Rory McIlroy Had a Brutally Honest Line About LIV Golf’s Best Players. And He Wasn’t Wrong.

Rory McIlroy and the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings are in St. Louis this week for the BMW Championship, which is the second playoff event of the year for the PGA Tour. It should be another fun weekend of golf with a lot on the line for a number of players as they try to get into next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.

On the other end of the sport is LIV Golf, which will be playing its final event of the season this week in Indianapolis after announcing that LIV Golf Michigan, which was scheduled for next week, has been canceled.

While LIV Golf continues to fall apart in embarrassing fashion, McIlroy and the PGA Tour are flourishing heading down the homestretch of what has been a successful season.

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LIV Golf was a hot topic Wednesday in St. Louis and McIlroy didn’t blink at taking a very honest shot at some of the star players on that tour.

“Rory, Scottie [Scheffler] was asked about the possibility of LIV guys coming back and whether they bring value, in your opinion,” a reporter asked McIlroy at his press conference. “Are there guys that if it goes way that they should be allowed back?”

“I’d argue have they brought value to LIV?,” McIlroy said bluntly, before adding: “I think the PGA Tour is in a really good spot.”

Rory was asked about LIV players returning to the PGA Tour and the value they could bring.

His answer..... pic.twitter.com/EjZvmbqYFb
— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) August 19, 2026

That’s a pretty sick burn by McIlroy and is a line that will be played everywhere for the next few days. But it was actually a very accurate statement.

The two biggest names on LIV Golf are Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. Both players made the jump to the Saudi-funded league a few years ago and their star power hasn’t generated the results that either of them or the league had hoped. TV ratings remain low, interest from fans—both hardcore and casual—hasn’t risen to any type of level that would make the league a success and now that league is crumbling after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia announced that it would stop funding LIV Golf at the end of the season.

Rahm thought he was going to be the guy that would bring the two leagues together when he made the jump in 2023. But that never happened and now he’s stuck in a contract with a league that is either going to die, or be a shell of itself going forward.

McIlroy, meanwhile, continues to shine on the PGA Tour after being the most vocal critic of LIV Golf at the beginning of the battle. He has to be really enjoying the moment now and it’s clear he’s not shy about sharing his feelings about the demise of LIV Golf, even though it includes some players like Rahm who he has grown closed to over the years while playing together in the Ryder Cup.

What Scottie Scheffler had to say about LIV Golf players possibly returning to the PGA Tour

Scheffler was also asked about LIV Golf on Wednesday and the possibility of some of the star players returning to the PGA Tour some day. He didn’t tear into them the way McIlroy did, but his thoughts on the subject were still very intriguing.

“Yeah, I think, when we talk about the best players, LIV has a few players that are really good,” Scheffler said. “I think, the depth that we have on our tour is unmatched, but when you look at higher levels of LIV Golf there are definitely players that would provide a value to the tour and guys that I love competing against as well.

“So I think going forwards there obviously has to be some kind of penalties. What they are, I’ll let [PGA Tour CEO Brian] Rolapp and all those guys figure it out. We have great leadership within the tour now.

“But I think having those guys coming back and competing, whatever happens with LIV, whether those guys want to leave, you’ve got to ask them. But for me being able to compete against the best players in the world, there’s definitely some guys that can compete out here and I look forward to the chance of being able to compete with them more often.”

Scottie Scheffler was asked ahead of the BMW Championship his thoughts on the new changes coming on the PGA Tour and whether he’d like to see any of the LIV players back.

On the incoming changes, he said:

“Getting the best players competing against each other more often is what… pic.twitter.com/1H59X1fGpG
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) August 19, 2026

It will be interesting to see how everything plays out for LIV Golf and the big-name players that currently call that tour home. Each day it’s becoming more clear that the PGA Tour is in a much better spot not only right now, but going forward, as well.

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