Rory McIlroy makes PGA Tour feelings crystal clear (?!) at Seminole Pro-Am
Rory McIlroy would usually play the Seminole Pro-Am with a key figure in the PGA Tour's hierarchy but 2024 was a completely different story.
Rory McIlroy took a phone call on 6 June 2023 and 24 hours later complained of being the PGA Tour's 'sacrificial lamb'.
On the other end of the line was Jimmy Dunne, the PGA Tour board member who was instrumental in orchestrating the framework agreement with LIV's Saudi financiers.
The news knocked McIlroy sideways and, although he has since admitted he was aware the Tour were involved in peace talks with PIF officials, he did not expect that.
"I've put myself out there and this is what happens," McIlroy told reporters in a news conference before the Canadian Open.
Shortly after that presser, McIlroy attended a heated players' meeting in which some PGA Tour members called for commissioner Jay Monahan to resign.
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Fast-forward to March 2024 and, while we are no closer to finding a solution to sorting out men's professional golf, McIlroy appears to be simply over all the PGA Tour-LIV Golf drama.
Over the first few months of 2024, McIlroy has admitted was too judgemental of the European Ryder Cup stalwarts who made the leap to LIV.
McIlroy had been quoted as saying he felt betrayed by the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell.
"I thought they felt the same way," McIlroy said about their decision that risked their Ryder Cup futures.
Elsewhere, he was supportive of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton's decisions to join the breakaway tour.
He has resigned from the policy board and called for a global tour that includes PIF investment.
Remarkably, he did not think LIV players who wished to return to the Tour should be punished.
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Would it be unreasonable to suggest McIlroy's time as a key player in this saga is now over?
It surely wouldn't be a stretch to assume so, given his playing partners at the uber-exclusive Seminole Pro-Am on 4 March.
Tiger Woods also played in the event for the very first time and, unsurprisingly, McIlroy partnered his father Gerry.
Ordinarily, McIlroy would play in the annual event with the aforementioned Dunne. Not this year.
Instead, McIlroy was playing alongside Padraig Harrington and PGA Tour policy board of directors chairman Ed Herlihy.
The topic was discussed in the most recent edition of The Chipping Forecast.
BBC golf journalist Iain Carter said of McIlroy before the tournament began: "Rory McIlroy usually plays in the same group as Jimmy Dunne, who is the PGA Tour board member who obviously was a big architect of the framework agreement which is still to be ratified.
"That'll be very interesting to see whether McIlroy's going to be spending four or five hours in his company.
"He'll be playing with his dad, we would guess, who is a member but McIlroy but usually in that four is Jimmy Dunne.
"While we monitor where McIlroy is at with his relationship with the PGA Tour... that's an interesting one."
Who is Jimmy Dunne?
Businessman Dunne has been known as a golf insider over the years.
He was asked to join the Tour's policy board as an independent director in 2022.
It was Dunne who reached out to PIF governor and LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan over a simple WhatsApp message.
From there, a series of secret meetings took place across the globe before the framework agreement was announced.
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