McIlroy says return from LIV to PGA Tour will be a 'tough road back'

Rory McIlroy said it could be a "tough road back" to the PGA Tour for players currently with LIV Golf, speaking before the start of this week's BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis. His remarks came amid growing uncertainty for LIV after Saudi Arabia confirmed it was withdrawing financial backing in April.

The exit of Saudi backing and the cancellation of next week's Team Championship have increased doubts over LIV's future. In January Brooks Koepka rejoined the PGA Tour under a deal that saw him forfeit any player equity shares for the next five years; he is ineligible for the $100m (£73.4m) FedEx Cup bonus scheme this year and made a $5m (£3.6m) donation to charity as part of the return. McIlroy questioned whether those who joined the rival tour have "brought value to LIV" and suggested the route back to the PGA Tour could be more difficult for other players such as Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.

"I'm not part of the discussions but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be welcomed back straight away," McIlroy said. "They were offered this returning member programme back in February, the one Brooks [Koepka] took, but that has come and gone and I think it was said at the time that the deal they get going forward if they decide to come back would not be as good at the one Brooks got. So I'd say it will be a tough road back."

McIlroy reiterated his view that "LIV has never been a good thing for the game" while adding he "doesn't take any personal satisfaction from people losing jobs". He also described the PGA Tour as the strongest platform for top professional golfers, saying: "Whatever [LIV] 2.0 looks like, they say they're trying to be more collaborative and all that, but this is the best platform for top professional golfers in the world."

Addressing the origins of the split, McIlroy said: "Were there some things at the start of LIV the PGA Tour could have done better? Sure, but I think if you look back to the start and the guys who went - Phil [Mickleson] was unhappy with some stuff or whatever it was - surely that just warranted a conversation instead of blowing the entire professional game up and doing something else." He added: "I don't take any personal satisfaction from people losing jobs - that doesn't seem right - but I have always felt this is the best place to play professional golf and I'm pretty sure if the PGA Tour was handed $6bn (£4.4bn) it would have done a better job than LIV."

LIV Golf said it had secured an unnamed lead investor to keep the competition running in 2027. McIlroy, meanwhile, recorded an eight-over par score to finish 66th overall at last week's FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis and said "progress from where I was last week would be a win for me" as he prepared for the BMW Championship.

World number one Scottie Scheffler produced a runaway win in St Louis, taking his career PGA Tour earnings to $119,964,411 (£88,187), just behind Tiger Woods on $120,999,166 (£88,950). Scheffler said that comparison "has a lot to do with the purses" and that "I'm not really too close to him in terms of career wins"; his victory in St Louis was his 21st on the PGA Tour. Scheffler added: "Tiger did a lot for the game of golf and he put us in a position where we're able to earn some pretty good stuff financially, so that's something we're very grateful for," and: "Tiger's contributions to the game, when you look at where the purses were at before he came out on tour to where they're at now is a pretty stark difference and we're very thankful for his contributions to the game and hopefully we'll see him back out here competing again soon. 'What, am I like a fourth of the way there? Something like that.'" The report noted Woods has triumphed on 82 occasions and has been sidelined by injuries and operations since missing the cut at The Open in July 2024.

This week's event in Indianapolis will act as LIV's season finale following the cancellation of the Team Championship, while McIlroy competes at the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis.