Rory McIlroy’s manager responds to £682m LIV Golf speculation after Masters

Rory McIlroy has been LIV Golf’s biggest critic since its inception in the summer of 2022, but the Northern Irishman was linked with making a shock move to the Saudi League

Rory McIlroy’s manager Sean O’Flaherty has claimed that there is no truth in claims the Northern Irishman’s is close to a £682 million ($850m) agreement with LIV Golf.

According to City A.M., a deal to bring McIlroy to LIV was said to be ‘close’ but this has since been rubbished by the four-time major champion’s camp . “Fake news. Zero truth,” O’Flaherty said in an email, according to the Irish Independent.

Since its inception in June 2022, McIlroy has prevailed as one of the breakaway league’s biggest critics, pledging his loyalties to the PGA Tour. The Northern Irishman admitted at last July’s Scottish Open that he would rather retire from the sport than sign with Greg Norman and co, whilst also revealing his ‘hate’ for the LIV circuit after the PGA Tour announced shock plans to work with their Saudi rivals a month earlier.

Despite his previous criticism, McIlroy has recently softened his stance on the breakaway league, having taken a step back from the off-course politics following last summer’s framework agreement announcement. Earlier this year, he admitted that he may well have been ‘too judgemental’ on those who made the Saudi switch.

McIlroy then also raised eyebrows after claiming he believed those who joined LIV and were suspended by the PGA Tour should be given the freedom to return to the American-based circuit without punishment. “I think it’s hard to punish people,” he said in January.”

“I don’t think there should be a punishment. Obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties. It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game.

“That’s my opinion of it. The faster that we can all get back together and start to play and start to have the strongest fields possible I think is great for golf.” McIlroy reunited with a number of his LIV rivals at last week’s Masters, with Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton in major action for the first time since making the mega-money move.

Also in attendance was LIV CEO Greg Norman, who arrived at Augusta National as a patron, following the action from the crowd. In particular Norman opted to hone in on his long-time rival McIlroy, as the former world No. 1 followed the PGA Tour star’s opening round group alongside Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.

McIlroy and Norman have failed to see eye-to-eye during golf’s civil war, but the Australian did welcome his rival’s recent softened stance on the LIV setup. “The reason I say I appreciate Rory falling on his sword, to some degree, is the fact that he did judge us by not knowing the facts,” Norman told LIV’s Fairway to Heaven podcast.

“He judged us on other people’s thoughts and opinions. So, I say, ‘hey, thank you, Rory’. We all knew it was going to work within the golf ecosystem. We all wanted to be there, we are going to be there he said that. To me, this is a hugely significant turning point for everybody.”