Rory McIlroy got off to a fast start Thursday at his 2026 season debut in Dubai. He didn’t waste any time, either, in assessing the fallout of Brooks Koepka’s departure from LIV Golf and return to the PGA Tour.

McIlroy, the reigning Race to Dubai champion, shot 31 over his opening nine holes and finished with a 66 to lead by one over Connor Syme and David Puig—and then had a blunt appraisal of LIV Golf’s current plight.

“It’s not as if they made any huge signings this year, is it?” McIlroy said in an interview with The Telegraph. “They haven’t signed anyone who moves the needle and I don’t think they will. I mean, they could re-sign Bryson [DeChambeau] for hundreds of millions of dollars, but even if they do, it doesn’t change their product, does it? They’ll just be paying for the exact same thing. And they’ve lost Brooks, so they’ll be paying out all this money and …”

LIV Golf did add several players, the highest-ranked being Thomas Detry, who won the WM Phoenix Open last year and is giving up a spot in signature events to play for Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces team.

This week, the league announced the addition of Australian golfer Elvis Smylie to the all-Aussie Ripper team captained by Cam Smith and PGA Tour veteran Ben An, who will captain a team of all Korean players.

Earlier, Viktor Perez and Laurie Canter also joined the league, which begins its fifth season next month in Saudi Arabia.

Last month, Koepka announced he was leaving LIV Golf with the league’s blessing after four years. It was only last week that he reapplied for PGA Tour membership, his status regained quickly with an announcement Monday that will see him debut in two weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open.

The Tour also said that DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Smith could return under the same rules if they did so by Feb. 2. None are expected to do so, but DeChambeau’s contract is up after this year and he finds himself with a good bit of leverage.

“A lot of these guys’ contracts are up,” McIlroy said. “They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent $5 billion or $6 billion, and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.

“Look, I’m way more comfortable being on the PGA Tour side than on their side, but who knows what will happen.”

McIlroy has maintained for more than a year that the PGA Tour needs to bring back LIV players who to return and put aside any ill feelings.

“This is great as it gets Brooks back to where he belongs,” McIlroy said. He is one of the best players in the world and anything that makes the traditional tours stronger is a good thing in my book.”

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