CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | It’s too much to ask that Rory McIlroy single-handedly save the PGA Tour, try as he might, but Sunday at his favorite playground in golf, the Quail Hollow Club, McIlroy spent the sun-splashed afternoon reminding anyone interested that as exhausting as the game’s turmoil may be, the fight for its soul is worth it.
A week that began with another round of tour turbulence when McIlroy revealed that his interest in rejoining the tour’s Policy Board had been rebuffed, leading to his presence on a powerful transaction subcommittee with Tiger Woods among others, ended with McIlroy destroying Xander Schauffele’s 3-day-old lead with his own mesmerizing brand of brilliance.
The final Wells Fargo Championship offered a perfect counterpoint to the narrative surrounding the tour’s troublesome TV ratings and the very real notion of fan fatigue siphoning some of the joy out of the fan experience.
At his best, McIlroy – who shot 65 with a closing and meaningless double bogey on Sunday – is magnificently magnetic.
McIlroy’s 26th PGA Tour victory didn’t change the circumstances the tour finds itself in as it navigates its own internal challenges while coping with the existential threat of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s strong-armed entry into the professional golf universe, but it was as reassuring as it was entertaining.
McIlroy’s performance in a city that embraces the Northern Irishman like one of its own – he has won here four times, including his first tour victory – felt like a hopeful talisman for what may come.
The tour finds itself in the midst of a complicated and complex process that is nowhere near a resolution. At times – last week was one of those times – the tour’s work has resembled a patchwork quilt, but this was never going to be clean and easy.
“It’s like they’re flying the plane and building it at the same time. That’s probably not far off.”
Mary DePaoli
This is what Mary DePaoli, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Royal Bank of Canada – which is the title sponsor of two tour events at the end of one-year extensions – said recently:
Adam Scott, a player director on the Policy Board, offered a different perspective, praising the integration of the Strategic Sports Group into the new for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises and particularly the guidance of Joe Ogilvie.
“[We are] getting to that point where we know where we are going is going to be great for everybody in golf,” Scott said.
It felt clunky last week when McIlroy said he wouldn’t return to the Policy Board and Webb Simpson, who had agreed to give up his seat to McIlroy, would remain as one of six player directors through 2025. McIlroy was diplomatic about it and acknowledged there are governance rules that came into play.
What may matter more is his presence on the transactions committee, which will negotiate directly with the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
“It became a bigger drama than was really needed,” Scott said. “Ultimately, we got to a really positive outcome. Tiger and Rory are both going to be right there before anything goes beyond that committee. I think that’s really important at the end of the day, that Tiger has a say in how professional golf shakes out on the PGA Tour, something he’s really influenced the evolution of, and Rory is the most influential active player.”
The encouraging part is that McIlroy said there have been two productive calls within the group and there is a 150-page document outlining a path forward. It’s essential the tour be proactive rather than reactive, which it has been too often since the golf world split with LIV Golf’s debut in 2022.
McIlroy said this week there is a window of opportunity to reach an agreement with the PIF and every day that slips past, the window closes a little more.
“I’m still optimistic,” McIlroy said.
The longer this goes, the more difficult it feels for the PGA Tour. Al-Rumayyan has made it clear LIV Golf isn’t going anywhere, which complicates the negotiations from the tour’s side.
The tour agreed to bring on Strategic Sports Group and its billions of dollars for two reasons: to help fund the tour and its players while also providing an abundance of sports business savvy as the tour copes with the PIF’s existential threat.
It’s time to let the SSG guys figure out what’s best for the tour going forward. There are smart and forceful players on the Policy Board – Woods, Scott, Jordan Spieth, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay – but they are in the business of playing golf. Use the resources at hand, and SSG’s expertise is critical at this moment.
Scott took a moment Sunday to brush away chatter that the player directors are sharply divided on the tour’s potential path forward.
“I would disagree completely,” Scott said. “I disagree. I don’t see it that way at all.”
The PGA Tour needs to remain the pro game’s north star and, despite what Al-Rumayyan, LIV CEO Greg Norman and others may have thought, there was nothing wrong enough with professional golf that it required a backbeat-driven reboot that – Adelaide, Australia aside – almost no one wants and almost no one watches.
But when the great disruptor has unlimited money and the will to spend, saving the old model may be impossible. Throwing money at it, which the PGA Tour and the SSG have done, has enriched the tour players, but it has turned off fans who are sick of the perceived greed.
They are right to be. This whole thing has been exhausting.
The tour’s hand was forced by LIV’s bottomless billions. Though signature events have been a good idea, developing a clear vision for how the tour flourishes down the line is complicated but necessary.
Let the status quo linger and see more PGA Tour players take what LIV is offering.
The PGA Tour will be different in the future, and it has to be for its own survival. More will be asked of players, who are quickly growing accustomed to $20 million prize funds. It won’t be enough to just show up and play.
Players with access to initiatives being proposed stress the importance of focusing on the fans. That sounds good, but it’s reaching the point of “show me, don’t tell me.”
The PGA Tour is facing a forced reimagination of how it operates. Five years ago, the biggest question was what happens when Tiger Woods quits playing. No one considered what might happen when Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and others quit playing the PGA Tour.
Long-time tour leaders may be pushed aside. Assuming there is an agreement with the PIF, it will be interesting to see how tour defectors will be reintegrated back into their old world. Accepting some form of team golf may be a requirement, but hopefully the tour will push back hard against that.
The anniversary of the June 6 “framework agreement” is fast approaching, and the December 31 deadline was never realistic. Insiders insist things are moving toward crafting the vision of what could be.
“I think we’ll be in a good place. I’m really positive. I think it’s all moving in a good spot,” Scott said.
Once the midweek storms cleared Quail Hollow and the northern lights glowed in the darkness, the final Wells Fargo Championship was a beautiful place to be.
It ended – for the fourth time – with McIlroy hugging the trophy, and the cheers that washed over him seemed to echo far beyond Quail Hollow Club.
E-MAIL RON
TOP PHOTO: JARED C. TILTON, GETTY IMAGES
