Tiger Woods‘ relationship with Rory McIlroy has ‘soured over recent months’ amid reports that the four-time major champion won’t rejoin the PGA Tour board due to other golfers feeling ‘uncomfortable’ with his potential return.
That’s according to Golf Digest, which claimed on Wednesday that the two former No. 1s ‘remain cordial’ but have opposing views on the future of professional golf, leading to a fall out of sorts.
On the same day, McIlroy, who stepped down from the PGA Tour board in November, revealed that a plan to replace Webb Simpson was met with resistance from board members.
Simpson, one of six player-directors, recently offered to give up his seat – but only if McIlroy were to replace him. McIlroy would have needed board approval to be reinstated to his old position.
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But McIlroy said ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship that conversations surrounding his potential return became ‘pretty complicated and messy,’ which reminded him of why he left in the first place.
‘I think with the way it happened it opened up some old wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before,’ McIlroy said. ‘I think there was a subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason.’
McIlroy’s reinstatement would have been viewed as a chance to help improve the PGA Tour’s stalled negotiations with the Saudi financial backers of LIV Golf.
The world’s No. 2 player said when he stepped down he could no longer commit the time and energy that board work required with the PGA Tour trying to finalize an agreement with the Public Investment Fund.
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Unable to finalize a deal by the end of last year, the PGA Tour brought in Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor. That deal could be worth as much as $3 billion.
‘I put my hand up to help and it was, I wouldn’t say it was rejected, (but) it was a complicated process to get through to put me back on there,’ McIlroy said of potentially returning the board.
‘So that’s all fine, no hard feelings and we’ll all move on.’
Simpson said he now plans to finish out his three-year term on the board. He said he offered to give up his seat to McIlroy because he’s a ‘global superstar’ and would give Europeans a needed voice in major tour decisions.
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‘Rory always had great ideas of how do we move forward, how do we get the love and attention from fans back from where we had it maybe two years ago, how do we grow our business, all things related to the PGA Tour,’ Simpson said.
