Eddie Pepperell: ‘We’re witnessing the demise of professional men’s golf’

Eddie Pepperell believes the demise of professional men’s golf is happening before our very eyes.

The DP World Tour star says the players who have prioritised “their own back pockets and their own bank accounts” have contributed to the game’s downfall, referring to those who joined the LIV Golf League, the Saudi-funded circuit that has lured some of golf’s biggest names with seven, eight and nine-figure sign-up fees.

Speaking to NCG about the latest developments surrounding Rory McIlroy’s rejection from the PGA Tour Policy Board, Pepperell contrasted the behaviour of LIV Golf rebels with McIlroy’s desire to leave the tour in a better place than when he found it, a notion he mentioned at the Wells Fargo Championship on Wednesday.

Having been the PGA Tour’s most vocal supporter and LIV Golf’s biggest critic since the start-up league’s inception, McIlroy now wants peace between the rival entities and Pepperell was full of praise of the Northern Irishman’s ability to view the bigger picture of golf’s future that he so bleakly forecasts.

“Qualified is a word you could use, but I think psychopathic is another word and Rory isn’t a psychopath,” Pepperell said, discussing the traits needed to be part of a policy board. “To the point about him caring about leaving something, that’s something I can relate to.

“Certainly one of my principles and values is, my belief is our time on this planet is fleeting and you have many responsibilities, but one of those is anything you are a part of it in a big way, you have a responsibility to leave that in a better place, and with Rory, that’s how he feels and rightly so and I wish there were more players who felt that way and took that position a few years ago because clearly, they haven’t.

“They care for themselves, their own back pockets, their own bank accounts and that’s it, and I think they fail to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture is unravelling, albeit quite slowly in front of us, and we’re witnessing, in some ways, the demise of professional men’s golf and it’s all really because of players making decisions that best suit themselves without thinking of the big picture which I think Rory is capable of seeing.”

Eddie Pepperell: Rory McIlroy should be in the room

Having been a key cog in the PGA Tour’s political machine, McIlroy resigned from the policy board in November. He was about to return to the fray and replace Webb Simpson in the group of six-player directors in these last few weeks, but player director Tiger Woods reportedly contributed to blocking this move.

“Messy and complicated” were the words McIlroy used to describe his path back to the policy board, while he also said there was “a subset of people” uncomfortable with the prospect of his return.

McIlroy revealed earlier this year that he encouraged the PGA Tour to meet with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Governor of the Public Investment Fund which bankrolls LIV Golf, which came to fruition in March. The tour has been in talks to form an agreement with the PIF since last June, but nothing has been set in stone.

Often so open with his views on X (formerly Twitter), Pepperell has been an on-and-off member of the DP World Tour’s player’s committee himself and believes McIlroy’s voice will still carry weight despite not holding an official position, even if he might regret resigning in the first place seven months ago.

“I think it’s a shame for somebody like Rory not to be involved, particularly on the PGA Tour’s board because invariably, it’s made of Americans,” he added. “I think any good board, what is in golf or any business, benefits from having people with a wider, more generalist perspective and I think Rory brings that.

“That’s just one thing he brings, not to mention everything else he brings, so I think it’s a shame for them that Rory isn’t going to be a voice within that room.

“That being said, his voice is still going to carry significance in interviews, he’s still going to be having conversations in private with Jay Monahan (the PGA Tour commissioner) I suspect and other people involved, so I still think his views are going to carry a lot of weight and will have an impact policy moving forward.

“I think you’d rather have someone like Rory in that room. I suspect he regrets, to a small degree, resigning in the first place, but I also think that’s a reflection of Rory’s character and his nature and I think that’s what we like about Rory.

“He is sometimes impulsive but not in a way that degrades or erodes his intelligence or his successes, but it’s just a human element in him and I think that’s something that I and I think we all like about Rory.”

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