22 February 2024 , 18:01
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Rory McIlroy has been backed to make a shock, mega-money move to LIV Golf by his former agent Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler.
McIlroy had positioned himself as one of LIV's biggest critics in the league's early days, pledging his allegiance to the PGA Tour during golf's civil war. In recent months though the Northern Irishman has appeared to soften his stance on the rival circuit, in a surprising u-turn.
At the turn of the year, the four-time major champion admitted he may have been overly harsh on those who decided to make the Saudi switch from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, and appeared ready to accept LIV as part of professional golf's ecosystem.
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More recently, he went a step further, claiming that players from the LIV setup who wanting to make a return to the PGA Tour should be able to do so without being punished for initially making the move. Amid his change of heart, one man who knows him well in Chandler believes the ultimate u-turn cannot be ruled out.
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“If you were being cynical, you might say he’s going to sign for about £750 million in a month’s time with LIV because he’s paving the way that LIV’s okay now, whereas it wasn’t," Chandler told Bunkered. “Who knows? He doesn’t need £750m but it’s odd what he’s done and I’m sure it’s a possibility.
"If he does it or not, I don’t know, but if [Jon] Rahm can do it, most guys can do it." Weighing up what the chances are of his former client making the Saudi switch, the agent added: "I think number one, there’s a 10% possibility he’s favouring his way to sign for LIV, but he realises that the whole bickering and fighting is no good for golf.
"The man in the street must find it appalling the sums of money being spoken.”
Rory McIlroy's Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm recently joined LIV GolfMcIlroy himself had previously claimed he would rather retire than compete on the LIV circuit, but has eased his tension with the league in recent weeks, after two of his Ryder Cup teammates in Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton signed on the dotted line.
Rahm became the first to make the move, penning a record-breaking deal worth a reported £450 million last December. Having formed his own LIV team named Legion XIII, the Spaniard then poached his Ryder Cup partner Hatton, who signed just days before the beginning of the LIV campaign earlier this month.
On the back of LIV's transfer business, McIlroy welcomed the reunification of the sport at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am commenting: "It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game. That's my opinion of it. So to me, 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."