LIV Golf star Jon Rahm announced a major signing to his Legion XIII team on Wednesday with the acquisition of 22-year-old Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland. This one has to sing a little for Rory McIlroy as both of them learned the game at the same club in Northern Ireland and Rory recently advised McKibbin to chase a PGA Tour card.

The terms of the LIV Golf deal were not made immediately available to the public. But Jon Rahm, the reigning 2024 individual champion on LIV with $34.7M in earnings last year, shared a video on social media welcoming Tom McKibbin to Legion XII.

It’s official. Welcome to Legion XIII, @tommckibbin8!#LegionXIII #LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/mqjbibOCcZ

— Legion XIII (@LegionXIIIgc) January 29, 2025

Signing a new player to LIV Golf isn’t necessarily that big of a news story but this one is intriguing for several reasons. Firstly, Tom McKibbin has an incredibly bright future… He finished 10th on the DP World Tour in points last year to earn his PGA Tour card but has instead opted to join LIV Golf and ditch that card.

Secondly, fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy recently spoke publicly about McKibbin and suggested he join the PGA Tour and not Jon Rahm‘s Legion XII team. McIlroy said “if I were in your shoes, I would make a different choice than the one you’re making. Working so hard to get your tour card in the States, to achieve that goal last year was a big achievement.”

Rory continued, saying “I think what he potentially is sacrificing and giving up with access to majors, potential Ryder Cup spot depending on how he would play … if I were in his position and I had his potential, which I think I have been before, I wouldn’t make that decision.” These comments came earlier this month at the Dubai Desert Classic.

It is an interesting position for Tom McKibbin. He is 22-years-old and was probably offered a sizable contract by LIV Golf where he will get to play alongside Jon Rahm who is amonng the top 3 golfers in the world. Money, experience, and prestige is hard to turn down when the alternative is to just go to the PGA Tour and hope for the best.

The flip side of this though is by joining Jon Rahm’s LIV Golf team, Tom McKibbin will now struggle to earn a spot to the Major Championships. He is eligible for the upcoming Open Championship but that is the only one of the four majors McKibbin will earn a spot in. And until LIV Golf sorts out it’s issues with OWGR points, it will be extremely difficult for McKibbin to accrue enough points to earn a spot in the other majors.

LIV’s top stars have been extremely visible at major championships since the tour launched and McKibbin will likely only be there as a spectator for now… But the X Factor is, of course, a looming PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger of sorts.

With the new CEO taking over for Greg Norman, there’s no telling where the PGA-LIV merger is at or if it will come to fruition. But if a deal is agreed upon in the near-ish future, McKibbin could be a huge beneficiary of that as he secured his PGA Tour card this year through the DP World Tour’s points list.