There are cautionary LIV Golf tales that Tom McKibbin should heed

Joining LIV remains a major gamble for young players chasing legacy instead of money.

EASY LIVING: Tom McKibbin will reportedly earn a guaranteed $5m for joining Jon Rahm's Legion XIII LIV Golf team. Pic: Richard Heathcote, Getty Images)

“It’s official!” came the tweet with a video announcement from Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm.

“Tom McKibbin, welcome to the team,” Rahm said.

The long-smoking rumors that the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland was forfeiting his newly earned PGA Tour card before he ever even used it to sign with LIV Golf came to fruition on Wednesday. 

Despite the advice of Rory McIlroy, McKibbin’s espoused mentor who hails from the same Holywood home club, McKibbin signed anyway. Reports have said that McKibbin would sign for a guaranteed $5 million to reside on Rahm’s Legion XIII team on LIV with Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt, replacing relegated Zimbabwean Kieran Vincent.

“Working so hard to get your tour card in the States, something that he did, to achieve that goal last year was a big achievement,” McIlroy said at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic when asked about McKibbin’s LIV offer.

“But if I were in his position and I had his potential, which I think I have been before, I wouldn’t make that decision. But I’m not him. I’m not in his shoes. He’s a grown man at this point and can make his own decisions. All I can do is try to give him my perspective. I feel like he’s giving up a lot to not really benefit that much.” 

McKibbin is just the latest young player to sacrifice his access to the game’s most important events – the major championships – in order to make an easy living on LIV. In this year’s LIV recruiting cycle, Sergio García’s Fireballs LIV team has signed 22-year-old Spaniard Luis Masaveu, who reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur last summer and made the cut in the Open at Royal Troon as a final qualifier. Frederik Kjettrup, a 25-year-old from Denmark who climbed as high as 11th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking while at Florida State and spent time last year on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, signed up to join Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks roster. Yubin Jang, the 22-year-old player of the year on the Korean Tour in 2024, signed up to join Kevin Na’s Iron Heads.

Before this LIV signing class, the breakaway circuit lured presumably can’t-miss collegiate stars David Puig, 23, of Spain/Arizona State and Caleb Surratt, 21, after his sophomore season at Tennessee. Puig has been a professional success, winning twice on the Asian Tour, earning four major starts and joining Rahm as a Spanish Olympian in 2024, but he’s yet to qualify for the Masters. Surratt, the inaugural Elite Amateur Cup winner, hasn’t sniffed a major yet.

LIV’s first major signing on spec was then 21-year-old Eugenio López-Chacarra in its inaugural 2022 season. The WAGR No. 2 was a superstar at Oklahoma State when he opted to take the cash and join LIV. He won his fifth professional start on LIV in Bangkok and a year later won the Asian Tour International Series event at St. Andrews Bay in Scotland.

But Chacarra is a cautionary tale for young players who take the money and turn their backs on the mainstream professional tours. His contract with LIV’s Fireballs wasn’t renewed for 2025 and he’s left in purgatory riding out a year-long suspension before he can pursue his new goal of playing in PGA Tour sanctioned events and earning his card on the game’s premier circuit.

It’s official. Welcome to Legion XIII, @tommckibbin8!#LegionXIII #LIVGolf https://t.co/mqjbibOCcZ

— Legion XIII (@LegionXIIIgc) January 29, 2025

“I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes,” Chacarra said in an interview last month with Flushing It Golf posted on social media. 

“How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, only money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What will change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.

“When I joined LIV, they promised OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first young guy, then the others came after I made the decision. But OWGR and majors still hasn’t happened.” 

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour have created pathways for the most promising young stars to gain immediate access to their tours and get a boost on their careers. PGA Tour University has forged routes for Ludvig Åberg, Davis Thompson, Austin Eckroat and Kevin Yu – each of whom has used the opportunity to their advantage and are qualified for the 2025 Masters.

The newly created Global Amateur Pathway has sent China’s Wenyi Ding and Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen embarking on the DP World Tour. Both Ding, the reigning Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, and Olesen, the reigning British Amateur champ, forfeited places on the tee sheet at the 2025 Masters to turn professional. Like Brazil’s Fred Biondi, the former No. 1 amateur who gave up a 2024 Masters start as reigning NCAA champ to turn professional, they are betting on themselves to make it back to Augusta through the usual professional channels. Their skill and the OWGR offers them that chance to prove themselves.

Until LIV Golf makes minor access adjustments, reapplies and gets accepted into the Official World Golf Ranking ecosystem – something new CEO Scott O’Neil says the league is not interested in – it remains a major gamble for young players chasing legacy instead of money. While there are avenues to qualify for the U.S. Open and Open Championship and the PGA is flexible enough to extend invitations to players outside the top 100, the Masters is a tough get for LIV guys who don’t already have a green jacket or recent major title to serve as a golden ticket.

McKibbin, currently ranked No. 106 in the world, doesn’t have any of that going for him. He made his major debut last summer, making cuts as a qualifier at both the U.S. Open and Open Championship. It is a disturbing notion to think that the 22-year-old Ulsterman may never get the chance to qualify for the Masters. He’ll have to chase hard and excel in limited opportunities outside of LIV in order to make an impression on the Masters Committee if he ever wants to join McIlroy in the quest for Ireland’s first green jacket.