Getty Image / Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire
Current #3 ranked golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy, is not going to be joining the LIV Golf Tour.
Rumors of Rory to LIV sparked up in late February when Rory’s former agent, Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, speculated that McIlroy’s recent comments suggested the Northern Irishman might be considering a move to LIV. A portion of Chandler’s quote was “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% possibility he’s favoring his way to sign for LIV.”
Last week at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic, Rory McIlroy addressed his former manager’s claims and said, among other things, “I think he’s writing a book, so there’s that.” Flash forward to this week and Rory did an interview with ESPN where he explained the reason he’d never join LIV Golf. His reason is simple: he’s a traditionalist.
Rory McIlroy said:
“It’s not for me. I’m too much of a traditionalist. I love winning golf tournaments and looking at the trophy and seeing that Sam Snead won this trophy or Ben Hogan or Gene Sarazen or Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player, Tiger Woods or Nick Faldo, whoever it is, the people that came before me. That to me is a big deal in our game. If we were to all put our heads together and be like, ‘Okay, what can we do to all come back together and move forward and be a little more cohesive?’ Then I would sort of be for that.”
The video can be seen on ESPN as well:
Rory McIlroy is one of the wealthiest golfers the PGA Tour has ever produced. He is 3rd on the PGA Tour’s All-Time Money List with $80,383,477 in earnings. He’s also had lucrative sponsorships over the years with TaylorMade, Nike, Omega, and Workplace to name a few. His estimated net worth is somewhere in the realm of $200 million.
With that in mind, every top golfer who took a LIV Golf contract seemed to say ‘it’s not about money’ at one point or another, other than Jon Rahm who came out and admitted it was about the money.
Rory McIlroy has already amassed generational wealth and he’s only 34-years-old but if LIV Golf came to him with a contract worth over $500 million ($750M??) it is hard to imagine he wouldn’t at least entertain the offer. Everyone in sports has a price. Professional sports is a business. Pro athletes are businessmen. It would be unheard of for Rory McIlroy to turn down half a billion dollars from LIV Golf even if there’s no history behind the 2-year-old tour.
Not to be lost in this, Rory McIlroy has spoken out against lIV Golf a LOT. He’s used the word ‘hate’ on multiple occasions. Would LIV still welcome him with open arms? Sure. Would that require an awkward amount of public contrition? Definitely.
Rory’s hope, as it has been for a while, is the PGA Tour can find a way to reintegrate the golfers who left for LIV. At least a few of them. And currently, there are no indications the PGA Tour is getting any closer to making that a reality.