Rory McIlroy backs harsh LIV criticism: ‘They wanted to destroy’

In a business forum interview two weeks ago, Rory McIlroy sounded conciliatory about LIV Golf players hoping to return to pro golf’s other tours, saying he’d welcome them back.

Although he was less generous about LIV Golf and its leaders, saying they “wasted” billions in golf investments and that LIV’s founders had “half of a good idea that was executed pretty poorly.”

On Wednesday in his press conference at the 2026 Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, McIlroy continued that theme, declaring that he strongly agreed with the DP World Tour CEO’s recent claim that LIV Golf sought “to destroy the European Tour.”

Rory McIlroy on LIV’s negative impact: ‘They turned professional golf into an arms race’

McIlroy is teeing it up this week in Abu Dhabi with a lot on the line. So far in his career, he’s won the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai seven times. That leaves him one short of tying the all-time record held by Colin Montgomerie.

Currently in second place in the standings behind Eugenio Chacarra, McIlroy needs to pull off some magic in the final two tournaments of the season to claim this year’s title.

And in his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, the LIV questions were coming at him.

The specific topic of the day was DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings’ recent interview with the Scotsman, in which he claimed LIV Golf had it out for the DP World Tour from the get-go.

“We also have to protect the tour against an entity who spent, so we are told, over $7 billion, with one of their aims being to destroy the DP World Tour. I have heard that from so many different people they talked to, who I have known for over 30 years within the game and who I trust implicitly,” Kinnings told the Scotsman. “Clearly when you are faced with statements like that, and then people ask why we are doing what we are doing with our membership and invite policy for 2027, then I think the answer becomes pretty obvious.”

The “membership policy” in question is a new one in which the DP World Tour banned any players who signed up for LIV 2.0 from playing in DP World Tour events and maintaining their memberships.

In a quick interview before his formal press conference, McIlroy said that he agreed with everything Kinnings said about LIV, including the fact that LIV leaders were telling people they were going to “destroy” the DP World Tour during Masters week.

“Verbatim. They were going around at Augusta this year telling people that that’s what they wanted to do,” McIlroy said of people involved with LIV Golf.

“And then, it’s ironic that a week later, now they are talking about completing and not competing and all that,” McIlroy said, referring to LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil’s claim that he envisions LIV 2.0 being complementary to the other pro tours, not a competitor. “That’s different from what they were saying at the start of the year.”

McIlroy expounded on his opinion Wednesday, saying that LIV turned pro golf into an “arms race.”

“I agree with everything that Guy said. They took players; they took sponsors; they turned professional golf into an arms race,” McIlroy said. “They were going around Augusta saying they wanted to destroy the European Tour. Yeah, I agree with everything.”

He then went a step further by saying that people who disagreed with Kinnings’ LIV opinion are “very shortsighted.” He presented the Asian Tour’s short-lived LIV partnership as evidence.

“I think people that don’t agree are probably very shortsighted. Look, there was some of the money that they used the right way, created the International Series on the Asian Tour, great for a couple years, but where did that leave the Asian Tour? They left them high and dry,” McIlroy argued. “Asian Tour came back into the fold. Did a partnership with the PGA Tour and The European Tour.”

He also argued that LIV’s downfall, and the Saudi Arabian PIF’s abandonment of the league, were foregone conclusions from the beginning.

“This was always going to be the case,” McIlroy said. “It was always going to be good for a few years until something like this happened, or they realized they weren’t going to get any return on investment, or they were going to leave the golf space and go invest in something else and invest in something that would actually make them money.”

Ultimately, McIlroy explained that the LIV Golf-DP World Tour battle, and LIV Golf’s possible demise, will leave the DP World Tour stronger than ever.

“I know they are working through a new agreement with the PGA Tour post-’27 after the first Strategic Alliance is sort of over or is able to be renegotiated, and I know that things are progressing there and hopefully that will all get done here over, maybe over the next few weeks,” McIlroy said. “I think this is as strong as this tour has been in a long, long time. You know, I thought what Guy had to say last night in that article was very good.”

McIlroy calls for ‘reset’ in ‘false economy’ LIV created

Later in his Abu Dhabi press conference, McIlroy revealed two more surprising opinions involving LIV, opinions that on the surface seem to go against the six-time major winner’s personal interests.

First, he argued that the LIV era gave pro golfers too much power over the pro tours and governing bodies.

“I think we’ll look back on it as a very strange time. Yeah, it was — it gave players a lot of leverage over the tours, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing for the overall health of the professional game,” McIlroy said. “I think there has to be a balance there. There has to be a bit of give and take. You know, I’ve said this from the start, like there’s never been a better time to be a professional golfer. You know, talk to Jack Nicklaus or any of these older guys, they would have loved LIV to come around in their day, they would have made more money, and we are all making more money because of it.”

Money, specifically the dramatically increased purses across professional tours during the LIV era, was the focus of McIlroy’s next counterintuitive opinion: that pro golfers are making way too much money at tournaments.

“But I do think there has to be a bit of a reset. I’ve talked about this. They created a false economy within men’s professional golf, and I think that there is going to be a bit of a reset here, which — just for things to be a little bit more sustainable,” McIlroy said. “You know, there’s not as much of an arms race as there was maybe a couple of years ago, and some players will argue that that’s not good for players … but I think that’s very short-term thinking.”

He continued: “If you want sustainable tours, and we want these tours to be around in 50 years’ time, there has to be sustainable business practices in place to make sure they are around in 50 years’ time.”

McIlroy will get his Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship campaign started early Thursday morning, playing alongside former LIV pro and fellow Race to Dubai contender Patrick Reed. They’ll be joined in the field by another former LIV star making the first start of his post-LIV career: Jon Rahm.