European tour CEO cites $7 billion offer

Players who left for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league are returning to the DP World Tour for the 2027 season. Guy Kinnings, the European tour CEO, says the tour must protect its members from the group that spent billions trying to take them away. He called the return a necessary step after the breakaway league faced financial trouble.

LIV Golf formed about four years ago and recruited top stars from the European and PGA Tours. The players accepted large sums from PIF, which is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. The move disrupted the established professional golf circuits and created a separate competition for the sport's biggest names.

The new league is now operating as a smaller version called LIV 2.0. It is working through Chapter 11 bankruptcy without continued Saudi investment. BC Partners Credit pledged 300 million dollars to help the organization survive. This financial shift led most of its top players to quit the league and plan a return to the older tours.

Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, and Sergio Garcia are among those coming back to the European tour. Other players will likely receive sponsor invites. Kinnings acknowledges that some current tour members are unhappy about the returning players. He says the tour must balance bringing back star power with respecting the frustration of its existing members.

In an interview with The Scotsman newspaper, Kinnings explained the tour's approach. He said the tour is protecting itself from an entity that spent over 7 billion dollars. "But we also have to protect the tour against an entity who spent, so we are told, over $7 billion, with one of their aims being to 'destroy the DP World Tour,'" Kinnings said. He noted that many trusted figures in the game told him the same goal.

Rory McIlroy supported Kinnings' comments during the Abu Dhabi Championship on Wednesday. McIlroy has spoken out against LIV Golf since it started. "I agree with everything that Guy said. They took players, they took sponsors, they turned professional golf into an arms race," McIlroy said. He added that the group was telling people at Augusta National they wanted to destroy the European tour.

McIlroy pointed out that LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil now uses the phrase "complete, not compete." McIlroy called this change ironic compared to the group's earlier statements. He believes the returning players put the DP World Tour in a strong position for the future.

Kinnings said there is no perfect way to handle the returns. Some former LIV players have criticized the European tour in the past. "I understand the sensitivity. It's got to be as fair as it can be and as merit based as it can be," Kinnings said. He expects some invites to go to smaller tournaments between February and August. This timing allows returning players to compete when many top names are playing on the PGA Tour.