{"id":633766,"date":"2026-05-09T23:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633766\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:50:10","slug":"rory-mcilroy-has-blunt-message-for-liv-players-who-wouldnt-want-to-return-to-pga-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633766\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy has blunt message for LIV players who wouldn’t want to return to PGA Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like everyone, Rory McIlroy has seen the quotes coming out of LIV Golf<\/a> as players on the rebel tour, which recently lost the backing of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, work to figure out what the future holds for them and their tour.<\/p>\n

Bryson DeChambeau told several outlets this week, including ESPN<\/a> and Sports Illustrated<\/a>, that he might focus on growing his YouTube channel<\/a> while playing in the tournaments that \u201cwant him\u201d if LIV folds. DeChambeau told Skratch<\/a> that it\u2019ll be up to the PGA Tour members to decide if he can rejoin the PGA Tour and what the punishment will be. DeChambeau also noted that the Tour\u2019s current policy regulating players\u2019 creation of social media content at tournaments is another hurdle. Put clearly, DeChambeau and his team have talked with the PGA Tour, but he might not want to return. Thomas Pieters said that if LIV Golf goes away, he won\u2019t go back to the PGA Tour. Anirban Lahiri told The Times of London <\/a>that he knows at least a \u201cdozen\u201d players who would rather retire than rejoin the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n

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To McIlroy, all of these quotes are telling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve said at the start, 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,\u201d McIlroy said on Friday after his second round at the Truist Championship. \u201cBut again, I\u2019m not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA TOUR.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut \u2026 if you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be. And if you don\u2019t want to play here, I think that says something about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has said he currently doesn\u2019t have a plan<\/a> to reintegrate LIV players should the league cease operations after 2026. That\u2019s not something he currently has to worry about with LIV working to secure funding for 2027 and beyond. Ever since he took over at the helm, Rolapp has been clear that he wants to do whatever is best for the PGA Tour. That\u2019s why he created the limited Returning Members Program to welcome Brooks Koepka back from LIV in January, albeit with a stiff financial penalty. But Rolapp also recognizes that the PGA Tour membership has scars from golf\u2019s fracture that he does not, and he\u2019ll have to toe the line between doing what\u2019s best for business and keeping his membership happy.<\/p>\n

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McIlroy wants to do what\u2019s best for the PGA Tour\u2019s bottom line as it enters its for-profit era. But the reigning Masters champion also knows that the potential reunification process won\u2019t be quick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a question if they do want to come back. Obviously, we have seen the quotes over the last few days,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cAgain, 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 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\u2019s just good business practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, I think there\u2019s going to be a lot of sort of bridges to cross to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy acknowledges that all this unification talk is largely null and void if LIV Golf, which is seeking outside investment, continues in 2027. While DeChambeau\u2019s contract ends after 2026, many players, including Jon Rahm, are under contract with LIV for several more seasons. So, if there is a LIV Golf, that\u2019s where most of their golf will be played.<\/p>\n

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On the topic of LIV\u2019s future<\/a>, McIlroy knows that the fat lady isn\u2019t singing yet. But with the PIF announcing it would be withdrawing funding, she\u2019s certainly warming up. LIV may very well continue beyond 2026, but it will take a different form than the one that has existed for the last five years.<\/p>\n

And that says everything to the six-time major champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that LIV is going to go away. They\u2019re 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\u2019re too expensive for them, that sort of says something,\u201d McIlroy said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

The post Rory McIlroy has blunt message for LIV players who wouldn\u2019t want to return to PGA Tour<\/a> appeared first on Golf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like everyone, Rory McIlroy has seen the quotes coming out of LIV Golf as players on the rebel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[3330,15547,427,15837,34592,4697,6082,273737,99,206150],"class_list":["post-633766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-brian-rolapp","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-golf","tag-liv","tag-pga","tag-players","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-saudi-arabian-public-investment-fund","tag-sports","tag-thomas-pieters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}