Rory McIlroy: Optimism for PGA Tour-Saudi deal at all-time low

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For Rory McIlroy, the loss of the PGA Tour’s top dealmaker could be the death knell for any deal to unify men’s professional golf.

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Jimmy Dunne, the key architect in the PGA Tour’s infamous framework deal with LIV Golf owners, announced Monday that he was resigning immediately from his role as an independent director on the PGA Tour Policy Board.

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Dunne is a good friend of McIlroy and, on the eve of the PGA Championship at Valhalla, the Northern Irish star wasn’t mincing words when it came to how he thinks the move will affect any prospective deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund to end golf’s civil war.

“Honestly I think it’s a huge loss for the PGA Tour, if they are trying to get this deal done with the PIF and trying to unify the game,” McIlroy said. “Jimmy was basically the relationship, the sort of conduit between the PGA Tour and PIF.

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“It’s been really unfortunate that he has not been involved for the last few months, and I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that. So it is, it’s really, really disappointing, and you know, I think the tour is in a worse place because of it.”

In Dunne’s resignation letter, first reported on by Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street titan with deep ties in the world of golf explained that he felt his role was made utterly superfluous once players outnumbered independent directors on the tour’s powerful policy board.

McIlroy made it clear on Wednesday that Dunne had been pushed out of the process and that he views it as a huge mistake.

“I would say my confidence level on something getting done before last week was, you know, as low as it had been and then with this news of Jimmy resigning and knowing the relationship he has with the other side, and how much warmth there is from the other side, it’s concerning,” McIlroy said.

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Also on Wednesday, PGA of America boss Seth Waugh was asked his thoughts on golf’s fractured landscape and offered a slightly more optimistic view, although not by much.

“It’s messy and it has been, right, and it seems to get messier every week,” Waugh said. “I’m a very optimistic type and I’m sort of hoping it’s darkest before dawn, if you will, but I think the best thing for the game is a deal.”

The PGA of America is a separate entity from the PGA Tour and not involved in any negotiations, but are organizers of the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup, as well as stewards of the game with their association of more than 30,000 golf professionals helping golfers at the grassroots level.

“I don’t think the game is big enough for two tours like that and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy,” Waugh said. “We’ve said that, really, from the beginning. I hope there’s a deal.

“I hope there’s urgency because I do think it’s doing damage to the tour, to the game. As I said earlier, I hope it’s short-term damage, as opposed to permanent damage, and so I hope there’s some urgency in the timing around it because I just don’t think it’s a healthy situation right now.”

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