Rory McIlroy has claimed LIV Golf is in a “pretty precarious spot” after reports emerged that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will withdraw funding from the breakaway tour at the end of the season.
The four-time major champion suggested the uncertainty surrounding LIV’s future had left players stunned, while insisting the situation highlighted the risks taken by golfers who defected from the PGA Tour.
Speaking about the reports, McIlroy said: “It was always a possibility that could happen. With everything that's happening in the Middle East, that had a lot to do with it.
“Their priorities shifted and that leaves LIV in a pretty precarious spot, but that was always a possibility.
Rory McIlroy talked about the future of LIV Golf amid trouble in the Middle East
|REUTERS
“A lot of us almost knew before the players did that this was going to happen. It feels like the rug was pulled from under their feet and everyone was blindsided by it.
“That was the risk that those guys chose to take and there's a lot of uncertainty in the air right now.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
“If they do somehow get a schedule together for next year it looks like it's going to be drastically different.”
McIlroy has long been one of the most outspoken critics of LIV Golf since its controversial launch in 2022.
At the height of the civil war within the sport, the Northern Irishman repeatedly defended the PGA Tour and criticised players who accepted huge sums to join the Saudi-backed circuit.
The future of LIV Golf is up in the air with the Saudis pulling funding | PAHe famously said he “hated” LIV Golf and accused defectors of “taking the easy way out”.
McIlroy also took aim at the format of the competition, questioning whether 54-hole events without cuts could ever replicate the intensity and prestige of traditional PGA Tour events.
However, his stance softened somewhat after the PGA Tour’s shock framework agreement with PIF in 2023. McIlroy later admitted he had been “too judgmental” towards players who left and acknowledged that reunification within the game was necessary.
Despite that, the 36-year-old has consistently maintained that LIV Golf struggled to gain traction with fans and broadcasters compared to established tours.
Questions over LIV’s long-term viability have persisted despite the enormous financial backing provided by PIF, with television ratings, sponsorship growth and global interest all coming under scrutiny.
McIlroy’s latest comments will add further fuel to speculation surrounding the future of the league and what it means for players who committed to multi-year deals.
Jon Rahm is the highest-earner at LIV Golf | GETTYSeveral high-profile stars, including Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, remain tied to LIV contracts, though uncertainty is now mounting over what the competition could look like beyond this season.
For McIlroy, the developments appear to reinforce concerns he voiced from the very beginning — that LIV Golf’s future was never guaranteed, regardless of the money involved.