Rory McIlroy says there should be “no punishment” for returning LIV golfers

Rory McIlroy insists LIV golfers wishing to return to play on the PGA Tour should not face punishment. 

The four-time major champion was speaking ahead of this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California and just hours after Tyrrell Hatton’s move to the Saudi-funded league was finally rubber-stamped.

Hatton, who was listed in the field for this week’s PGA Tour event as recently as this afternoon, is joining Jon Rahm’s new franchise Legion XIII and will make his debut at the LIV season-opener in Mexico this week.

Both players shared a team room with McIlroy during the Ryder Cup in Rome last September as Europe stormed to victory over the United States.

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Previously the most outspoken critic of LIV on tour, the Irishman admits he has ‘changed his tune’ about the Greg Norman-fronted venture and, having advocated for punishments for those who had jumped ship for the circuit as recently as June, insisting “there still has to be consequences to actions”, he has now performed a full one-eighty.

“I think life is about choices,” said McIlroy. “Guys made choices to go and play LIV, guys made choices to stay here. If people still have eligibility on this tour and they want to come back and play or you want to try and do something, let them come back.

“I think it’s hard to punish people. I don’t think there should be a punishment. Obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties.

“It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. That’s my opinion of it. The faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible I think is great for golf.”

This is a far cry from comments made by McIlroy on June 7 last year, the day after it was revealed the PGA Tour was negotiating a peace deal with LIV and its Saudi Arabian bankrollers.

“The people who left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this tour, started litigation against it, we can’t just welcome them back in,” insisted the former world No.1 at that time. “That’s not going to happen.”

The departures of Rahm and Hatton, in particular, appear to have surfaced a more conciliatory tone within McIlroy.

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Revealing he had a long discussion with Englishman Hatton on Monday, he added: “I think the nature of the conversation was probably different than it would have been a year ago, absolutely.

“I said to him just like I said to Jon, I’m totally supportive of your decision if that’s what you feel is the right thing for you. These are guys that I’ve spent a lot of time with, and I guess I’ve said this before, but I’ve come to the realisation I’m not here to change people’s minds, I’m here to just try – especially when I was at the board level – to give them the full picture of where things are at and hopefully where things are going to go.

“They can do with that information what they want. But at the end of the day I think I’m done with trying to change people’s minds and trying to get them to see things a certain way or try to see things through my lens because that’s ultimately not the way the world works.

“These are guys that I respect and that I’ve spent a lot of time with and if that’s what they feel is the best decision for them, then I’m going to, you know, be supportive of that decision and let them go and do their own thing.”

McIlroy added that he “completely understood” the appeal of LIV to Hatton.

“I’ve talked to him quite a bit about it over the past month. They negotiated and got to a place where he was comfortable with and he has to do what he feels is right for him. So I’m not going to stand in anyone’s way from making money and if what they deem life-changing money, absolutely.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor