Sources - Rory McIlroy set to return to PGA Tour policy board - ESPN

Four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy is poised to return to the PGA Tour's policy board, pending a vote by the board, which could come as early as this week, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

One of the PGA Tour's most vocal supporters during its three-year battle with LIV Golf, McIlroy abruptly resigned as a player director on the tour's influential policy board in November.

He is expected to replace policy board player director Webb Simpson, who intends to step away before his two-year term expires in 2025.

McIlroy's potential return comes at a time when the PGA Tour is attempting to negotiate a final agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is financing the rival LIV Golf League.

McIlroy, the No. 2 golfer in the world, previously joined the tour's policy board in 2022 and was expected to serve through 2024. He cited personal and professional commitments in making his decision to leave the board in November.

With players from both sides bickering about money and what the sport's future should be, TV ratings for PGA Tour events are down about 20% this season. Even the Masters, the first major championship of the season, wasn't immune from golf fans' fatigue. TV ratings for the final round at Augusta National Golf Club earlier this month (9.58 million viewers) were the lowest since 2021 (9.45 million).

«I know this isn't a be-all, end-all, but if you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20% across the board,» McIlroy said at the Valero Texas Open this month. «That's a fifth. That's big. I would say the numbers on LIV aren't great either in terms of the people tuning in.

»I just think with the fighting and everything that's went on over the past couple years,