Rory McIlroy would consider playing LIV if it turns into ‘IPL of golf’

McIlroy has softened his stance on LIV Golf and says he has accepted it as ‘part of our sport now’.

Rory McIlroy says if LIV Golf was modelled like cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) and staged over two months, then he would consider playing in it.

The 34-year-old Northern Irishman has been a vocal opponent of the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf, once saying he would retire rather than play in it “if it was the last place to play golf on earth”.

However, he has toned it down of late – especially after his friend, fellow Ryder Cup star and formerly a stringent critic of LIV Jon Rahm decamped and is reportedly set to earn upwards of $566.4m.

Attracting some of world cricket’s top stars with bumper salaries, the IPL helped make Twenty20 hugely popular, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers.

LIV’s circuit is based around team events with its 48 players split into 12 teams.

“I would love LIV to turn into the IPL of golf,” McIlroy told the Stick to Football Podcast.

“They take two months of calendar. You go and do this team stuff and a bit different and is a different format.

“If they were to do something like that I would say ‘yeah that sounds like fun’ because you are working within the ecosystem.”

McIlroy previously accused some of those who jumped ship as being duplicitous, but he is beginning to mellow and says it is no longer his job to fight the battle.

“I think at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realise that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Wood’s position,” the former world number one said.