There have been internal turbulences in the PGA Tour Advisory Council. Things began to become noticed when Jimmy Dunne announced his resignation on May 12 because he believed that the players on the board outweighed the individual directors. Of course, we all remember how things became “messy” when Rory McIlroy did not return to the PAC because Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods supposedly did not want him to.
Tiger Woods, at Valhalla, did, however, very deftly confirm the continuing dispute. “That’s one of the reasons we argue and disagree, but we want to do what’s best for everybody in golf and the TOUR,” Mr. T. remarked. While Woods exuded hope, Rory McIlroy seemed to have lost all faith in the PGA Tour council.
Jimmy Dunne, according to Rory McIlroy, was the go-between for the PGA TOUR and PIF.
When the last practice session on Wednesday came to an end, Rory McIlroy was questioned about his feelings on Dunne’s resignation and what it meant for the PGA Tour. Without hesitation, Rory McIlroy expressed worries about the future of the tour and the game. The PGA circuit suffered a “huge loss” when Jimmy Dunne chose to retire, and Rory McIlroy feels that this has caused the possibility of an agreement between the circuit and the Saudi sponsors of LIV Golf to stagnate.
As he said, McIlroy thinks the reason the possible acquisition was blocked for so long was because Dunne was not included in the merger talks since June 2023. With him gone, the tour will suffer a great loss. Together with Jay Monahan and Ed Hilary, he was a main architect of the June 6 framework agreement and the never-finalized treaty that was brought about by meeting PIF.
He even referred to Jimmy Dunne as the PIF’s and the PGA Tour’s middleman. Declaring his worries and being let down that they could not utilize someone as talented as Jimmy Dunne to completely change the gameplay and reach a compromise. It is truly, terribly frustrating, he remarked. It, in my opinion, has made the tour worse off. We’ll see what transpires and where things go from here.”
The No. 2 said that, with Dunne’s resignation, the likelihood of the merger succeeding is much lower. He hardly has any trust in it. “But you know, 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.
According to Lucas Glover, competitors should limit themselves to the Tour.
On his SiriusXM program, the 2009 Open Champion endorsed what Jimmy Dunne had said in his resignation letter. While there are only four individual directors on the council now that Dunne has resigned, there are six players overall. “Golfers on tour play golf. Company owners are businessmen. They leave out instructions on how to hit 7-irons. Glover said: “We shouldn’t be teaching them how to run a business.”
He went on to say that the tour lost Dunne at a critical juncture because of too much player control, when his experience ought to have come first. “I believe it is time to review our board setup again,” he said. The opposite direction has now swung too far.
As it happens, his worries are well-founded. But at this point in time, it is really becoming hard to even forecast what will happen with the marriage.
