LIV Golf has confirmed the news that Holywood GC’s Tom McKibbin has officially signed with the Saudi-backed tour.
McKibbin, 22, has agreed a deal that will see him join John Rahm’s Legion XII team alongside Tyrrell Hatton and American Caleb Surrat.
His first start will come next week (Feb 6-9) at the opening event of the season in Riyadh.
Rumours of a potential move to LIV Golf surfaced around three weeks ago and were confirmed by Rory McIlroy at the recent Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
The four-time major champion - with close ties to Tom via their Holywood GC connection - made it clear that in the same position, he would make a different decision.
He said: “Personally for me it would be a little disappointing if it were to happen.
“But I made it perfectly clear: I am not going to stand your way if you need to make the decision you feel like you need to make for yourself.
“At the same time, I feel like he’s giving up a lot to not really benefit that much.”
Tom won the Porsche European Open in his rookie DP World Tour season in 2023 and last year finished 18th on the Race to Dubai rankings and 10th of those players not already exempt on to the PGA Tour, which earned him a full PGA Tour card.
McKibbin registered nine top tens on last season’s Race to Dubai, including a runner-up finish in Italy, while he played his first Major Championship at the US Open, before going on to feature at The Open.
Signing for LIV brings with it significant financial riches (there has been no confirmation of the figure involved) but in doing so he forfeits the PGA Tour card that he worked damn hard to earn last season.
Now ranked 106th in the world, he would immediately start ceding places as LIV events continue to be denied ranking points seriously denting any hopes of playing in this year’s Ryder Cup.
He will play in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush via his 18th place finish on the DP World Tour order of merit but, as of now, he is not exempt into any of the other Majors.
McKibbin, who has not spoken publicly during any of the speculation, will be the second player from Northern Ireland competing on the LIV Tour with veteran campaigner Graeme McDowell part of the Smash GC team this season.