Rory McIlroy has been mentoring Tom McKibbin (Image: Getty)
has warned Tom McKibbin about accepting an offer from , despite taking an easy payday off the .
McIlroy has been an outspoken critic of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League ever since the breakaway tour was introduced in 2022.
The Irishman has also acted as a mentor to golf prodigy McKibbin, who comes from the same village as McIlroy in Belfast.
He won his maiden professional event as a 22-year-old and has been tipped to go on and make a name for himself in the sport.
So much so, McKibbin has been head-hunted by LIV Golf – something McIlroy is urging him to steer clear from.
Speaking after McKibbin was given the offer, McIlroy said: “As soon as he got the offer, he rang me. I have known Tom since he was 10 and I talked to him multiple times in December to get a feel of what he was thinking and what he was going to do. All I could do was give my perspective.
“I really like Tom as a person, as a player. I think he’s got a ton of potential. I said to him, ‘If I were in your shoes, I would make a different choice than the one you’re thinking of making’.
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Tom McKibbin has been courted by LIV Golf (Image: Getty)
“Personally, for me, it would be a little disappointing if it were to happen but I made it perfectly clear: ‘I am not going to stand in your way if you need to make the decision you feel like you need to make for yourself.’ But at the same time, I feel like he’s giving up a lot to not really benefit that much.”
McKibbin looks set to ignore McIlroy’s warning with the youngster gearing up to feature on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team.
He’ll be handsomely reimbursed for his efforts, given LIV Golf are reportedly offering £4million to get involved with the breakaway Tour.
But there’s a touch of hypocrisy surrounding McIlroy’s comments, given he earned a reported £40m in 2024 as part of the PGA Tour’s ‘loyalty scheme’, which essentially rewards players for their high profiles.
Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas sit alongside McIlroy as the programme’s highest earners, with the trio pocketing £82m and £24m respectively.
It’s claimed around £1.2billion was paid to the 193 golfers on the Tour, but a whopping £615m of that was used on the 36 biggest names that decided to snub LIV’s offer and stay with the PGA.