Rory McIlroy is willing to welcome back LIV players to the PGA Tour – and without further penalty.
Appearing a couple weeks ago on the “Stick To Football” show, which posted McIlroy’s episode on Friday morning, McIlroy argued that LIV players such as Bryson DeChambeau have already “paid their consequence” for joining the Saudi-backed rival league, which launched in 2022.
“They’ve made the money, but they’ve paid their consequence in terms of the reputation and some of the things they’ve lost by going over there,” McIlroy said. “If it made the overall tour stronger to have Bryson DeChambeau back and whoever else, I would be OK with it. But again, it’s not just me, and I recognize that not everyone is in my position. It would be up to the collective group of PGA Tour members to make that decision.”
McIlroy’s comments come as DeChambeau is reportedly still negotiating his next LIV deal before the league’s 2026 season begins in February. Also, Brooks Koepka, who bolted the PGA Tour during LIV’s inaugural season, announced last month that he would not be returning to LIV; the PGA Tour has yet to comment on a potential pathway back for the five-time major champion.
The decision on if and how LIV players would be integrated back into the PGA Tour, McIlroy says, is ultimately up to the players. He said that it’s “hard to see any sort of resolution” in the near future, but asked if he saw the sport being reunited in “two or three years,” McIlroy responded, “I think it does.”
Perhaps factoring into McIlroy’s belief is his uncertainty on LIV’s sustainability.
“I’ve watched a little bit of it and it’s just, it’s not, I don’t know – and maybe it’s just I’m too much of a traditionalist to get it, but it just doesn’t seem to have anything,” McIlroy said. “Like they were coming into the game saying, ‘We’re gonna be different, we’re gonna be this, we’re gonna be that.’ Even the fact they’ve now switched from 54 holes to 72 holes to get world-ranking points, so it’s like, you’re just doing what everyone else is doing. So, what’s different, you know, apart from the money?”
McIlroy added: “They’ve spent billions on LIV, like the PIF and so on. If LIV is failing to capture the imagination, and they’ve spent so much money on this venture and it isn’t making a return for them, you know, I don’t know how much longer they can keep it going.”