Rory McIlroy's return to PGA board could signal progress with LIV

Rory McIlroy appears to be taking a mulligan on his abrupt resignation from the PGA Tour policy board last year.  

On Monday, The Guardian reported McIlroy will be returning to the policy board, pending a vote by the current board Wednesday. He will replace Webb Simpson, who is stepping down early from his two-year term that was set to last into 2025, specifically to allow McIlroy to reclaim a spot on the board.  

The news in November that McIlroy was leaving the board was a shock given his role as the face of the PGA Tour side in the ongoing cold war with LIV. The reasons given at the time for his resignation were a relatively anodyne combination of the need to spend time with family and focus on his game. 

But it's reasonable to assume his departure came as a response to being left in the dark on the PGA Tour and LIV merger talks until hours before they became public.  

In addition to rejoining the policy board, McIlroy will also join the PGA Tour Enterprises board that oversees the for-profit partnership with Strategic Sports Group, a consortium of investors led by Fenway Sports Group, New York Mets owner Steven Cohen, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and others.  

McIlroy's U-turn on serving on the two boards hints at potential progress in the long-stalled attempt to heal the global golf world and reintegrate the game's best players under one competitive umbrella.   

McIlroy has been one of the most outspoken and caustic critics of  LIV Tour and Greg Norman, the LIV commissioner and CEO. His tune toward the Public Investment Fund — LIV's owners — and PIF's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, has always been softer and more complimentary.  

"I actually think there's a really big disconnect between PIF and LIV," he said last month, per Golf Monthly.

Given his presence as the face of the PGA tour amid a continued drip of defections to the LIV Tour, it stands to reason that should some kind of reconciliation be near, McIlroy would be the best guy to lead point for the PGA players as they look to get an agreement across the line.  

Does it mean a deal is imminent? No.

However, any progress at this point is good news as PGA ratings continue to flounder and the global golf community continues to confront the reality Abraham Lincoln foretold in 1858 when he famously said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."