Rory McIlroy has long felt like the sacrificial goat in the PGA Tour-LIV Golf debate. In 2023, when the PGA Tour announced a merger with PIF, the same sovereign fund supporting LIV Golf, the Irishman went as far as to say, “I hope it goes away.”

But although he made peace with it by 2024, he wouldn’t be surprised that PIF decided not to fund the breakaway league. In fact, he saw it coming. But now, he no longer needs to say anything harsh. Just a subtle jab with a little bit of laughter would do the trick.

“It doesn’t mean that LIV is going to go away,” the 37-year-old replied to the media at the Truist Championship. “They’re going to go and try and find alternative investment, whatever that may look like.

“But when one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world thinks that you’re too expensive for them, that sort of says something.”

That last thought was a calculated jab that McIlroy has used before as well.

“Look, they’re a sovereign wealth fund,” McIlroy said two years ago after meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Governor of PIF. “They want to park money for decades and not worry about it. They want to invest in smart and secure businesses, and the PGA Tour is definitely one of those, especially if they’re looking to invest in sport in some way.”

The PIF has poured over $5 billion into LIV Golf since its launch in 2022. But the league could not live up to the hype it had created. The league’s operating loss increased by 39 percent from its first to second year, rising from $244 million to $394 million. And the trajectory doesn’t look good moving forward. So, for PIF, the writing on the wall was clear.

When it was creating the fund strategy for the next five years, LIV, which lost over $1 billion from 2022 to 2024, was cut. But even McIlroy’s thoughts aren’t entirely incorrect. LIV will indeed continue to live.

LIV has retained NY-based investment bank Ducera Partners to help find new backers. Ducera has a transaction history exceeding $850 billion across industries, so the search is serious. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil also revealed the league’s next steps earlier this month.

He has revealed that at least a dozen potential investors have called them since PIF backed away, including private-equity firms and other high-net-worth individuals. He wishes to leverage his star golfers, like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, and sell shares of the teams to create value that the investors will be interested in.

“It’s still early,” O’Neil said. “We haven’t gotten to market yet. We haven’t finalized our business plan. We still are like picking and prodding, but we have a good sense at this point, you know, 10 days in. We know where we’re going, and now we’re just going to tighten the screws.”

But the fact that they need to search at all is precisely what McIlroy was pointing at. However, the Irishman has remained true to the growth of the sport and continues to wish the same.

McIlroy has not changed his tune on what he truly wants for golf

The world No. 2 has never liked LIV. In February 2022, he called LIV “dead in the water.” By June 2023, he was saying, “I still hate LIV. I hope it goes away.” A month later, the golfer said, “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on Earth, I would retire.” But by January 2024, he changed his mind.

He wanted the PGA Tour to “let them (LIV Golf players) come back.” He even admitted he had been “a little judgmental” of the players who left. Now, he continues to believe that competing at the highest level would be in the best interest for the sport of golf.

“Anything that makes this Tour stronger, anything that makes the DP World Tour stronger, I think everyone should be open to that. That’s just good business practice.”

Practically, a return makes sense for several players on paper, like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tyrrell Hatton. When LIV’s future beyond 2026 is uncertain, returning to the PGA Tour means more OWGR points, major championship qualification, and long-term stability. We have seen how Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed have returned through the DP World Tour and special re-entry programs.

Now, with the PIF stepping back, the reality has shifted again. McIlroy didn’t gloat at length, but his subtle jab was enough to let the players who left know that their gamble might soon be called bluff.