Rory McIlroy: It'll be 'tough road' for LIV players to return to PGA

Rory McIlroy has been one of the most adamant PGA Tour defenders throughout the LIV defection era this decade.

So it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that he wasn't exactly welcoming of some of these players potentially returning to the PGA amid LIV's future uncertainty.

LIV officially canceled its final 2026 event, next week's team championship in Michigan, on Monday. CEO Scott O'Neil said in a Wednesday press conference that the league has a "very compressed timeline" to lock down a deal with a new lead investor with the Saudi Public Investment Fund pulling its financial support at the end of the season.

Asked if the PGA should explore bringing back players who took paychecks to leave for LIV and if they would provide value to the tour, McIlroy bluntly said ahead of this week's BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. "I mean, I would argue, have they brought value to LIV? You know? I think the PGA TOUR's in a really good spot."

Brooks Koepka left LIV ahead of the 2026 season, returning to the PGA Tour as part of the newly announced returning player program in January. Patrick Reed also left LIV and is expected to make his full-time PGA return in 2027.

But a number of other players, including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, elected not to leave LIV when offered the chance.

McIlroy wonders what kind of deal these players would be subjected to should they now wish to return after initially passing during the limited-time window.

"I'm not part of these discussions, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to be welcomed back straight away," McIlroy said. "If they were offered this returning member program back in February, the one that Brooks (Koepka) took, then, yeah, maybe. But that has sort of come and gone. And I think it was said at the time that the deal that they might get going forward, if they do decide to come back, isn't going to be as good as the one that Brooks got. So, yeah, I would say it's going to be a tough, tough road back."

On the personal front, McIlroy is looking to bounce back from his worst showing of the season in last week's FedEx Cup Playoff opener, the St. Jude Championship.

McIlroy ranks second in the world, but is 13th in the FedEx Cup standings coming off a 66th-place finish.

He admits he hasn't been at his best lately but hopes to find better success at this event, which he previously won back in 2012.

"I've definitely gotten into some bad habits in my golf swing over the past few months," McIlroy said. "As you play tournament golf, the golf swing takes a back seat and all you're really trying to do is hit shots and be visual and be instinctive. But as you do that you can start to revert back into some bad habits, and I've certainly done that this year."

McIlroy beat just two competitors who finished last week's event, posting a 8-over-par 288, just the second time in 12 events this season he's finished above par.

After a day working with his coaches in Florida and a long day on the driving range Tuesday, the Northern Irishman is confident things are trending in a positive way.

"I feel like we're heading into the right direction," McIlroy said. "I have this feeling in my golf swing that I just, I need to, I just need to engrain, and I just need to hit a ton of balls while doing it."

--Field Level Media