Like everyone, Rory McIlroy has seen the quotes coming out of LIV Golf as players on the rebel tour, which recently lost the backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, work to figure out what the future holds for them and their tour.
Bryson DeChambeau told several outlets this week, including ESPN and Sports Illustrated, that he might focus on growing his YouTube channel while playing in the tournaments that “want him” if LIV folds. DeChambeau told Skratch that it’ll be up to the PGA Tour members to decide if he can rejoin the PGA Tour and what the punishment will be. DeChambeau also noted that the Tour’s current policy regulating players’ creation of social media content at tournaments is another hurdle. Put clearly, DeChambeau and his team have talked with the PGA Tour, but he might not want to return. Thomas Pieters said that if LIV Golf goes away, he won’t go back to the PGA Tour. Anirban Lahiri told The Times of London that he knows at least a “dozen” players who would rather retire than rejoin the PGA Tour.
To McIlroy, all of these quotes are telling.
“I think I’ve said at the start, I was probably too judgmental with the guys that went because I was seeing it from my point of view and maybe not seeing it from other points of view,” McIlroy said on Friday after his second round at the Truist Championship. “But again, I’m not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA TOUR.
“But … if you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be. And if you don’t want to play here, I think that says something about you.”
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said he currently doesn’t have a plan to reintegrate LIV players should the league cease operations after 2026. That’s not something he currently has to worry about with LIV working to secure funding for 2027 and beyond. Ever since he took over at the helm, Rolapp has been clear that he wants to do whatever is best for the PGA Tour. That’s why he created the limited Returning Members Program to welcome Brooks Koepka back from LIV in January, albeit with a stiff financial penalty. But Rolapp also recognizes that the PGA Tour membership has scars from golf’s fracture that he does not, and he’ll have to toe the line between doing what’s best for business and keeping his membership happy.
McIlroy wants to do what’s best for the PGA Tour’s bottom line as it enters its for-profit era. But the reigning Masters champion also knows that the potential reunification process won’t be quick.
“It’s a question if they do want to come back. Obviously, we have seen the quotes over the last few days,” McIlroy said. “Again, it all depends on what happens to LIV. But if it is a scenario where they have the option to come back and play on the traditional tours, you know, I think Brian Rolapp has said anything that makes this tour stronger, anything that makes the DP World Tour stronger, I think everyone should be open to that. That’s just good business practice.
“But again, I think there’s going to be a lot of sort of bridges to cross to get there.”
McIlroy acknowledges that all this unification talk is largely null and void if LIV Golf, which is seeking outside investment, continues in 2027. While DeChambeau’s contract ends after 2026, many players, including Jon Rahm, are under contract with LIV for several more seasons. So, if there is a LIV Golf, that’s where most of their golf will be played.
On the topic of LIV’s future, McIlroy knows that the fat lady isn’t singing yet. But with the PIF announcing it would be withdrawing funding, she’s certainly warming up. LIV may very well continue beyond 2026, but it will take a different form than the one that has existed for the last five years.
And that says everything to the six-time major champion.
“It doesn’t mean that LIV is going to go away. They’re going to go and try and find alternative investment, whatever that may look like. But when one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world thinks that you’re too expensive for them, that sort of says something,” McIlroy said with a laugh.
