McIlroy says he and Adam Scott also attended Saudi meetings

Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott join Tiger Woods on the subcommittee directly involved in negotiations with LIV Golf’s Saudi backers, an addition to what the PGA Tour previously revealed, although McIlroy says he was involved in the discussions.

McIlroy said Thursday at the Wells Fargo Championship that while he is not on the PGA Tour Enterprises board, “I am involved in some way on that transaction committee.”

This was yet another turning point in player involvement on the board. McIlroy resigned in November and the other player managers voted to replace him with Jordan Spieth. Then Webb Simpson said he would resign his seat, but only if McIlroy replaced him.

McIlroy agreed, but he said there was “a subset of people on the board who maybe weren’t comfortable with me coming back for whatever reason.”

The PGA Tour sent out a statement Thursday evening confirming that Joe Gorder, chairman and CEO of Texas-based Valero, would be the first president of PGA Tour Enterprises. He also listed McIlroy and Scott on the transactional subcommittee — along with Woods, Gorder, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Fenway Sports Group’s John W. Henry and Joe Ogilvie, the liaison director.

McIlroy said he had a call with the group on Sunday that lasted an hour and a half while he reviewed a 150-page document on a future model, among other things.

“I’m not on the board, but I’m somehow involved in this transaction committee,” McIlroy said. “I don’t have a vote, so I don’t have, I guess, any say in what happens in the future, but at least I feel like I can be useful within this committee.

“And that was kind of a compromise for, I guess, not getting a seat on the board.”

A person directly involved with the PGA Tour Enterprises board was surprised Thursday to learn that Woods was the only player involved because the person thought McIlroy and Scott were supposed to be on the subcommittee. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because board business must remain confidential.

Simpson suggested as much on Wednesday when he talked about player managers supporting McIlroy’s involvement based on his ideas and experience.

“I just think his perspective is important, and the other guys feel the same way,” Simpson said. “We kind of had to ask ourselves, ‘OK, where does he fit in? How can we maximize our role as board members… but also bring in at least one guy to voice his ideas and see how it can help us.

Monahan had said that McIlroy not returning to the board was “in no way a comment on Rory’s important perspective and influence.” He said it was more about sticking to the process by which a player becomes a board member.

Scott joined the PGA Tour in January. Other players on the board are Woods, Spieth, Simpson, Patrick Cantlay and Peter Malnati, with Ogilvie — a former player — as liaison director.

The PGA Tour already has Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor and is working on a similar deal with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

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