Rory McIlroy’s answer to a media question at a TGL event turned into more than a celebration of Boston Common’s latest win. His comments offered a pointed look at the shifting mindset among former LIV Golf players. While Brooks Koepka has already made his move, McIlroy shared his views on Patrick Reed’s intentions of returning to the PGA Tour.

“Yeah, I think it says more about Brooks than anything else. He obviously is a very competitive person and wants to compete at the highest level. I think he made the decision that he thought competing at the highest level meant coming back to the PGA TOUR,” Rory McIlroy said. “You’ve seen others say this recently. Patrick Reed said it in Dubai last week. It seems like some of those guys are maybe starting to realize that they’re not getting everything that they wanted out of going over there, and that’s obviously a great thing for the PGA TOUR,” he added.

After a historic win at the Dubai Desert Classic, which helped him move up in the OWGR rankings, Patrick Reed revealed that his contract negotiations with LIV are underway. If everything does not go well, he may not tee up at the Riyadh Golf Club.

“We’re still finalizing the contract. We’re not complete on that yet,” he revealed.

When presented with a follow-up question regarding whether he is a free agent, the 2026 Dubai Desert Classic winner said, “At the moment, yes, sir.”

In fact, he couldn’t have been clearer about it. “Continue to play out here and be in the Top 10 and be on the PGA TOUR next year,” the 2026 Dubai Desert Classic winner said when a media reporter asked what he would do if LIV would let him go.

This clearly hinted at a possible PGA Tour return if things don’t work out between the American professional and the Saudi-backed league. Brooks Koepka has already taken this path and even returned to the tour. After accepting minor punishment, he is all set to tee it up at the Farmers Insurance Open. Patrick Reed could make a similar move if negotiations don’t end well. The 9x PGA Tour winner revealed that he doesn’t like to have such discussions amid golf events. Therefore, he only discusses them from Monday to Wednesday.

However, Rory McIlroy thinks this is just LIV golfers realizing they were wrong all along to join LIV Golf. And as for the PGA Tour, these moves could certainly benefit the organization. For instance, Brooks Koepka would have to play the smaller tour events as a punishment. This could increase viewership for these smaller events.

While Rory McIlroy released this scathing statement about Patrick Reed’s intentions, the American golfer is willing to end their long-time feud. Reed joked about ending his long-running “Tee-Gate” feud with McIlroy by breaking the ice with a handful of tees, a lighthearted nod to their tense 2023 exchange.

Although Rory McIlroy is commenting on LIV golfers’ career move realization, his own dominance is in jeopardy.

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Rory McIlroy faces a challenge amid Scottie Scheffler’s grip on the top spot

On the Smylie Kaufman Show, Charlie Hulme revealed a striking reality about Scottie Scheffler’s dominance.

“The gap between world number one Scottie Scheffler and number two Rory McIlroy is greater than the gap between Rory and world number 58 Matt McCarty,” Hulme said.

With 695.32258 points and an average of 16.9591, Scottie Scheffler is the World No. 1 in the OWGR rankings. Following him is Rory McIlroy with 411.03667 points and an average of 8.5633. The gap between Scheffler and McIlroy is 284.28591 points. The gap between their average points is 8.3958.

The gap has widened with Scottie Scheffler’s 20th PGA Tour win at the 2026 American Express. The American carded rounds of 63-64-68-66 to finish at 27-under 261 and went on to win the event. This marks Scottie Scheffler’s dominance in modern-day golf. In fact, he is already halfway to Tiger Woods’ historic 281-week World No. 1 streak. Scheffler is currently in his 140th week at the top. Even a dominant stretch from McIlroy would not immediately change the order.

The contrast was sharper after McIlroy’s tough week in Dubai. He tied for 33rd, his lowest finish at the event in nearly two decades, while Patrick Reed claimed the title. With that win, Reed even edged past Bryson DeChambeau in the World Golf Rankings. Now that he intends to be back on the PGA Tour, he could pose as another potential candidate to surpass Rory McIlroy in the OWGR standings.