Rory McIlroy advised Holywood GC pal McKibbin to shun a move to LIV, but the figures tell quite a tale
Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland practice ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in 2023 in Dubai
Tom McKibbin decision to join LIV Golf early last year has been branded controversial — but the numbers suggest the 23-year-old Northern Irishman is laughing all the way to the bank.
Since walking away from the PGA Tour to join Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII in January 2025, McKibbin has raked in almost $19million in on-course earnings, according to the figures available for the 2025 and 2026 LIV seasons.
These figures capture on-course prize money, and do not account for McKibbin’s $5 million LIV sign-on fee.
That brings Holywood man McKibbin’s total golf earnings to $23,958,107 in that time.
For comparison, that is more than twice the roughly $11million Shane Lowry has earned on the course over the same period.
McKibbin’s decision to turn his back on the PGA Tour came as a huge surprise, and even clubmate Rory McIlroy advised him to think twice.
But less than two years later, the financial case for McKibbin’s move looks increasingly difficult to ignore.
His reported on-course haul stands at $18.96million across 2025 and 2026, including individual prize money and team payments — before adding his reported signing bonus.
Legion XIII team members Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt, John Rahm and Tom McKibbin pose with trophies after winning the LIV Golf Team Championship in Michigan last year (Image: Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
Lowry, meanwhile, has continued to ply his trade on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
The former Open champion enjoyed a hugely productive 2025, earning more than $7.3million, before adding further substantial winnings in 2026. His biggest payday came at the Irish Open, where he produced a sensational 11-shot victory at Doonbeg to collect more than $1million.
While Lowry has had to fight through traditional tournament cuts and often face huge fields for his paydays, McKibbin has benefited from LIV’s guaranteed-payout structure — as well as the lucrative team system operated by Legion XIII.
The team element proved particularly profitable in 2025.
Legion XIII won the season-ending Team Championship in Michigan, collecting a $14million team prize to be divided among Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, McKibbin and Caleb Surratt.
It means the young Holywood golfer’s controversial gamble has already delivered a remarkable financial return.
McKibbin surrendered a PGA Tour card in January 2025 that he had worked desperately hard to earn.
He has not returned to the PGA Tour, though he remains under contract with LIV Golf while concurrently playing on the DP World Tour (such as appearing in events in Madrid and Europe) to chase Ryder Cup points and navigate the uncertainty surrounding LIV Golf’s future.
He also accepted that joining LIV could make access to the Majors and a place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team more difficult – sacrifices McIlroy specifically warned him about before the move.
It must be noted that Shane Lowry has earned a total of over $60 million across the full time of his professional career, combining his earnings from the PGA Tour and the European (DP World) Tour, and he has a significant number of lucrative sponsorship and endorsement deals on top of that.
It’s a different matter for back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who has enjoyed a stellar couple of seasons, to earn a figure way beyond that of McKibbin or Lowry.
Driven by back-to-back victories at the Masters (completing his career Grand Slam in 2025 and defending the title in 2026), McIlroy has had an incredibly lucrative stretch, earning an estimated $58,986,359 in two years – and counting.
Rory McIlroy with his family after winning the Masters for a second time(Image: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
McIlroy’s stratospheric 2025 included major wins at Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass, and Augusta National, supplemented by massive postseason payouts: $7.5 million for his FedEx Cup finish, $6 million from the Comcast Business Tour Top-10 bonus, and $2 million for clinching his seventh Race to Dubai title on the DP World Tour.
In 2026, his earnings have remained high, anchored by another $4.5 million winner’s check at the Masters and strong performances on both the PGA and European tours.
The downfall of LIV and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulling the financial plug is well documented, with the league’s bosses scrambling to finance a sixth season and a first of what they’re calling the LIV 2.0 era.
However, Spanish star Jon Rahm is the one man in the world to earn more than McIlroy on the course in that time – thanks to the Saudi PIF and LIV.
Rahm took in $38.75million in 2025 and $31.75 in 2026, for a total of over $70million.
He joined LIV in early 2024 and that takes his total earnings, including a sign on fee to $108,309,417.
Golf’s civil war divided a lot of players, commentators and fans, but it has been an incredibly lucrative spell for some of the world’s elite players.
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