(Photo credit: Brendan Mcdermid-Reuters via Imagn Images)

LIV Golf's move to 72-hole events beginning in 2026 has been widely speculated as an attempt to gain Official World Golf Ranking points, but Rory McIlroy isn't convinced that it will have the desired effect if that's the case.

'I think it's a peculiar move because I think they could have got ranking points with three rounds. I don't think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back,' McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Abu Dhabi Championship.

'It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we've all done. It brings them back into not really being a destructor and sort is of falling more in line with what everyone else does. But if that's what they felt they needed to do to get the ranking points, I guess that's what they had to do.'

The top-ranked LIV player is currently Tyrrell Hatton, who is at No. 21 following his recent runner-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and a T5 at the BMW PGA Championship.

Bryson DeChambeau is No. 23 on the strength of three top-10 finishes in the four 2025 majors. However, that still is a far cry from his career-best ranking of No. 4 in the world.

Former world No. 1 Jon Rahm has plummeted to No. 71 in the two years since he signed a massive contract with the Saudi-backed league. He was joined at the time by Hatton, who is part of Rahm's Legion XIII team.

Hatton said that in a questionnaire sent to the players following his first season, only about three were in favor of a move from 54 to 72 holes.

'I guess that's changed quite a bit in the last year, and certainly from my standpoint, I'm quite happy that we've moved to 72 holes,' he said Wednesday.

However, McIlroy sees an uphill battle for LIV players to improve their ranking significantly even if approved by the OWGR.

'Say potentially they get world rankings (points), but because their strength of fields are going to be so weak because a lot of the guys have fallen already in the rankings because they have not had ranking points for so long, I don't know if the ranking points are really going to benefit them,' McIlroy said.

'It will be interesting to see how it plays out.'

--Field Level Media