Rory McIlroy cited the demands on his time as the biggest reason for leaving his role as a member of the PGA Tour’s policy board earlier this week.
He also acknowledged that the agreement between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which backs LIV Golf, over future cooperation affected his role on the board.
“Something had to give,” McIlroy told the BBC on Thursday at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. “There’s only so many hours in the day and so many days in the week, and I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now.
“Between trying to be a world-class golfer and trying to be a good husband and a good father, I’ve got a growing investment portfolio that’s taking up more of my time. I’m involved with TGL (the new tech-related golf venture) and so I’ve got a lot going on. With the policy board stuff, it has taken more of my time than ever this year.”
McIlroy also was caught in the middle of the debate over the PGA Tour’s pending deal with PIF, which was announced in June without his knowledge.
“I stepped up and spoke out about something I believed in,” he said. “Obviously, the landscape changed on June 6 with that announcement and I felt like from then on I was playing a lesser part because of the decisions that were made.”
Looking ahead, McIlroy said, “There’s been a lot of time spent on this over the past few weeks with different investor groups and meeting different people that are interested. I like being busy but I like being busy doing my own thing — and it just got to the point where I just couldn’t fit it all in.
“I’m thinking as we go into the next year, as I try to get ramped up for Augusta and all those tournaments, I just can’t see me putting the time and the energy into it. It’s a big decision and if I feel like I’m not prepared going into those meetings then it is better off if someone else takes my place, who is able to put the time and the energy into it.”
The Masters in Augusta, Ga., gets extra focus from McIlroy as it is the last major he needs to win to complete the career Grand Slam. The 34-year-old Northern Irishman won the U.S. Open in 2011, the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and the Open Championship in 2014.
–Field Level Media