Rory McIlroy says LIV-PGA unification is the 'ONLY way forward for golf,' with Northern Irishman set to help merger talks and return to Tour policy board

Rory McIlroy is hopeful he can help ‘unify’ golf and end the merger stalemate ahead of his likely return to the political fray.

The world No. 2 is in line for a place on the PGA Tour’s policy board five months after leaving the same position in exasperation amid the drawn-out talks between his circuit and the Saudi backers of the LIV series.

Although McIlroy did not confirm if the move has yet been formally ratified, which will depend on a vote of the other policy board members this week, his involvement is seen as key to getting a deal over the line. 

With those talks having moved at a crawl over the past 10 months since the shock announcement of a ‘framework agreement’, it has been frequently highlighted that both Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth have publicly stated Saudi investment is not needed.

Those views are at odds with McIlroy’s opinion that having the Saudis onside is the only way to proceed, not least because it will stem some of the poaching of leading players that has characterised the past two years.

Speaking on Wednesday, McIlroy said: ‘I think I can be helpful. I don't think there's been much progress made in the last eight months, and I was hopeful that there would be. I think I could be helpful to the process.

‘But only if people want me involved, I guess. When Webb (Simpson, who is understood to have tendered his resignation as one of the six player directors on the board so McIlroy could return) and I talked, and he talked about potentially coming off the board, I said, 'Look, if it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat."

‘That was the conversation that we had. I feel like I can be helpful. I feel like I care a lot, and I have some pretty good experience and good connections within the game and around the wider ecosystem and everything that's going on. But at the end of the day, it's not quite up to me to just come back on the board. There's a process that has to be followed. But I'm willing to do it if that's what people want.’

Asked about the need for unification, McIlroy, who holds a positive relationship with Yasir al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi Public Investment, added: ‘I think it's the only way forward for the game of golf. We obviously realise the game is not unified right now for a reason, and there's still some hard feelings and things that need to be addressed, but I think at this point for the good of the game, we all need to put those feelings aside and all move forward together.’

McIlroy’s comments come at a time when the PGA Tour is desperately fighting to keep further players from leaving for LIV. While the Northern Irishman shot down claims earlier this month that he was in talks to join the exodus, a rumour has persisted about the future of Viktor Hovland.

The Tour’s counter measures have involved long-trailed equity payments for their leading stars, which are expected to be ratified this week. Under those agreements, Tiger Woods is reported to be in line for $100million and McIlroy $50m in what would effectively be a loyalty bonus. When asked about those payments on Wednesday, McIlroy would only quip: ‘I think the one thing we've learned in golf over the last two years is there's never enough.’

McIlroy’s original decision to leave the policy board last November was widely greeted as a productive move for his golfing career. However, he has disputed that the role excessively harmed his efforts to end a 10-year drought in the majors.

He said: ‘I would say that I've played some of my best golf while being a PGA Tour board member, so I don't think it really hindered me. It was maybe just taking away some time from me pursuing things or spending time doing things that I wanted to do at home, and having to hop on calls two, three times a week and just the whole thing started to take a toll, as it has on a lot of the players.   

'We're golfers at the end of the day. We don't need to be trying to run a $15 billion business. We need to go out there and play golf and let the business people do the business things.’