Tom McKibbin, the rising star and protégé of Rory McIlroy, is in line for a dramatic switch to LIV Golf despite securing a debut season on the PGA Tour.
The 22-year-old Northern Irishman, who developed his game at the same Belfast club as the four-time major champion, is poised to join Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton’s LIV team.
Despite McIlroy’s opposition to LIV upon its inception, there are even suggestions McKibbin’s people approached the Saudi-backed breakaway league to initiate the move
A likely switch, first reported by Spanish website TenGolf, will be an awkward talking point as McKibbin features in the Abu Dhabi Team Cup dress rehearsal for the Ryder Cup this week. Hatton also features in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, which is captained by Justin Rose and overseen by Luke Donald.
McKibbin’s likely defection comes after he claimed a PGA Tour card in November, having finished among the top 10 players without a card in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai.
However, he looks ready to relinquish that opportunity and instead to take the final spot in Rahm’s Legion XIII team with Hatton and the United States’ Caleb Surratt in the four-player outfit. He is in line to be the second player from Northern Ireland to make the switch to LIV Golf after 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell joined in 2022.
After the Team Cup event in Abu Dhabi this week, McKibbin is scheduled to compete in the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic next week. The LIV Golf season begins in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Feb 6.
It remains to be seen what McIlroy makes of the move by McKibbin, who turned professional in April 2021 and won his first DP World Tour event in June 2023 at the Porsche European Open in Germany.
Fellow Holywood golfer McIlroy has taken a particular interest in the trajectory of his career, with the players seen sharing a warm embrace after McKibbin won his PGA Tour card and McIlroy won the Race to Dubai and the DP World Tour Championship.
McIlroy’s initial ferocious opposition to the concept of LIV Golf upon its inception has since eased, however.
McKibbin remains a candidate to earn a place on the European Ryder Cup team this September.
