James Corrigan
Rory McIlroy has plunged the dagger into what many see as LIV’s lifeless form by questioning what value the likes of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau have brought to the breakaway circuit.
LIV is putting on its last tournament of 2026 this week and, despite claims of having an investor lined up, there are inevitably doubts about the league surviving into next year after the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s decided to pull funding.
Inevitably, focus has surrounded what will happen to the big names. It was revealed earlier this week that LIV executives are almost resigned to losing Rahm, regardless of whether funding remains a going concern.
But after world No.1 Scottie Scheffler said he would see the positives in heavyweights such as Rahm – signed for US$300m ($421m) – and DeChambeau returning to the PGA Tour, McIlroy was far less compromising. The world No.2 went as far as to query whether the Tour really needs them back.
“I mean, have they brought value to LIV?” McIlroy said. “You know? I think the PGA Tour’s in a really good spot.”
If Rahm found that answer difficult to hear from his Ryder Cup teammate, then McIlroy’s response on whether the LIV rebels would be welcomed home would not have been an easier listen.
Brooks Koepka was reinstated immediately when he quit LIV at the end of last year – albeit with restricted appearances and a $5m fine – but Rahm and DeChambeau did not accept an offer on the same terms.
“I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be welcomed back straight away,” McIlroy said.
“If they were offered this returning-member program back in February, the one that Brooks took, then, yeah, maybe. But that has sort of come and gone. And I think it was said at the time that the deal that they might get going forward isn’t going to be as good as the one that Brooks got. So, yeah, I would say it’s going to be a tough, tough road back.”
McIlroy – who was talking at the BMW Championship in Missouri, which begins on Thursday – has been a vocal opponent of LIV ever since it was launched in 2022 and, despite some reservations, he is sticking to his guns if it does perish.
“It’s a hard one,” he said. “I feel I’ve kept my position consistent that LIV has never been a good thing for the game. So, and whatever LIV 2.0 looks like, if it even happens, you know, they say they’re trying to be more collaborative and all that. But this is the [PGA Tour] is the best platform for the top professional golfers in the world.
“And yeah, were there some things at the start of LIV that the PGA Tour could have done better? Sure. But you think back to the start with, say, Phil [Mickelson] being unhappy with some stuff. Like, surely that just warranted a conversation instead of blowing the entire professional game up and doing something else.
“So I don’t take any personal satisfaction in people losing jobs. That doesn’t seem right. I’ve always felt like this is the best place to play professional golf. And I’m pretty sure if the PGA Tour were handed $6 billion, it would have done a better job with it.”
Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, Scott O’Neil, the LIV chief executive, also talked to the media and admitted that time was running out to reach a deal with the potential investor. The bulk of the players committing to LIV 2.0 is critical.
“We have a very compressed timeline to get the deal done,” O’Neil said. “I’m not going to share that here. But I can tell you we’re well on our way to a transaction. Look, the entirety of our focus is to get to this transaction and get through it. Without the players, that becomes very difficult. I have a good level of confidence in my conversation that we’ll have a critical mass of the right players to move this league forward.”
The Telegraph, London