Rory is proving that it’s open season on LIV

There’s a phenomenon in sociology and psychology called “delayed defiance,” and it refers to the extreme reactions that manifest when a once-feared entity has lost its power. The Greeks even had a proverb that neatly describes it: kicking a dead lion. All the fear and repression that was felt before is suddenly unleashed in a vindictive torrent. Truths and opinions that had been suppressed are fair game … and, in fact, become inevitable. It’s a long-awaited pressure-release valve that can be cathartic.  

That’s what we’re seeing right now here at the broken end of the LIV Golf experience. Stripped of PIF funding, and hemorrhaging players ahead of the vague (and, for my money, increasingly unlikely) prospect of LIV 2.0, the dying lion is getting its fair share of kicks. True, it’s not like the league ever has escaped criticism, but without the formidable financial power of the Saudis behind it, LIV can now be described with an adjective that never quite fit before: weak.  

And with that weakness comes the onslaught, where all resentments built up over five years come out. The latest act of recrimination features Rory McIlroy, who gave full-throated support to DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings in his ultimatum to LIV players: choose a side. And in his agreement, Rory dropped a mini-bomb about what LIV representatives were saying during conversations with golf’s other powerbrokers as recently as this past spring at the Masters.  

Joel Beall gets into the nitty gritty of Rory’s reaction to all that in the piece below. It’s the latest in what will likely be weeks of bitter back-and-forths, with the ultimate question lingering: Is golf now in a better or worse spot after the stress test that was LIV?

Rory McIlroy makes damning claim about what LIV officials were saying at Augusta

While throwing his support behind the DP World Tour’s ultimatum to LIV Golf players, Rory didn’t pull any punches

By Joel Beall

What You Need to Know

Christopher Powers

Kevin Kisner had to learn the hard way that hockey guys are built different. It came during Episode 3 of the Internet Invitational, which followed an absolute banger of an Episode 2 ... which including “The Greatest Video in YouTube Golf History” ... which somehow was not an exaggeration. 

As someone who watched all four hours, Ep 3 fell a little flat, but still had its moments. Many of them that had nothing to do with the actual golf being played, like Chazzy reeling in a fish while waiting on the group ahead or Jersey Jerry hanging up on Frankie Borrelli after being told every group was playing for $50,000 on the ninth hole. 

And then there was Kisner, explaining how hungover he was after hanging with “the hockey guys” all night. You can watch that video here.

The worst part? Kisner only found out that morning that Dave Portnoy was instituting a “celebrity shot” for the session, allowing any team to use Kisner for one single shot in their match. Fortunately for an extremely worse for wear Kiz, only two teams employed him, both on the same hole.

Ryan Herrington

There is nothing surprising about seeing John Daly’s face on the hood of a car racing around a NASCAR track. Except perhaps that it hasn’t happened before. But for golf/racing fans who tune into this weekend’s competition at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, it will be a very on brand moment as Daly’s likeness will be seen in a pair of races thanks to a partnership with Spire Motorsports. Nick Sanchez will debut the image on his No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado in the Craftsman Truck Series on Friday night. Then on Sunday, Daniel Suarez’s No. 7 Chevrolet will display the image in the championship race. The Daly connection comes through Modo, a gaming app that the two-time major winner has worked with since 2024 and that has a deal with Spire Motorsports. “Usually, it’s my pants getting all the attention,” said Daly, who will be in attendance in Miami on Sunday, in press release.

Alex Myers

The world of pro golf is a tough one. Paychecks are on the line every week, and jobs are up for grabs at this point in the year. But there are certain relationships that matter just as much, and in the past week, we've seen Ben Griffin involved in two such situations.

First, the three-time PGA Tour winner was right there off the 18th green on Sunday evening to congratulate his buddy Andrew Novak earning his first solo title at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open (the two had teamed up to win last year's Zurich Classic).

It was a nice scene (see below) but just a couple days later, Griffin got even more emotional when talking about another golf buddy. That would be Austin Hitt, who recently earned his PGA Tour card for the first time by winning his maiden Korn Ferry Tour title. And Hitt did it after losing his dad to cancer a couple years before.

Griffin and Hitt were college teammates at North Carolina, where Griffin says Hitt was his de facto “younger brother.” Anyway, good luck not getting emotional watching Griffin getting emotional as he talked about Hitt on Tuesday ahead of his title defense at the World Wide Technology Championship. You can check out the video here.

We're not sure how Hitt will fare in his first PGA Tour season, but it's a pretty safe bet that he and Griffin—and Novak—will be playing a lot of practice rounds together in 2027.

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