The PGA Tour confirmed on Thursday that Rory McIlroy is one of three active players on the newly created PGA Tour Enterprises’ Transaction Subcommittee, alongside Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, who are engaged in direct negotiations with Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
The trio are part of the seven-person subcommittee alongside four additional members of the PGA Tour Enterprises Board, including PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, although McIlroy is the only member not on the PGA Tour Enterprises board itself. John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group and manager of the Strategic Sports Group is also on the committee, along with player-turned liaison director Joe Ogilvie.
It had been expected that McIlroy would re-join the main board, having left it last year in order to refocus on his golf, but that move was blocked on the grounds that due process for his appointment had not been followed. Webb Simpson said he was standing down from the board to make way for McIlroy, but now remains in place to serve out his term.
“Webb [Simpson] remaining in his position as a member of the Policy Board and PGA Tour Enterprises Board through the end of his term provides the continuity needed at this vital time,” Monahan’s statement continued. “We are making progress in our negotiations with the PIF and are working as a collective — the Player Directors, our Boards and Tour management — to remain open-minded to all avenues that advance the Tour in the best interest of our players, our partners and, most importantly, our fans.”
Speaking about his new role, McIlroy said: “I’ve already had a good hour-and-a-half Zoom meeting with the guys on the Transaction Subcommittee on Sunday, we went through a 150-page document about the future product model. I’m not on the board, and I don’t have a vote, so I guess I don’t have a meaningful say in what happens in the future, but at least I feel like I can be helpful on that committee, and that was sort of a compromise for not getting a board seat.”
The PGA TOUR also announced that Joe Gorder has been elected by the PGA TOUR Enterprises Board of Directors to serve as its inaugural Chairman. Gorder, who also serves as an independent director of the PGA TOUR Policy Board, is the executive chairman of Valero Energy, a long-term sponsor of the Texas Valero Open, and he will also have a seat on the Transaction Subcommittee.
PGA TOUR Enterprises Board of Directors: Player Directors – Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods (Vice-Chairman); Liaison Director – Joe Ogilvie; Independent Directors – Joe Gorder (Chairman), John W. Henry, Arthur M. Blank, Andrew B. Cohen, Sam Kennedy and Jay Monahan (CEO).