Rory McIlroy Says LIV Golfers Shouldn't Face Punishment if They Rejoin PGA Tour

While Rory McIlroy has been vocal about his disappointment and frustration in golfers joining LIV Golf, he said Tuesday that he believes there should be no punishment if those players eventually want to return to the PGA Tour.

"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," McIlroy said, according to ESPN's Paolo Uggetti. "I think it's hard to punish people. I don't think there should be a punishment."

The comments are a change in tune for McIlroy, who told reporters back in June that he hated LIV Golf, adding that he believes the PGA Tour Golfers who joined the Saudi-backed league should face consequences for harming the PGA Tour.

"There still has to be consequences to actions," McIlroy said. "The people that left the PGA Tour irreparably harmed this tour, started litigation against it. Like, we can't just welcome them back in. That's not going to happen."

LIV Golf has poached a number of the world's top golfers from the PGA Tour since its launch in 2022, including Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm.

Rahm joined LIV Golf in December on a deal worth more than $300 million, according to ESPN's Mark Schlabach. Tyrrell Hatton joined LIV Golf on Tuesday, signing a deal worth a reported $60 million.

The lucrative contracts are a big reason why players continue to join LIV Golf as the PGA Tour cannot make competitive offers to retain them.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan initially suspended more than 30 PGA Tour members for competing in LIV Golf events without conflicting-event releases, but he announced over the summer that those members could reapply for PGA Tour membership after the 2023 season.

The PGA Tour is nearing a deal with the Strategic Sports Group to infuse $3 billion into a new for-profit entity known as PGA Tour Enterprises. PGA Tour Enterprises would combine the commercial assets of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf.

Strategic Sports Group is an investment consortium that includes Tom Werner and John Henry of Boston Red Sox, Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons and Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics.

"We're potentially about to do a deal with PIF, who owns the large majority of LIV, and hopefully seeing things come back together here at some point," McIlroy said Tuesday. "Obviously I changed my tune on [punishments] 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."