A confirmation without an actual confirmation? That’s what it sounded like when his proposed move to the Saudi Arabia PIF-backed LIV Golf was put to Tom McKibbin in advance of this week’s Team Cup, where the 22-year-old Northern Irishman is part of the Great Britain and Ireland team against continental Europe which serves as a pre-Ryder Cup watch list for captain Luke Donald.“I’m not going to make any comments this week out of respect for Justin (Rose) and Luke (Donald) and this tournament,” responded McKibbin, speaking to Golf Digest Middle East at the event in Abu Dhabi.McKibbin emerged as a main target of Jon Rahm to be signed up for the Spaniard’s Legion XIII team on the LIV circuit – first reported by Ten-Golf in Spain and confirmed by BBC NI – which means he will have to forfeit his recently-won PGA Tour card in the United States for the upcoming season.”I’m not going to make any comment this week”Tom McKibbin addresses the reports that he has signed a deal with LIV Golf and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team ahead of this week’s Team Cup in Abu Dhabi on the DP World TourFull story on Golf Digest Middle East#LIVGolf #tommckibbin pic.twitter.com/S3hzQKwzvY— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) January 8, 2025
However, McKibbin will continue to be eligible to play a number of events on the DP World Tour – similar to Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton – and will actually make his season’s debut in next week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic, where Rory McIlroy is the defending champion.McKibbin’s refusal in Abu Dhabi to elaborate on his proposed move to LIV – where Graeme McDowell has been the only Irish player up to now – was almost as good as any guarantee that he will be jumping ship to the Saudi-backed circuit which also includes reigning US open champion Bryson DeChambeau among its list of players.[ Tom McKibbin targeted by Jon Rahm to join his LIV Golf team for next seasonOpens in new window ]For now, McKibbin is focused on the Team Cup – run by the DP World Tour with a view to aiding European captain Donald identify possible players ahead of the Ryder Cup against the USA in Bethpage later this year – where Hatton is also part of the GB&I team.“It was a goal of mine at are the start of last year to be part of this event. I haven’t played any team golf as a pro. I played a little bit as an amateur so I’m really excited to be part of a team and looking forward to the week,” said McKibbin, whose sole win on the DP World Tour came in the 2023 Porsche European Open.He added: “I just want to try and play golf that I know I can play. Obviously it’s sort of the first event of the year. I just sort of want to go out and sort of been practising quite hard the last couple weeks. So see if that translates over to my game and try to win as many points as I can.”
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