Rory McIlroy doesn't see 'reunification' of pro golf happening, urges LIV stars to pay fines in order to be Ryder Cup eligible
David Cannon
DUBAI — Rory McIlroy can’t visualize a world where competing professional
golf tours reunite.
The reigning Masters champion spoke with reporters after his Dubai Desert
Classic pro-am at the Emirates Golf Club, site of this week’s DP World Tour Rolex
Series opener. He canvassed topics from a potential reunification between the
PGA Tour and LIV Golf, whether Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton should pay their
Ryder Cup fines and how McIlroy’s attitude could improve in 2026 after the
greatest year of his career.
Professional golf is approaching three years since the June 6, 2023, framework
agreement was announced between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s financiers, the
Public Investment Fund. But LIV Golf has continued to sign PGA Tour pros such
as recent recruits Thomas Detry and Ben An. Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka left LIV
Golf to rejoin the PGA Tour following CEO Brian Rolapp’s creation of the
Returning Member Program.
McIlroy, chasing a record fifth Dubai Desert Classic win this week, was quizzed
whether a reunification of golf still matters, saying, “I think it matters; I would
say that's Solution A. But I just don't see a world where it can happen at this
point.”
The 29-time PGA Tour winner was pressed on why.
“I just I don't see a world where the two or three sides [tours] or whoever it is
will give up enough,” McIlroy said. “For reunification to happen, every side is
going to feel like they will have lost, whereas you really want every side to feel
like they have won. I think they are just too far apart for that to happen.
“I definitely think the additional tours, if you want to call them, have weathered
the worst of the storm.”
For the first time, however, McIlroy put a number (10) on an optimal amount of
tournaments where fans can see the world’s best golfers in the same field.
Currently, that only happens at four major championships and select DP World
Tour events.
“My opinion is that golf would be better served if all the best players in the
world played together a little more often. We're really only seeing that at the
major championships,” McIlroy, 36, said. “But you're talking about a handful of
guys that are missing [out on], say, a Players Championship or some of theother bigger tournaments in the world. I'd like to see the best players play
together maybe 10 times a year instead of four times a year.”
They come together at the Ryder Cup, too—24 of the best European and
American golfers. Although now uncertainty surrounds two key members of the
European team: Hatton and Rahm. The duo’s move to LIV Golf in 2024 meant
they accumulate fines for competing in tournaments which conflict with the DP
World Tour, where both are members.
DP World Tour officials confirmed to Golf Digest in Dubai that the combined total of the fines for Rahm and Hatton was several million dollars. Rahm and
Hatton appealed the fines in 2024, meaning they can continue playing on the
DP World Tour—which runs the European team at the Ryder Cup—until there is
a hearing for their appeals.
McIlroy was asked if a simpler solution would be for Rahm and Hatton to pay
their sanctions.
“Yeah, absolutely. This is my opinion. [leading up to the 2025 Ryder Cup at
Bethpage Black] we went really hard on the American [team] about being paid
to play the Ryder Cup, and we also said that we would pay to play in Ryder
Cups,” McIlroy said. “There are two guys that can prove it.”
McIlroy feels the DP World Tour sanctions are reasonable.
“I think any … any members' organization like this has a right to uphold its rules
and regulations,” he said. “And what the DP World Tour are doing is upholding
their rules and regulations and we, as members, sign a document at the start of
every year, which has you agree to these rules and regulations, and the people
that made the option to go to LIV knew what they were. So, I don't see what's
wrong with that, I guess, is my opinion.”
McIlroy did talk about his own game, too. The World No. 2 is teeing up for his
second official tournament of 2026. Although the Dubai Desert Classic is the
first elite field of the year. After a career-defining 2025 season—highlighted by
wins at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Players Championship, Masters to complete
the career Grand Slam, Irish Open and Ryder Cup—McIlroy is looking for ways
to sustain his motivation levels.
“Yeah, I think I need to show up at tournaments with enthusiasm every single
time; so [that means] playing in the places that I want to play and not feeling
like I'm at a tournament because I'm obligated or have to be there but because
I want to be there,” he said.“I've been coming [to Dubai] for 20 years. You think about the amount of balls that I've hit and the amount of time I've spent on the range on my own. That starts to get tedious 20 years into a career. So it's [all about] trying to find the joy in that. What I really found joy in [recently] at home is playing golf. I spend more time on the golf course than on the practice range nowadays.”
Because there are several career goals that remain.
“Yeah … [an] Olympic medal, Open at St. Andrews, a U.S. Open at one of those
old, traditional golf courses whether it's Shinnecock this year or Winged Foot or
Pebble Beach, Merion,” McIlroy said when asked what was left to achieve.
McIlroy will launch his bid for such from the Dubai Desert Classic this week,
where Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed and Dustin
Johnson are among the stars in the field.