tour Tournament Regulations, whenever the office of any Player Director becomes vacant due to resignation, the remaining Player Directors elect a successor to serve his unexpired term,” Monahan wrote. “Rory’s term expires at the end of 2024.”

With the addition of Gorder and the departure of McIlroy, the current structure of the PGA Tour policy board is as follows:

• Player Directors: Patrick Cantlay, Tiger Woods, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson
• Independent Directors:  Ed Herlihy, Jimmy Dunne, Mark Flaherty, Ed Gorder, Mary Meeker, and PGA of America Director John Lindert.