Tom McKibbin is excited to kick off his second LIV Golf season under the lights in Riyadh after 2025 saw him enjoy a very encouraging debut campaign on the Saudi backed tour but also get success on other tours.
McKibbin helped his Legion XIII team to the overall team title last year while they are also bidding to open the new season with a third straight night golf crown this week.
The 23-year-old also managed to win for the first time in two years at the Hong Kong Open and that coupled with a very good DP World Tour campaign saw him improve his world ranking to 77th meaning he is the fifth highest ranked LIV player in the world.
“Yeah, probably a little bit more relaxed,” McKibbin said ahead of his second year on LIV. “I think coming in my first event being at night, obviously there was a lot of things different. The warmup was so different. So I didn’t really know how it was going to go. Obviously as the year progressed, I got more used to it, and it became sort of the new normal.
“So I think this year I’m definitely a little bit more relaxed, albeit it’s been a long time since we last played. But yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
Winning in Hong Kong punched McKibbin’s ticket to Augusta National for his Masters debut this April while he is also set to tee it up at Royal Birkdale’s Open Championship.
“Yeah, obviously last year was a very successful year, I think sort of individually and as a team. It couldn’t get much better.
“I think sort of going out through all last year and getting to know everybody a little bit more and play together was very good.”
LIV might have lost some star power in Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed who have both returned to the PGA Tour but McKibbin is one of several young guns including David Puig and NCAA champion Michael La Sasso.
The Holywood man feels LIV Golf is a great place to play for young players looking to break through in the game.
I don’t really know what advice. Obviously it’s very new. I had played a couple years of pro golf before, so I was a little bit more used to it. But yeah, I think sort of the experience is so different, and I think as a young person, it’s quite enjoyable that it’s different and maybe something that’s more our age’s sort of vibe or whatever.”
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