Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland throughout a apply spherical previous to the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 15, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy unexpectedly resigned as a participant director on the PGA Tour’s policy board on Tuesday.
McIlroy, a four-time main champion who’s the No. 2 golfer on the earth, was set to serve within the place till 2024 after becoming a member of final 12 months. But he introduced his resignation in a letter to all the board, stating that “professional and personal commitments” brought on him to step down.
“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,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan stated in a memo despatched to gamers.
McIlroy’s determination got here sooner or later after the board met to mull over alternate funding choices for the reason that Tour has but to finalize a take care of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which funds LIV Golf.
As one of many golfers who’s towards a merger with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, McIlroy had stepped right into a management position after the Tour’s determination on June 6 to create a framework settlement that may set up a partnership between the 2 sides.
After the information of a possible partnership, McIlroy voiced his frustration throughout a information convention on June 7 on the RBC Canadian Open. He was knowledgeable of the Tour’s plan to buddy up with Saudi Arabia’s PIF simply hours earlier than Monahan made an official announcement.
“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” McIlroy stated on the information convention on June 7.
Then on Tuesday, McIlroy advised reporters that he wasn’t happy along with his place on the board.
“Not what I signed for whenever I went on the board,” McIlroy stated forward of this week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “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.”
Per event laws of the PGA Tour, the opposite participant administrators nonetheless on the board should elect a golfer to serve out the remainder of McIlroy’s time period.
