<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, waits to hit on the 10th tee during the third round of the St. Jude Championship golf tournament Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn.<\/p>\n
George Walker IV\/AP Photo\/George Walker IV<\/p>\n
Captain Jon Rahm, of Legion XIII, hits on the 13th hole during the final round of LIV Golf Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026, in Bedminster, N.J. (Montana Pritchard\/LIV Golf via AP)<\/p>\n
Montana Pritchard\/AP<\/p>\n
Captain Bryson DeChambeau, of Crushers GC, hits from the 16th tee during the first round of LIV Golf Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in Bedminster, N.J. (Montana Pritchard\/LIV Golf via AP)<\/p>\n
Montana Pritchard\/AP<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler celebrates winning on the 18th green the final round of the St. Jude Championship golf tournament, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn.<\/p>\n
George Walker IV\/AP Photo\/George Walker IV<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler is not opposed to the return of LIV Golf players who chased after Saudi money, but with some form of a penalty. Rory McIlroy could see unification at some point, though he paused when asked Wednesday about the value they would bring to the PGA Tour.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI mean, I\u2019d argue have they brought value to LIV?\u201d McIlroy said at the BMW Championship.<\/p>\n
LIV Golf’s future is under scrutiny with the Indianapolis event this week being the last one of the year for a league that no longer will get funding from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.<\/p>\n
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LIV CEO Scott O’Neil remained bullish about plans for 2027 and beyond, saying players would be equity owners and have their commercial rights restored. O’Neil said the plan was to have five team championships overseas and five individual tournaments in the United States scheduled close to the majors for those who qualify for them.<\/p>\n
He did not name the lead investor with whom LIV has reached an agreement. Several outlets have identified him as Ted Goldthorpe of BC Partners, who met with players on Tuesday. O’Neil said there was a deadline for players to commit to LIV 2.0 without saying when it is. He also has not mentioned the size of the proposed investment. LIV Golf spent more than $5 billion in five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entirety of our focus is to get to this transaction and get through it,\u201d O’Neil said. “Without the players, that becomes very difficult. I have a good level of confidence in my conversation that we\u2019ll have a critical mass of the right players to move this league forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The critical players for LIV are Jon Rahm, whose contract end after 2027, and Bryson DeChambeau, whose contract is up this year. Both are two-time major champions and the biggest two names left on LIV Golf.<\/p>\n
Brooks Koepka was the first player to return to the PGA Tour this year, with stipulations that he could not play $20 million signature events unless he earned his way, paid $5 million to charity and had no access to equity. The tour put the penalty value at $50 million and upward.<\/p>\n
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The tour then offered the same deal \u2014 and two weeks to decide on it \u2014 to Rahm, DeChambeau and Cameron Smith, all major champions dating to the launch of LIV in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we talk about the best players, LIV has a few players that are really good,\u201d Scheffler said. “I think the depth that we have on our tour is unmatched, but I think when you look at the higher levels of LIV Golf there\u2019s definitely some players that would provide a lot of value to the tour, and guys that I love competing against as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think going forward there obviously has to be, I think, some sort of penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n
What those penalties are he said would be up to PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.<\/p>\n
McIlroy has been the biggest critic of LIV from the start. He has toned down his rhetoric over the years, though he suggested in February 2025 that players \u201chave to get over it\u201d when it comes to finding a way to bring defectors back.<\/p>\n
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He sounded more reluctant Wednesday, noting that top players had their chances to return at the start of the year and whatever offer likely would not be as good as it was for Koepka.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not part of these discussions, but I\u2019m pretty sure they\u2019re not going to be welcomed back straight away,\u201d McIlroy said. “I think it was said at the time that the deal that they might get going forward \u2014 if they do decide to come back \u2014 isn\u2019t going to be as good as the one that Brooks got.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, yeah, I would say it\u2019s going to be a tough, tough road back.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it’s going to be tough on LIV, particularly with at least two lawsuits pending from vendors.<\/p>\n
Canadian-based Mobbi Systems Group field a lawsuit in Miami last month. The technology company that supplied LIV’s \u201cAny Shot, Any Time\u201d feature on broadcasts is asking more than $1 million for outstanding invoices and lost revenue.<\/p>\n
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In another lawsuit filed last month in New York, Colorado-based Fresh Tape Media is asking for more than $1.2 million LIV owes for the company to produce its preseason media preview days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I would say to them is we\u2019re doing everything we can to make sure we can do right by them and the work they committed, and I hope we can,\u201d O’Neil said. \u201cFor the next generation, it will certainly be a different business with a different process.\u201d<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full golf coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, waits to hit on the 10th tee during the third round of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1339,209,87,825,528,20191,125,1531,1525,1526,1527,1812,20061,19206,399,508,208,20218],"class_list":["post-53093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jon-rahm","tag-brian-rolapp","tag-brooks-koepka","tag-bryson-dechambeau","tag-cameron-smith","tag-jon-rahm","tag-liv-golf-mcilroy-scheffler-oneil-pga-tour","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32560-ap-online-golf-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40780-ap-florida-sports-only","tag-product-40785-ap-indiana-sports-only","tag-product-40795-ap-missouri-sports-only","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scott-oneil","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-ted-goldthorpe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}