Rory McIlroy is softening his stance on the return of players from LIV Golf to the PGA Tour, acknowledging Friday that bringing back more defectors from the breakaway circuit could be a net positive.
With the future of LIV in doubt after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced it is pulling its financial backing after this year, McIlroy was asked his reaction to how that could impact the PGA Tour.
“It’s a question if (players) do want to come back,” McIlroy said after ending the second round of the Truist Championship tied for eighth in Charlotte. “Obviously we have seen the quotes over the last few days. And, you know, it seems like … 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 (PGA Tour CEO) 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.”
The six-time major champion added, “I think everyone sort of knows my views on LIV and where it stands in the game of golf. I don’t think I need to rehash any of that. It’s never been for me and, look, 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.”
Earlier this year, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka accepted the terms of the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program and came back from LIV. The requirements included “heavy and appropriate limitations to both tournament access and potential earning that we believe properly holds returning members accountable for substantial compensation earned elsewhere.”
The offer was made to golfers who won a Players Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or Open Championship between 2022-25. Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith were the other players eligible per those criteria.
Commenting on LIV players in general, McIlroy said Friday, “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. But again, I’m not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA Tour. …
“Does that mean that they go play DP World Tour maybe. If that’s a pathway, that would make the DP World Tour stronger, and I would be delighted with that, because that’s my home Tour, at the end of the day.
“But … if you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, (the PGA Tour) is the place to be. And if you don’t want to play here, I think that says something about you.”
