{"id":386151,"date":"2026-01-03T19:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386151\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T19:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T19:05:14","slug":"rory-mcilroy-ready-to-welcome-bryson-dechambeau-back-to-pga-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386151\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy ready to welcome Bryson DeChambeau back to PGA Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tRory McIlroy has openly questioned how long LIV Golf can continue after spending billions, insisting the breakaway league has failed to resonate with fans \u2013 while revealing he would welcome Bryson DeChambeau back to the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy has never been shy with his views on LIV Golf, but his latest comments feel different. Where previous remarks often carried notes of uncertainty, fear, and a need to protect the PGA Tour, McIlroy now seems more relaxed \u2013 and more openly sceptical about whether LIV has a long-term future at all.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast<\/a>, McIlroy questioned how long LIV can realistically continue after burning through billions, while also admitting he would now be open to welcoming players such as Bryson DeChambeau back to the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\u2018It just hasn\u2019t resonated\u2019<\/p>\n

McIlroy didn\u2019t sugar-coat his feelings on LIV\u2019s product. While he acknowledged there are \u201csome good elements\u201d, he insisted it simply hasn\u2019t landed with fans in the way it promised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the thing is with LIV, it hasn\u2019t really resonated with people,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s just that I\u2019m too much of a traditionalist to get it, but it just doesn\u2019t seem to have anything. They were coming into the game saying, \u2018We\u2019re going to be different, we\u2019re going to be this, we\u2019re going to be that,\u2019 and it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the fact they\u2019ve now switched from 54 holes to 72 holes to get World Ranking points, so it\u2019s like you\u2019re just doing what everyone else is doing. So what\u2019s different \u2013 apart from the money?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeveralA fracture that\u2019s elevated the majors \u2013 but hurt the game<\/p>\n

McIlroy admitted the split has had one unintended benefit: it\u2019s made the majors and the Ryder Cup feel bigger than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that it\u2019s done is it\u2019s elevated the majors and it\u2019s elevated the Ryder Cup because it\u2019s the only four or five times a year you see all the best players playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, McIlroy was clear that the upside doesn\u2019t outweigh the damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor golf to be relevant, I think we need the best players together more often than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billions spent\u2026 for what return?<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most eye-catching part of McIlroy\u2019s comments was his blunt assessment of LIV\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve spent billions on LIV,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if it isn\u2019t making a return for them, I don\u2019t know how much longer they can keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time McIlroy has suggested that patience inside the Saudi Public Investment Fund \u2013 which bankrolls LIV \u2013 may not be limitless. Back in November 2025, he warned that the league\u2019s spending commitments were only set to grow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to have to keep spending that money to even just maintain what they have right now,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of these guys\u2019 contracts are up. They\u2019re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent five or six billion [dollars] and they\u2019re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WillDoor opens for LIV players \u2013 including Bryson DeChambeau<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour vs LIV Golf war has created a clear \u2018us and them\u2019 culture, but McIlroy revealed not only that he would welcome LIV players back to the PGA Tour, but that he believes defectors have already suffered enough for their decision to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve already paid their consequence,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve made the money but they\u2019ve paid their consequence in terms of the reputation and some of the things they\u2019ve lost by going over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes LIV\u2019s biggest star, Bryson DeChambeau, a man who recently cast doubts on his own future on LIV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it made the overall tour stronger to have Bryson DeChambeau back and whoever else, I would be okay with it,\u201d said McIlroy. \u201cBut it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrooksWhy reunification still feels distant<\/p>\n

For that very reason, McIlroy no longer envisages a partnership between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve tried. I was on the board of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour is a members\u2019 organization, so all of the players have the final vote on anything that happens. If the executives of the tour decide something that the membership feel is detrimental to them, they\u2019re never going to pass it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when the PGA Tour was set up as a members\u2019 organization it was a good thing, but I\u2019m sure in 1968 when they set it up, they never envisioned this thing happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think not having dialogue with the Saudis for a while, they felt disrespected, so then they dug in and stood their ground, and that\u2019s sort of where we are. I think that\u2019s eased off a little bit now, but it\u2019s still hard to see any sort of resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

If McIlroy is right \u2013 and LIV continues to struggle for relevance despite unprecedented spending \u2013 the current standoff may not be sustainable forever. Brooks Koepka becoming the first big-name player to walk away from LIV Golf has only added fuel to that belief, and McIlroy appears to think he won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n

His comments no longer carry the edge of a player fighting for territory. Instead, they sound like those of someone stepping back and assessing the situation for what it is: a hugely expensive experiment that has fractured the game, elevated a handful of events, but failed to connect with a wider audience.<\/p>\n

Whether LIV eventually fades, evolves, or forces a reshaping of the professional landscape altogether remains unclear. What is clear is that Rory McIlroy no longer sounds like a man bracing for LIV\u2019s future \u2014 but one questioning whether it has one at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy has openly questioned how long LIV Golf can continue after spending billions, insisting the breakaway league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-386151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}