The LIV Golf rumor mill was churning earlier in the week after a report from London financial newspaper City AM that Rory McIlroy could join the circuit in a deal worth $850m.
The report also stated that two separate sources had told the publication that a deal to bring McIlroy to the League was “close,” with the 34-year-old also set for a 2% equity stake in the circuit. Not according to McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, though, who responded to the report writing: “Fake news. Zero truth” in an email to the Irish Independent.
After two-time Major winner Jon Rahm became LIV Golf’s biggest signing to date in a deal reportedly worth over $500m in December, anything seemed possible. However, along with Tiger Woods, McIlroy would be by far the most surprising addition given his unwavering loyalty to the PGA Tour and frequent defence of it since LIV Golf’s emergence.
Even after the announcement that the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund that finances LIV Golf were in talks over a deal that would see them work together, McIlroy insisted: “I still hate LIV,” and as recently as July last year he went further, saying: “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on Earth I would retire, that’s how I feel about it.”
McIlroy has been far more conciliatory towards LIV Golf in recent months, particularly after Rahm, who was one of the jewels in the crown of the PGA Tour, made the leap. In January, he admitted “I’ve changed my tune” about the possibility of LIV golfers returning to the PGA Tour, saying: “Let them come back.”
Still, there is some difference between being willing to extend an olive branch to former PGA Tour stars now with LIV and joining them on the circuit. According to O’Flaherty, that isn’t about to change.
McIlroy certainly didn’t give any indication he was dissatisfied with life on the PGA Tour after finishing T22 at The Masters. On the contrary, he explained that not only is he thoroughly enjoying playing at present, but he has a busy few months to look forward to, starting with this week's RBC Heritage.
He said: “The next two weeks I'm playing Hilton Head, I'm playing New Orleans. I'll take a week off, playing Quail Hollow, play the PGA, take another week off, then play another four in a row. Loving golf at the moment. Loving it.”
Before this week's tournament, McIlroy spoke to the Golf Channel's Todd Lewis, where he emphatically shut down the report and vowed: "I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career."
