After consistently standing up and speaking for the PGA Tour over the last two years, Rory McIlroy shockingly left his role as a player director on the Tour’s Policy Board with a year to go in his term last week.
Monday morning PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan sent an email to players stating the five remaining player directors had elected Jordan Spieth to serve the remainder of McIlroy’s term, which expires at the end of 2024. Golf Channel was first to report the news.
Spieth, 30, previously served two years on the Tour’s Player Advisory Council in 2017 and 2018 and was PAC Chairman in 2018. He was then a player director from 2019-2021. The 13-time winner on Tour joins fellow player directors Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Tiger Woods. Current PAC Chairman Adam Scott will replace Hoffman as a player director in 2024.
McIlroy, 34, has been the Tour’s most vocal advocate in the two years since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf joined the scene and has also spent considerable time in leadership positions with the Tour. The four-time major champion was a member of the Player Advisory Council from 2019-21 and served as the PAC Chairman in 2021. For the last two years, he has been a Player Director on the Policy Board.
“Given the extraordinary time and effort that Rory – and all of his fellow Player Directors – have invested in the Tour during this unprecedented, transformational period in our history, we certainly understand and respect his decision to step down in order to focus on his game and his family,” said PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Policy Board Chairman Ed Herlihy via a statement.
Amid a turbulent time, it made sense for the current player directors to pick Spieth to replace McIlroy given his past experience on the board. Some more opinionated players, like Lanto Griffin for example, might not agree.