Rory McIlroy lifts the lid on being made the 'sacrificial lamb' amid shock PGA exit
The 34-year-old has resigned from the PGA tour board amid LIV Golf deal.
Rory McIlroy has resigned from the PGA Tour board after being left feeling like the 'sacrificial lamb' in the tour's dealings with LIV Golf. The 34-year-old has been one of the PGA Tour's most loyal allies during its bitter war with LIV, and McIlroy himself reportedly turned down a mammoth offer to switch to the Saudi-backed series.
The Irishman said he felt blindsided in June when the PGA Tour announced it was forming a joint company with LIV’s Saudi backers, effectively bringing the dispute to a close. McIlroy says after relentlessly going into bat for the PGA tour he felt let down after the deal was sealed behind his back.
'ABSOLUTE JOKE': Cameron Smith caught up in cheating scandal
HUGE: Jason Day's $811,000 payday after tricky family decision
“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 said at the Canadian Open. “Honestly, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is, you know, this is what’s going to happen.
“It’s very hard to keep up with people that have more money than anyone else. And, again, if they want to put that money into the game of golf, then why don’t we partner with them and make sure that it’s done in the right way?”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and board chairman Edward Herlihy announced his exit, declaring the four-time major winner had decided to step away from the board to focus on his golf and spend more time with family.
“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 and Herlihy said in the statement on the PGA Tour website.
McIlroy says board role was 'not what he signed up for'
McIlroy was one of the staunchest opponents of LIV Golf even before the controversial startup began. His term on the board was set to expire at the end of 2024 with Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson the remaining player members on the board.
Speaking in Dubai on Tuesday before he resigned from the PGA Tour board, McIllory said he was no longer interested in his role as a board member. “Not what I signed up for whenever I went on the board. But yeah, the game of golf has been in flux for the last two years,” McIlroy said.
When asked if he was excited to shape negotiations in the PGA Tour-Saudi joint venture McIlroy replied: “Not particularly, no". It’s been more than five months since the ‘framework agreement’ of the LIV/PGA merger was announced and the deadline of December 31 for the deal to be completed looks increasingly unlikely by the day.
Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.
