Rory McIlroy returns this week to Abu Dhabi to compete in the HSBC Championship at Yas Links, a tournament that has eluded him despite coming close for more than a decade. Nine top-three finishes without a win summarise his tough relationship with the tournament.
As expected, in the pre-tournament press conference, the Northern Irishman was asked about the latest move by LIV Golf, which announced its switch to a 72-hole format starting in 2026. As always when Rory speaks, he offered an interesting reflection on the real consequences of the announcement.
Initially, Rory described the announcement as “peculiar”. Not so much because LIV is moving towards the traditional format, but because, according to him, that wasn’t the real barrier preventing their tournaments from receiving world ranking points: “They could have earned points with three rounds. I don’t think playing three or four was what was holding them back,” he stated.
The Holywood native refers, without saying it, to the meritocracy of access to the circuit as the main barrier. This has been the argument put forward by the world ranking authorities since the gap began. It is also why LIV has announced the addition of a second access spot to the circuit through the School and another through the International Series. Although from the outside this change might seem the most striking as it is seen as a step back in the competition model, perhaps this is just a gesture of rapprochement, but not the core of what is happening.
It is true that Rory admits the change brings LIV closer to conventional tournaments: “The change puts them back in a position where they are no longer really such a disruptive element, but align more with what the rest are doing. If they felt that was what they needed to do to get the ranking points, I suppose that’s what they had to do.”
However, he understands that their possible inclusion in the world ranking won’t mean a big change for them either, as the strong field that determines the points each tournament gives will be very low considering that many golfers haven’t received ranking points for three years and are very low in the world rankings: “Also, they won’t be distributing many points because almost all the players have already dropped a lot in the ranking. I don’t know if the points will really benefit them,” he added. “It will be interesting to see how it develops,” concluded the winner this year in Augusta enigmatically.
The consequence is that, in his opinion, even if LIV adopts the 72-hole format, the circuit will still be far from the competitive ecosystem that gives relevance to other circuits. However, he acknowledged that it will be necessary to observe the evolution of the situation and how the decision affects the general perception of the Saudi circuit in the coming months: “It will be interesting to see how it develops,” he concluded, leaving the door slightly open to future recognition.
