Tom McKibbin became the biggest name to make the move to LIV Golf during the offseason, but after two months away, the Northern Irishman is returning to the DP World Tour
Tom McKibbin will make his first start back on the DP World Tour since joining LIV Golf this week, with the Northern Irishman teeing it up at the Porsche Singapore Classic.
McKibbin became the key man to join the LIV setup in the offseason, signing with Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII in a deal worth a reported £4 million. The switch came as somewhat of a shock to many, after the 22-year-old has secured a card on the PGA Tour just three months earlier after an impressive season on the DP World Tour.
McKibbin made his debut on the LIV circuit in February and since then he has not looked back, having impressed on the golf course to leave him 13th in the league standings after four events.
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His last came at Sentosa Golf Club last week, and he has opted to remain in Singapore in the aftermath to compete in the DP World Tour’s tournament which gets underway on Thursday. McKibbin had played three times on the Wentworth-based circuit in January before competing in the first LIV event in February.
He has since played four times on the Saudi-backed circuit, finishing tied-15th in Riyadh, tied-seventh in Adelaide, tied-sixth in Hong Kong and tied-25th in Singapore. McKibbin has already tasted success too, having helped Legion XIII swoop the the time title in the season opener in Riyadh.
McKibbin’s LIV switch gained plenty of attention when rumours of the transfer first circulated, especially after the topic was discussed by Rory McIlroy at January’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic. McIlroy has been somewhat of a mentor to McKibbin during his career, with both descending from Holywood Golf Club in their native Northern Ireland.
And the four-time major winner revealed McKibbin reached out to him when receiving the LIV offer at the end of last year. Unsurprisingly, McIlroy was against the idea of the 22-year-old giving up his PGA Tour card to join the breakaway circuit, but was of course unable to talk McKibbin out of the move.
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And in the weeks that have followed, the Legion XIII man is clearly enjoying life with Rahm and co. “Obviously the last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun, something that’s been a little bit different to me,” he said in Hong Kong earlier this month.
“But I’ve had a great time. Australia was a whole new experience and something that was incredibly fun to be a part of, and I feel like I’ve played some very nice golf the first two weeks, so just trying to keep that going hopefully for the rest of the year.
“Yeah, I turned pro very young, and thankfully had hopefully a lot of success quite young, and hopefully I’m able to sort of take that over to here. It’s something that excites me a lot, and I’m looking forward to just playing this whole year and sort of seeing where that leaves me at the end of it.”