Rory McIlroy denies reports he will join LIV Golf for $850m

Rory McIlroy has dismissed reports he is considering a move to LIV Golf, insisting he is committed to playing on the PGA Tour.

The world number 2 has been an outspoken critic of the Saudi-backed series, but City AM reported this week that he is considering an $850 million move to LIV, which would also give him a 2% stake in the tour deliver.

On Tuesday, McIlroy denied the reports. “I honestly don’t know how these things start,” McIlroy told Golf Channel. “I’ve never received a song from LIV. I never thought about going to LIV.”

McIlroy was highly critical of players choosing to join LIV, but has since softened his stance. Jon Rahm is the most prominent player who recently joined LIV, inking a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars in December 2023. There has also been speculation that world number 6 Viktor Hovland will be the next prominent player to join LIV. Hovland is one of a number of players unhappy with the handling of a framework agreement reached last summer between existing tours and the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

“Again, I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think so [LIV] is for me,” McIlroy said on Tuesday. “It doesn’t mean that I judge people who went there to play. I think one of the things I’ve realized over the last two years is that people can make their own decisions about what they think is best for them. Who are we to condemn them for that?

“But personally, for me, my future is here on the PGA Tour and it’s never been different…I’ll be playing the rest of my career on the PGA Tour.”

Earlier on Tuesday, McIlroy’s agent, Sean O’Flaherty, said told the Irish Independent that reports about his client’s possible move to LIV were “fake news”.

McIlroy finished in a tie for 22nd place at the Masters last week.