Rory McIlroy claims he knew LIV was in trouble and breakaway tour was always a ‘risk’

LIV in race against time to survive without PIF funding

McIlroy: ‘I was hearing about this in March, April time’

Rory McIlroy has revealed he heard rumblings of impending trouble for LIV Golf weeks before Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it would withdraw funding for the circuit. The Masters champion believes the PIF approach highlights the danger of sport becoming reliant on anything that can be affected by world affairs.

LIV is engaged in a race against time to survive with PIF, which has bestowed more than $5bn on the tour, to exit at the end of 2026. News of that, which emerged in the immediate aftermath of McIlroy’s successful defence at Augusta National last month, shocked even those within LIV but not the Northern Irishman.

“It was always a possibility,” said McIlroy. “I feel like a lot of us, including me, we almost knew before the [LIV] players did that this was going to happen. I was hearing about this back in March, April time.