Justin Rose was a prime target for LIV Golf when the league rejected by Saudi Arabia burst onto the scene in 2022. He was a former major champion and former world No. 1 whose game dipped as the twilight of his career seemed to hit. LIV was paying for names and resumes, hoping the big names would help drive interest. But as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and others departed, Rose declined LIV’s offerchoosing instead to dig out of the ground and rediscover his world-class game.
“My career goals have always been attainable only by staying on the European Tour and the PGA Tour because access to them is not, you know, possible the other way,” Rose said Sunday after winning this year’s Insurance Farmers Open about his decision to reject LIV and the ripple effects of it.
“But obviously I want to play among the best players in the world. That obviously for me is kind of what keeps me motivated, what keeps me hungry, what keeps me pushed. So yes, it would have been easy to potentially do other things, but none of this excites me, I don’t really think. And none of this gave me access to what I would always like in my childhood. very good to make that decision and kind of give up those dreams.”
Justin Rose wanted something more than money. He believed that his dreams were always on the horizon, and all that was needed to reach them was hard work and a love for the craft. Rose’s hard work and self-belief paid off. He returned to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour twice and had a near miss in the 2024 Open, Masters 2025 and Masters 2026.
Now, more than four years after the emergence of LIV, the rebel league is in bankruptcy court while trying to reinvent itself as LIV 2.0 without the support of Saudi millions. Many brand players, including Jon Rahmthey have already left the league, hoping to return to the tours they once called home. Rahm and others plan to play on the DP World Tour in 2027 before eventually returning to the PGA Tour once the dust settles and the penalties for defection are decided.
Rory McIlroy, once the main spokesman of the PGA Tour in the civil conflict of golf, has no problem with the faults that come back and make the whole world of golf. Rose feels the same.
“(Rahm’s departure) is good for the established tours, whether it’s the short-term DP World Tour or the long-term PGA Tour,” Rose said. he said to Sam Frost The mirror in New Delhi at the DP World India Championship. “Obviously, Jon’s not the only one. There are a lot of other great players in the situations he’s in. It’s been an experiment; a whirlwind four or five years. No hard feelings from my point of view. Everyone’s welcome back. It’s great for golf for the players to be able to play against the best players in the world.
Rose noted that while the disruption to the pro-golf ecosystem was unfortunate, LIV’s arrival ultimately benefited all players, whether they stayed or left. Now that it’s over, it’s time for us all to look forward.
“And I think that the interruption of everything, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, they had to become better versions of themselves. I think that basically almost all the players of the game have benefited in one way or another, and I hope that now they can be settled and we can find a really good balance.”
Earlier this week at an economic forum in New Delhi, McIlroy discussed where he felt LIV and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) got it wrong and why he, Tiger Woods, and others quickly rejected the upstart league, believing it was bad for the sport and would not succeed.
“LIV had probably half a good idea that was executed pretty badly,” McIlroy told the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. “They had a lot of capital, but I think a lot of that capital was wasted in some ways, and I think they could have used that money much more strategically, and they could have partnered with some of the governing bodies of the game, and they certainly could have done better things with it instead of just enriching the tour pros who were already making a lot of money.
“Tiger and I, at the beginning of 2022, when this thing started, we were certainly the two who were probably the most vocal against it,” McIlroy said. “But we were probably the two who had the most to lose even in terms of our stature on the PGA Tour, and so – I think we both felt that this was not good for the game and that it was going to fracture the game. But also everyone around the game has interests, and we were about to launch TGL, and we thought that LIV could have taken something from TGL, which was going to be a LIV and a Tour player – which was going to be a LIV and a player of the Tour – TGL So, you know, everyone has different interests in the game, and try to protect your interests, but also try to protect the interests of the game as a whole.
LIV’s bankruptcy case is currently moving through the courts. On Wednesday, LIV’s lawyers said I knew at the end of the month if the league “stretches things out” or grows by 2.0. But no matter how LIV’s Chapter 11 case ends, McIlroy believes the golf wars are finally over.
“It’s difficult,” McIlroy said of LIV’s chances of getting version 2.0. “It seems that every day that passes, there is another player who was in LIV who says that they are not going to meet for LIV 2.0. It will be very difficult for them to get out of this bankruptcy of Chapter 11 and move forward. But if they do, it will certainly not be a threat to the traditional order of the game as perhaps it once was.”
U way back to the PGA Tour for Rahm and others that leave LIV is not clear. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has not given any indication of when, if, or how they will be accommodated. Rolapp said the “Returning Member Program,” which brought in Brooks Koepka, is no longer available, and there have been no discussions of resurrecting it. Rolapp also said he and the PGA Tour would need clear evidence that any player who wanted to return had no contractual obligations to LIV before engaging in conversations about a potential return. Rahm, Sergio Garcia and others they had their contracts terminated and are scheduled to tee off on the DP World Tour in 2027. Others, such as Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, have had their contracts terminated but have yet to make their future plans clear.
Even as LIV 2.0 gets off the ground, pro golf’s civil war appears to be over, and Rose and McIlroy are ready to bury the grudges and bring the sport together so it can move forward.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” McIlroy said of bringing back the faults. “And I think having some of these players back is beneficial for the tour business.”
