World number two Rory McIlroy has indicated his willingness to return to the PGA Tour’s Policy Board, a role he stepped down from in December last year saying he wanted to concentrate on his game in the new year.
The Northern Irishman opens the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event alongside Ireland’s Shane Lowry after a disappointing Augusta Masters performance that saw him finish 22nd and still in search of a grand slam of major titles that has now lasted 10 years.
Once the face of the PGA Tour’s opposition to the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf League, McIlroy has toned down his stance considerably in the last year or so and recently reiterated his desire to stay on as part of the ‘establishment’ till he is done playing active golf.
Talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have continued on and off and McIlroy has volunteered his services to try and bring the two tours closer, quite a shift in his stance considering how bitterly he had opposed the Greg Norman-fronted league when it first launched in 2021.
McIlroy said in New Orleans on Wednesday that he had discussed replacing sitting member Webb Simpson on the policy board and that he could help accelerate the progress of merger talks between the two tours. “I think I can be helpful,” McIlroy was quoted as saying. “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 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’, and that was the conversation that we had.
“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. 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.”
Last week, stories emerged in a London financial outlet linking McIlroy to a LIV Golf move for a massive $850 million, which was swiftly denied by the Northern Irishman.
“I honestly don't know how these things get started, "McIlroy told the Golf Channel. “I've never been offered a number from LIV and have never contemplated going to LIV.”
“I think I've made it clear over the past two years that I don't think it's something for me. It doesn't mean I judge people that have went and played over there. I think one of the things I've realised over the past two years is people can make their own decisions for whatever they think is best for themselves. Who are we to judge them for that?
“For me, my future is here on the PGA Tour and it's never been any different. It's never even been a conversation for us. It's one of those things, it's unfortunate that we have to deal with it but I'm obviously here today and will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”
For now though, McIlroy, 34, is concentrating on the New Orleans event and his partnership with Lowry, with whom he has played both amateur golf and the Ryder Cup in the past. They European pair open against American Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama.
The Zurich Classic, played at TPC Louisiana in the New Orleans suburb of Avondale, has been a team event since 2017 though the tournament itself has an 86-year history and is now contested between 80 pairs drawn from the PGA Tour ranks and/or sponsor invitations.
Indian-American star Sahith Theegala, who finished a solid second at the RBC Heritage last week behind in-form world number one and two-time Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, is paired with Will Zalatoris against Patrick Cantlay and Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.
Theegala had rounds of 66, 67, 67 and 68 to finish three strokes behind Scheffler (69-65-63-68, 19 under par 265) on 16 under, while fellow Indian-American Akshay Bhatia (71-67-69-68) took a share of 18th place on 9 under par 275 at the Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina
Scheffler now has won four of his last five starts, reminiscent of the dominance exerted by Tiger Woods in his best years while for Theegala, it was the second runner-up finish of the season.