LIV critic McIlroy quits PGA Tour board role

LOS ANGELES: Rory McIlroy has resigned from the PGA Tour´s board after admitting he had grown disenchanted with the role during the tour´s acrimonious battle with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and board chairman Edward Herlihy said in a statement late Tuesday that the four-time major winner had decided to step away from the board to concentrate on his golf and spend more time with his family. McIlroy´s resignation is another sign of the turmoil that has gripped golf since the emergence of the LIV Golf circuit last year.

“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,” Monahan and Herlihy said in the statement on the PGA Tour website.

The 34-year-old McIlroy had been one of the staunchest allies of the PGA Tour during its bitter civil war with LIV, reportedly turning down a huge offer to join the free-spending series. The Irishman was among those players left stunned in June when the PGA Tour announced that it was forming a joint company with LIV´s Saudi paymasters, effectively bringing the dispute to an end.