Rory McIlroy Says LIV Players Got Blindsided and He Saw It Coming in March

Rory McIlroy just admitted he was wrong about a lot of things when it comes to LIV Golf. But there's one thing he got absolutely right: he knew the Saudi funding was about to evaporate before the players themselves did.

Speaking Tuesday at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia ahead of this week's PGA Championship, the six-time major champion laid out a timeline that should make every LIV golfer sweat. McIlroy was hearing rumors back in March and April that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the financial backbone keeping LIV alive, was going to pull the plug. By the time it was officially confirmed last month that PIF would stop funding the league at the end of 2026, the players were apparently caught completely off guard.

How McIlroy Knew Before the Players Did

McIlroy isn't just speculating here. He's got solid intel from inside the LIV bubble. His best friend from Northern Ireland, Ricky McCormick, caddies for Tom McKibbin, a young golfer on the LIV circuit. The two talk constantly about what's happening over there, and McIlroy says he was asking McCormick about the rumors even before the Mexico event.

"Have you guys heard any of this stuff?" McIlroy said he asked McCormick. The response? "No, everything seems OK over here."

That gap between what McIlroy was hearing in the rumor mill and what was actually being communicated to the players tells you everything about how sudden this hit them. "It just feels like the rug was pulled from under their feet and everyone was sort of blindsided by it," McIlroy said. The timing couldn't be worse, either. An event scheduled for June in New Orleans got postponed and might get rescheduled for the fall outside the official season. PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan is stepping down as LIV's chairman as Saudi Arabia refocuses its spending strategy amid war in the Middle East.

The Real Risk Those Guys Took

McIlroy didn't hold back about the geopolitical reality that nobody in professional golf wanted to talk about. "Look, I think everyone knows like with everything that's happening in the Middle East, that had a lot to do," he said. "But whenever you have funding tied so much to the geopolitical landscape in the world, that's a tricky road to navigate."

Translation: this was always a possibility. The players who jumped to LIV knew the money was coming from Saudi Arabia, but apparently nobody wanted to acknowledge what could happen if priorities shifted. Well, priorities have shifted. And now LIV is in a precarious spot.

As for what comes next, McIlroy isn't optimistic about maintaining anything close to what LIV has looked like over the last four years. "I'm not privy to the deals they have," he said. "I guess from what I read they've got some sponsorship revenue for I don't know how long that those commitments are. If they do somehow get a schedule together for next year, it seems like it's going to look drastically different to what it's looked like over the last four years."

Eleven members of LIV Golf, including major champions Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, are on site this week for the PGA Championship. But for now, they're dealing with a whole lot of uncertainty about what their circuit even looks like after 2026 ends.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.