Rory McIlroy is ready to open the door. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday, McIlroy said he would personally vote to let former LIV Golf players return to the PGA Tour. “Yes, I would. I think a rising tide lifts all boats,” he said, adding that bringing those players back would help drive revenue for the Tour.
He didn’t spare LIV itself. “LIV had probably like, half of a good idea that was executed pretty poorly,” McIlroy told Bloomberg editor-at-large Mishal Husain. He said “a lot of that capital was wasted in some ways” and could have gone toward partnering with golf’s governing bodies, instead of “enriching tour pros that were already making a lot of money.”
McIlroy also looked back at 2022, when he and Tiger Woods led the pushback against the breakaway league. He said the two were the most vocal critics, but admitted “we were probably the two that had the most to lose as well” in terms of their PGA Tour stature. “I think we both felt that this wasn’t good for the game,” he said, adding that they believed it would fracture the sport.
The split came with a personal cost. McIlroy said he is not as close as he once was with some European Ryder Cup teammates who left for LIV, mostly because he simply stopped seeing them as often.
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He acknowledged not everyone will agree with him. McIlroy said some members who stayed loyal would feel slighted if LIV players could walk straight back in, but that their return is good for business and could drive revenue for everyone. He added that both tours are membership organizations, and leadership needs to ask members what they want.
McIlroy also cast doubt on LIV’s comeback. The league is trying to survive Chapter 11 bankruptcy and launch LIV 2.0, and McIlroy noted that seemingly every day another former LIV player says “they’re not going to rejoin for LIV 2.0.”
The exits are piling up. Patrick Reed decided not to renew his LIV Golf contract for 2026, and since the bankruptcy filing, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia and David Puig have left the league. Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour in January through the Returning Member Program.
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The stance marks a shift from earlier this year. Ahead of the BMW Championship, McIlroy said LIV players faced a difficult road back and would not be welcomed right away.
The PGA Tour hasn’t followed his lead yet. CEO Brian Rolapp has said the Returning Member Program is no longer available and that the Tour won’t talk to any player about returning until their LIV contract obligations are over.
The DP World Tour is set to deny LIV Golf players memberships for the 2027 season. McIlroy is in New Delhi for this week’s DP World India Championship, where multiple LIV Golf players are also competing.
