Tom McKibbin certainly wasn’t the first, and won’t be the last, to have his head turned by LIV Golf’s greenbacks. Yet again, the rumour mill turned out to be spieling the truth with the 22-year-old Northern Irishman’s move to the Saudi Arabia PIF-funded men’s professional tour now confirmed and a scheduled debut in next week’s season-opening event in Riyadh.
Looking in from the outside, it would appear a strange decision given how McKibbin had moved with such seamless ease in negotiating his own pathway through the professional ranks from the Challenge Tour and on to the DP World Tour (where he won the Porsche European Open in his rookie season in 2023), and onwards to a card on the PGA Tour this season, a card which he now won’t use. His professional pathway already contained the promise of gold.
[ Tom McKibbin’s move to Jon Rahm’s team at LIV Golf confirmedOpens in new window ]
Jon Rahm’s social media post welcoming McKibbin to his Legion XIII team for the upcoming LIV campaign was simple and to the point. “It’s official. Welcome to Legion XIII, @tommckibbin!” came the post from the Spaniard, with an accompanying video which showed Rahm clenching both fists in acquiring his newest member.
McKibbin’s move has come with a signing on fee, reputedly in the region of $5 million. Which, for sure, will guarantee a very nice lifestyle for the player going forward, with the prospect of garnering bucketloads more in the no-cut tournaments in the year ahead and, with smaller fields, albeit quality ones, also the prospect of adding more titles to his CV.
The amount of prize money on offer in LIV is mindboggling in many ways. Last year, for example, Rahm topped the list in LIV’s third season with a total of $34,754,488 (which came from his individual prize money of $16,754,488 along with bonus money of $18m); while Graeme McDowell – the only other Irish player on the tour – earned $3.1 million despite a poor playing season which saw him finish down in 33rd on the money list.
So, there’s no doubt that filthy lucre can turn heads. And LIV’s more recent focus on acquiring young talent – count in Spaniards David Puig and Luis Masaveu, American Caleb Surrat and South Korean Yubin Jang, who are all in their very early 20s – and McKibbin’s move is part of a trend in LIV attracting a younger generation of player to go with those established players like Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson who were their original poster boys.
McKibbin’s jumping ship, though, is a gamble for the player. For sure, there’s short-term and immediate gain in being guaranteed pay-days in each and every tournament and, as part of a team that features Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, the promise of very generous bonus team dividends.
But, you’ve got to wonder, is it hindering his opportunity to build a legacy? For starters, the switch to LIV is going to limit the Ulsterman’s opportunity to add world ranking points (McKibbin is currently 106th, having moved inside the top-100 to 99th as recently as his top-10 finish in the Dubai Desert Classic) and will also make it more difficult to earn places in the season’s Major championships. It has also effectively ended any Ryder Cup prospect for Bethpage before it truly got going.
Ironically, McKibbin’s place in the field for the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf in July is assured thanks to his top-20 finish on last season’s DP World Tour order of merit, through which he also earned the 10th, and last, of the PGA Tour pathway cards available.
McKibbin’s three years as a professional provided not only a hint of his promise – in surefootedly making one step after another on an upward trajectory – but also in displaying a maturity that belied his years.
But McKibbin – and his management – have also shown that he is very much his own man in travelling down the less traditional professional pathway. And, indeed, ignoring the advice of Rory McIlroy, his sometime mentor, in doing so.
That strength of mind combined with his undoubted playing skills will certainly guarantee McKibbin success – and financial rewards – on his chosen path. But with no sight or sound of any healing of the fracturing that LIV’s arrival cost especially to the PGA Tour, and with only limited access to Majors going forward, the move brings its own risk. To his legacy, mostly.
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