WASHINGTON: Rory McIlroy revealed details on Thursday about a new PGA Tour subcommittee created to conduct direct talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) about finalizing a merger deal.

Players Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and McIlroy will be on a seven-person PGA Tour Policy Board transaction subcommittee created to sit across the table from the financial backers of LIV Golf and hammer out terms to unite the tours.

A framework agreement released last June has not been finalized, the board needing to approve such a move, and talks have stretched well beyond the initial deadline of last December.

“There’s a window of opportunity here,” McIlroy said. “I think that window closes ever so slightly every day that passes by, so I would say time is of the essence, absolutely.”

Others on the subcommittee would include PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Fenway Sports Group boss John Henry, who led an investment group of US sports team owners that created a $1.5 billion for-profit entity PGA Tour Enterprises.

McIlroy said that while he is not returning to the tour policy board, he was brought into the subcommittee to provide knowledge and perspective.

“A different perspective, maybe more of an international perspective,” he said. “My insight is more the position of where the global game is and where it could go.”

McIlroy also has relationships on both sides of the table, including with PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

“I feel like I’ve got good relationships on both sides there and hopefully I can bring something to the table, try to provide some insight and value and see if we can get this thing done,” McIlroy said.

Woods, a 15-time major winner, was among those said to disagree with McIlroy about the future direction of the sport. McIlroy said that there is no strain on their relationship even though they don’t totally agree on a path forward.

“Friends can have disagreements or not see eye to eye on things. I think that’s fine,” McIlroy said. “We had a really good talk last Friday for 45 minutes just about a lot of different things. No, there’s no strain there.

“I think we might see the future of golf a little bit differently, but I don’t think that should place any strain on a relationship or on a friendship.”

McIlroy said the subcommittee has already had meetings to plan the way forward in negotiations.

“I’ve already had calls with that group. I had a really good hour and a half Zoom with those guys on Sunday. We went through a 150 page doc about the future product model and everything,” McIlroy said.

“Yeah, I’m not on the board, but I’m in some way involved in that transaction committee. I don’t have a vote so I don’t have, I guess, a meaningful say in what happens in the future, but I feel like I can be helpful on that committee, and that was sort of a compromise for not getting a board seat.”

McIlroy said the big issue about him returning to the board in place of Webb Simpson, who was leaving but now is staying, was regarding improper process, not his viewpoints.

When noting PGA-LIV potential deal stumbling points on Wednesday, McIlroy cited American players possibly not wanting to have greater worldwide travel for tournaments compared to mostly US-based events now and what punishment might be required for those who jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV while others declined them and stayed loyal to the established circuit.

TOKYO: Harry Kewell and Hernan Crespo will shake hands as head coaches with the Asian title on the line on Saturday, almost two decades after facing each other when Liverpool met AC Milan in the famous 2005 UEFA Champions League final.

Kewell is now in charge of Yokohama F. Marinos, the Japanese club hosting Al-Ain of the UAE on Saturday in the first leg of the Asian Champions League final series.

He was the victor in ‘05 when Liverpool recovered from a 3-0 deficit to triumph in a penalty shootout. Crespo scored two goals for Milan in Istanbul that day but ended as a losing finalist. He’s hoping to lift the Asian trophy at Al-Ain after the second leg on May 25.

Unlike Al-Ain, continental title winner in 2003 and finalist in ‘05 and ‘16, Yokohama has never before reached this stage of the continental club championship.

Kewell has led the five-time J.League winner through the knockout stages, including a comeback victory over Ulsan HD of South Korea in the semifinals.

After a 1-0 first leg loss in the semifinals, the 45-year-old Kewell — the third successive Australian to take charge of Yokohama following Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat — invoked the spirit of Liverpool’s historic comeback 19 years ago.

“I was part of a special team that night that was able to come back from a scenario where a lot of people thought it was dead and buried,” Kewell said. “It just goes to show that a game is never finished, especially when you’ve got a hunger and a desire in a team.

“And I see that hunger and desire in this team to go out there and do something magical.”

Kewell’s coaching career is yet to reach the heights of his time as a player who starred for Leeds United and Liverpool in the English Premier League and represented Australia at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. A stint with Crawley Town in England’s fourth division in 2017 was the first of his three short-term jobs head coaching before he arrived at Barnet, where he was fired after just seven games in 2021.

Invited by Postecoglou to join the coaching staff at Scottish giant Celtic in 2022, Kewell worked as an assistant there until he took over at Yokohama last December.

Victory in Asia could send the Sydney-born coach back into Europe.

Crespo, who won league titles in England and Italy as a player with Chelsea and Inter Milan, has already had success as a coach .

After winning trophies in South America, he led Al-Duhail to the 2023 Qatar league title. The season was blighted by a heavy 7-0 loss to Al-Hilal in the semifinals of last season’s Asian Champions League.

With Al-Ain, the 48 year-old Crespo got the better of the Saudi club at the same stage last month, winning 5-4 on aggregate in the semifinals.

Al-Ain went into that semifinal series on the back of a victory over another Saudi club — Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr.

“We talk so much about the two teams we eliminated because we were underdogs in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and we went through,” Crespo said. “We always need to say thankyou to the players, congratulations to the players. They believe, they work hard, they fight, and they deserve to go through … I’m very happy to be part of it.”