Rory McIlroy will feel particularly hurt by latest LIV Golf move as Saudi league make new signing

The LIV Golf setup have made yet another marque signing ahead of this week’s event in Saudi Arabia, which will no doubt be tough to take for the PGA Tour and Rory McIlroy

Anthony Kim’s decision to make the move to LIV Golf may well be a bitter pill to swallow for Rory McIlroy, after the Northern Irishman previously claimed he ‘missed’ the American’s presence on the PGA Tour.

Kim has become the latest big name to join the LIV setup, and despite not featuring professionally for over a decade, it will go down as one of the league’s biggest signings yet. Kim had become golf’s forgotten man after previously bursting onto the scene of the PGA Tour in the late 2000’s

Earning comparisons to the great Tiger Woods, the 38-year-old won three PGA Tour events in two years after reaching No. 6 in the world, as well as earning a spot in the 2009 USA Ryder Cup team.

His rapid rise came quickly crashing down though, as a number of injuries saw him withdraw from a number of events in 2012, ending at the Wells Fargo Championship. Twelve years on, the three-time Tour winner has not been seen since, but has made a shock return with LIV for this week’s event in Jeddah.

Kim joins a whole host of big names on the breakaway circuit, including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. One man who has opted to remain loyal to the PGA Tour is McIlroy, who has vented his frustrations with the rapid rise of the Saudi league on a number of occasions over the past two years.

And while he has not played alongside Kim in some time, the American’s move may well have been tougher to take for the four-time major winner than most. Speaking about his wish for the former Ryder Cupper to return to the PGA Tour back in 2019, McIlroy said: “I miss Anthony Kim.