After a good first round at the Wells Fargo Championship, Rory McIlroy (-4) passed through the mixed zone to attend to the media. The reality is that in that little chat yesterday almost everything was discussed and very little about what had happened on the golf course.
It could well have been the press conference prior to the start of the tournament and it is that, precisely in that press conference the Northern Irishman raised many headlines when he announced that he would not return to the PGA TOUR Board. From there, many rumors arose and the Northern Irishman had no problem addressing them again and explaining what his new role is in this whole scenario.
About his relationship with Tiger he acknowledges that it is not perfect and that there are discrepancies in the way of seeing the future of golf, but he denies that there are tensions between them: “I think friends can have disagreements and not see things the same way. I think that’s okay. But no, I wouldn’t say there’s tension between us. We had a very good chat last Friday for 45 minutes about many different things. We may see the future of golf a little differently, but I don’t think that should put any tension on a relationship or friendship”.
McIlroy also spoke about the role he is playing in the organization of the new world golf in the agreement between the PGA Tour, PIF and the American fund. Despite not being on the board of the American circuit, Rory confirmed that he is on the committee overseeing this attempt at agreement. He is an active part alongside Tiger Woods and Adam Scott: “Yes, I’m not on the board, but I’m somehow involved in that transaction committee. I don’t have a vote, so I don’t have a significant voice in what happens in the future, but at least I feel like I can be useful on that committee, and that was kind of a commitment for not getting a seat on the board”. That is, Rory you are not going to return to the Board for now but in return we give you a position on the committee that tries to reach the great agreement. Some kind of compensation seems to have been agreed upon.
In fact, he acknowledged that there are conversations to reach the agreement as soon as possible and that last Sunday they had a meeting in which they discussed a 150-page document. Logically, he did not give away any content.
About his non-return to the Board he tried to explain a little more about what he said the day before: “I don’t necessarily think that people didn’t want me to get involved, we had differences in the process of how I could get involved again. The Board has gone through a great eight-month governance review process, and what happened between Webb and me was outside the scope of governance. What was the process to try to bring me back? That was really the sticking point with everything. It was very difficult to reach an agreement so now I am focused on the transaction committee to try to get this deal with PIF. I feel like I have good relationships on both sides there and I hope to be able to bring something to the table and try to, yes, provide some insight and value and see if we can do this”.
So far the umpteenth chapter on Rory’s role in the new world order. His performance on the opening day of the Wells Fargo was more than enough, in fact he is second, but a week away from the second Major of the season, it does not seem like the best news to not be talking about his game and yes about everything unrelated to it.
