Cut Line: McIlroy exits, Fall wraps and deadline looms
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – In this week’s fall finale edition, we unpack Monday’s PGA Tour policy board meeting, the post-Tour Championship landscape and a deadline that could challenge the calm.
Made Cut
Rory’s resignation. In retrospect it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that Rory McIlroy was finished.
For the better part of two years, the Northern Irishman has been the face and voice of the Tour’s opposition to LIV Golf and the unprecedented influx of cash from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Monday’s marathon policy board session was an easy tipping point.
The Tour informed players Tuesday evening that McIlroy had resigned from the policy board with one year remaining in his term.
“I just think I’ve got a lot going on in my life between my golf game, my family and my growing investment portfolio, my involvement in TGL,” McIlroy said Thursday at the DP World Tour finale. “I just felt like something had to give. I just didn’t feel like I could commit the time and the energy into doing that.”
McIlroy’s zealous support of the Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan was clearly shaken on June 6 when the framework agreement with the PIF was announced. And after a decade of Grand Slam misses, he understandably opted to focus on himself.
Made Cut-Did Not Finish (MDF)
“Outside investment.” That was the headline in a memo sent to Tour players early Tuesday recapping the year’s final policy board meeting.
While the memo was predictably short on details it did provide, at the least, a general direction, with officials “focused on our negotiations toward a definitive agreement with PIF and the DP World Tour as our priority” as well as “dozens of inbound prospects” from other potential investors.
The most important part of the two-page memo came under the headline “player programs,” which outlined the circuit’s plan to create “direct equity” in whatever PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity that opened the door to potential outside investment, becomes.
“At the point we secure outside investment, this would be a unique offering in professional sports, as no other league grants its players/members direct equity ownership in the league’s business,” the memo read.
The Tour’s final destination in the negotiations remains a mystery, but this week’s memo at least provided a roadmap.
Fall reflections. When the Tour moved back to a calendar-year schedule, it left many in the fall portion unsure of what would become of the post-Tour Championship landscape.
What kind of field would the fall events attract? Would tournament sponsors embrace what had essentially become a qualifying series? Would the fans understand, or care, what the fall had become?
While there are still plenty of unanswered questions for the fall stops, primarily sponsor support, the competition has been compelling and the “bubble” narrative has been largely digestible.
In consecutive weeks, Erik van Rooyen (World Wide Technology Championship) and Camilo Villegas (Bermuda Championship) delivered emotional victories and Collin Morikawa, who won the Zozo Championship, and Cameron Young, who was among the top 10 at Sea Island (Ga.) Resort, gave the events a dollop of star power.
It remains to be seen if the new fall has staying power but given the uncertainty the Tour’s move to a calendar-year schedule created, the fall delivered a sliver of clarity.
Missed Cut
Missed opportunities. There is no shortage of inflection points over the last few years that have delivered the professional game to its contentious crossroads, and hindsight is becoming increasingly unkind to leadership for both the Tour and what became LIV Golf.
That was certainly the case this week when a collection of documents was unsealed from the lawsuit between the Tour, LIV Golf and the PIF.
Although the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice by the framework agreement, according to one document that was unsealed, LIV Golf and commissioner Greg Norman sent a letter to the Tour in April 2021 in an “effort to collaborate.”
“The entire team and I have tremendous respect for the PGA Tour and what it continues to accomplish. We view our proposition as an opportunity for genuine collaboration, which would further energize the game,” the letter read.
By all accounts, the Tour never responded to Norman’s letter.
Similarly, it’s now clear LIV Golf and Norman underestimated the Tour’s resolve.
“There has been noise in the market that any player looking to explore new commercial/playing opportunities will be penalized,” the document read. “This has undergone significant analysis as to any feasibility.”
Every player who has participated in a LIV Golf event, even those who aren’t members of the Tour, has been suspended.
Testing the waters. While there’s an uneasy peace in professional golf between the Tour and LIV Golf, there is a telling deadline looming over the game on Monday that could challenge that calm.
Nov. 20 is the cutoff for players to sign up for LIV Golf Promotions, a 72-hole qualifying event scheduled for next month in Abu Dhabi that will give the top 3 players status next year on the new circuit.
The Tour has ruled that the qualifying event is not categorized as an “unauthorized tournament” and therefore wouldn’t come with the threat of a suspension for members. The RSM Classic practice range was buzzing this week with rumors of Tour members who were considering signing up.
“Someone will [play], no doubt,” said one Tour player who requested anonymity. “Depending on what kind of [Tour] status they have and how old they are. Give it a try and if you make it [to LIV Golf] then you can decide.”
The exodus of players from the Tour to LIV Golf slowed dramatically this year, partly due to the framework agreement and partly because of a lack of space in the new league, but Monday’s deadline will likely challenge that calm.
