- The Northern Irishman has been one of the most outspoken critics of LIV Golf
- McIlroy will play this weekend at the RBC Heritage after his T22 Masters finish
- The four-time major winner endured another tough week at Augusta National
Rory McIlroy will not be joining LIV Golf after reports had claimed that the four-time major champion was ‘close to agreeing a £682million ($850m) U-turn.’
McIlroy, who will tee up at the RBC Heritage on Thursday after finishing T22 at the Masters this weekend, has been one of the most vehement opponents to the Saudi-backed breakaway league since it’s inception in 2021.
Despite that, his stance towards the PGA Tour’s rival league has softened in recent times, following the shock announcement last summer that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour were in talks with LIV Golf over a strategic partnership.
While other Ryder Cup stars like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have recently jumped sides to join LIV, reports from City A.M. on Sunday claimed that McIlroy was ‘close to following suit’. The outlet claims that he had been offered an eye-watering sum of money, more than the £400m ($500m) sum Rahm was paid, to switch allegiances.
Mail Sport now understands that those claims McIlroy is considering a £682m switch to LIV are not true, with sources close to the Northern Irish golfer having denied the reports.
All eyes were on the Northern Irish golfer coming into this weekend as he attempted to end his long-standing chase for the coveted Green Jacket, at the tenth time of trying.
Unfortunatley, it seemed the pressure may have been too much for McIlroy, with the three-time FedEx Cup winner enduring a difficult weekend at the Masters, finishing four-over par, posting scores of 71, 77, 71 and 73.
After finishing Thursday one-under par, McIlroy left himself in danger of missing the cut, but battled hard to make par on the final four holes of his round on Friday to ensure safety. He would return on Saturday going under par for the day, but had failed to mount enough of a charge to put him back into contention. McIlroy would ultimately place T22, his third highest finish at the Masters.
In the last few years, the 34-year-old has launched several scathing attacks against the emergence of LIV Golf, which he claimed back in 2022 has ‘ripped the game apart’ and that he ‘hated’ what the rival tour was doing to professional golf.
‘If you believe in something, I think you have to speak up, and I believe very strongly about this,’ said McIlroy ahead of the 2022 BMW PGA Championship. ‘I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do.
‘It’s going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn’t sit right with me.’
McIlroy had also said he had been left feeling ‘like a sacrificial lamb’ after LIV Golf, the PGA Tour DP World Tour announced peace talks last summer. According to Alan Shipnuck, golf’s divisive merger announcement ‘broke Rory McIlroy’s heart’.
In recent months, the Ryder Cup winner’s stance over golf’s civil war has softened, with McIlroy admitting that he may have been too judgemental over those who joined the breakaway tour, and that they should not be punished for returning to play on the PGA Tour.
‘I think at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realise that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Wood’s position,’ He said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
McIlory has clashed with several LIV stars, including his close friend Sergio Garcia, with the pair falling out over his defection to LIV. The pair are now back on speaking terms after rekindling their relationship.
Despite that, LIV CEO Greg Norman thanked McIlroy for falling on his sword after the comments, with the pair having been at loggerheads for several years.
‘I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m very appreciative of what Rory said,’ Norman said on the LIV Golf Podcast. ‘It’s been a painful couple of years.
‘The reason I say I appreciate Rory to fall on his sword to some degree is the fact that he did judge us by not knowing the facts.
‘He judged us on other people’s thoughts and opinions. I say, “Hey, thank you Rory”. This is a significant turning point for everybody.’
It comes as McIlroy’s former agent Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler had spoken favourably about the chances that McIlroy could defect to LIV earlier this year, noting his change in attitude towards the rival tour.
‘If you were being cynical, you might say he’s going to sign for about £750million in a month’s time with LIV because he’s paving the way that LIV’s okay now, whereas it wasn’t,’ he told Bunkered.
‘Who knows? He doesn’t need £750million but it’s odd what he’s done and I’m sure it’s a possibility. If he does it or not, I don’t know, but if Rahm can do it, most guys can do it.
‘I think number one, there’s a 10 percent possibility he’s favoring his way to sign for LIV, but he realizes that the whole bickering and fighting is no good for golf. The man in the street must find it appalling the sums of money being spoken.’