Rory McIlroy claims PGA Tour’s revamped schedule could “entice“ more LIV Golf stars

Rory McIlroy believes the balance of power in men’s professional golf is very much with the PGA Tour as he prepares to defend his title at the $20m AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first Signature Event of the 2026 season.

Nearly five years on from the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, McIlroy, 36, feels the PGA Tour well and truly holds the upper hand — a view strengthened by Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed leaving LIV to return. 

Koepka is already back on the PGA Tour via a new Returning Membership program, while Reed is set to be officially reinstated after this season. For now, Reed is currently looking to give McIlroy a headache by winning the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai for the first time.

Although LIV Golf still counts Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton among its ranks, McIlroy believes most of the world’s top players are settled on the PGA Tour — and that fewer are now tempted to move.

Just last month, grand slam champion McIlroy slammed LIV Golf over their lack of marquee signings for 2026. 

In the eyes of the Northern Irishman, none of the biggest players in world golf want a move to LIV any more. 

Speaking at Pebble Beach this week, McIlroy suggested more notable names could soon follow Koepka and Reed, particularly with expected schedule changes coming to the PGA Tour in 2027 and beyond.

It's understood the 2027 PGA Tour schedule will undergo radical change with the potential for a condensed schedule that moves away from Signature Events in favour of more uniform, elite-level structure. 

The 2027 season is also expected to start after the NFL season in February, reducing the PGA Tour's direct competition to a bid to improve TV viewing figures. 

“It certainly swung the pendulum a little more in the PGA Tour's favour,“ McIlroy said of Koepka and Reed's LIV exits. 

“The sentiment has definitely changed from, say, 18 months ago. You're going to see guys are going to get to the end of their contracts and whether they're going to get the money that they were paid the first time around remains to be seen.

“But like I've said before, I think everything that's happened over the last few years, it forced the [PGA] Tour to think about things differently. Create these Signature Events, but then rethink the entire schedule and what's going to happen '27 and beyond.

“I think the guys over there are maybe seeing that and it might entice them a little bit more.

“So yeah, I think Brooks coming back, one of the best players of our generation, five-time major champion, that's a big deal. Patrick earning his way back through really good play over on the DP World Tour, that's great for him. I'm all for anything that makes the PGA Tour stronger and those two guys coming back make the PGA Tour stronger.”

McIlroy, a 29-time winner on the PGA Tour, starts the week as the 12/1 second favourite as he bids to defend his Pebble Beach title. 

Scottie Scheffler is a red-hot 5/2 favourite as the runaway World No.1 goes in search of a 21st career PGA Tour title and his first ever at Pebble Beach. 

A total of $20m is on the line at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a whopping $3.6m going to the winner.