While his stance has softened considerably as time has gone on, there was a period when there was arguably no bigger critic of LIV Golf on the PGA Tour than Rory McIlroy.
Rory McIlroy made no attempt to hide his disdain for LIV Golf in the first few years of its existence. And it appeared to damage his relationship with a number of players he would have previously shared Ryder Cup team rooms with.
McIlroy has changed his tune in more recent times. While he has not made the jump to LIV, he has been prepared to accept the league as part of the golfing landscape – particularly since Jon Rahm decided to make the move in December 2023.
Of course, the big question concerning LIV centres around how the league will look once a deal with the PGA Tour has been agreed. There does not appear to be a way for the two tours to keep their current schedules while also presenting the big names with a chance to face off much more often.
Rory McIlroy suggests the way forward for LIV Golf
LIV does tick different boxes to the PGA Tour, with the team format an important part of their league. And speaking ahead of the Genesis Invitational, McIlroy suggested that leaning further into that represents their best option in his mind.
“I don’t know. Look, I always felt like LIV’s best chance was to try to replicate their team championship for the teams to go head to head together instead of they all just go out and play and they add their scores up at the end of the day. I don’t think that gets people going. But I think when the teams go head to head like they do in their team championship in wherever, Dallas or whenever it was last year, I think that has a possibility of working,” he said.
“Instead of that maybe being once a year and then these stroke play events, could you reduce the stroke play events and do more of that a few times a year. I think that is a way — because especially if these guys are going to come back and play, I don’t want to say real, they play real golf but more like championship individual golf, then is there more of an opportunity for these teams to go more head to head because I think that makes for a more compelling product, at least in my eyes. I’m just one person.”
Rory McIlroy discusses LIV stars captaining the European Ryder Cup team in the future
Another dynamic which will be interesting to see when the game comes back together concerns the players who disappointed McIlroy by joining LIV.
Many of the DP World Tour‘s legendary figures decided to make the jump. And that decision appeared to bring an end to the Ryder Cup careers of the likes of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, while Henrik Stenson was stripped of the European captaincy for 2023.
It is hard to see any of those names qualifying for the team again. But a deal would potentially set the stage for some of those figures to captain the side in the future. However, McIlroy admitted that he would not be entirely comfortable with that happening as things stand.
“I would have to be convinced, I would have to be convinced,” he added.
“It would take them treating it as Luke Donald‘s treated it for the last three years, that’s what it would take to convince me.”
Obviously, those comments may not sit particularly well with the likes of Westwood and Poulter who will argue that they have done more than enough to deserve the captaincy if they get the job.
But McIlroy’s comments on LIV throughout the years show that never saying never is particularly important in this era of the sport.
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