Rory McIlroy offers verdict on huge PGA Tour changes ahead of U.S. Open: "LIV is less of a threat"

Rory McIlroy has claimed that a "false economy" created by the threat of LIV Golf may now be putting some well-established PGA Tour events at risk.. 

The breakaway tour launched in June 2022 and reeled in some of the PGA Tour's biggest stars with gargantuan signing-on fees and $25m prize purses. 

In response, the PGA Tour increased prize purses, reduced field sizes to 72 players at some marquee events and even abolished the 36-hole cut in an effort to prevent further defections.

But McIlroy, who was once the Tour's unofficial spokesperson in the fight against LIV, believes the league is less of threat after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced they would no longer fund the venture after the conclusion of the season. 

Still, the PGA Tour has bold new plans in store that are set to take effect from 2028, with a two-tier structure of 'track one' and 'track two' events put forward by the Tiger Woods-chaired future competition committee. 

"I just think there's going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn't pony up $30m," said McIlroy, who also believes that last week's RBC Canadian Open should remain a premiere event. "So that's the tough thing.

"But, look, I'm not in those rooms. I don't know. I play my schedule, and I'll continue to play my schedule, which is getting less and less as the years go on." 

He added: "Yeah, it's funny. Like I think, as they've done all this work, you start to realize that the way the Tour was before LIV came along was actually pretty good. It was a pretty good structure, and everything sort of worked pretty well.

"LIV created this false economy where we had to up prize funds and had to cut fields and try to support the top players and all that stuff, which I think needed to happen because that was the only way to retain talent at the time, but now that LIV looks like it's less of a threat, I think, as I said, the old ways of the PGA Tour weren't actually that bad."

McIlroy will begin his bid for a second U.S. Open title alongside his Ryder Cup teammates Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg. 

The trio are out in the morning wave, teeing off at 7.52am local time. 

Related:

• U.S. Open tee times 2026

McIlroy was among those to miss the cut here when the major was last played at Shinnecock Hills in 2018. 

That year, tournament organisers faced heavy criticism - with many accusing the United States Golf Association of "losing the golf course".

Former U.S. Open champion, Matt Fitzpatrick, told reporters he never believed this was the case. 

For their part, the USGA did admit to making some mistakes when they prepared the Long Island layout. 

McIlroy called for caution this year.

"They're just going to have to be wary of not getting the greens too fast," he said. 

"There is expected to be a pretty heavy wind for a couple of days, so it's about making sure it doesn't get out of control,"

"There were gusts of 25 to 30 (mph on Monday), and balls wouldn't stand on the 11th green. That's where you just have to use a little bit of caution.

McIlroy said the organisers need to "protect the competitive integrity of the tournament and make it fair for everyone". 

He added: "My concern was you don't want it to look as if you've lost the golf course, and you're starting to put water on it, which I don't think is what they're going to do.

"I think, especially with the heaviness of the wind on Thursday, it's probably prudent to do that.

"Friday doesn't look as windy, but I think just for, again, fairness and competitive integrity, they do it on Friday, too. 

"But I think they've got enough bandwidth on the weekend that they probably don't need to do it.

"So, I understand it. When I first heard of it my first reaction was 'that's stupid, why are they doing that?' 

"But then once you actually listened and you let them break it down to you, you're like, yeah, that makes sense."

The 2026 U.S. Open begins on Thursday. 

Keep checking GolfMagic for regular updates.