Just over six months after Rory McIlroy claimed that the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Series was "dead in the water", his words have no doubt come back to haunt him. Back in February a group of the world's best players ruled out their chances of joining LIV, leading to McIlroy rubbishing off the series' threat.
Months on though, the breakaway circuit - led by former world No 1 Greg Norman - has made its move in the world of golf, topping it off by announcing the signing of world No. 2 and Open champion Cameron Smith. Smith joins the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau on the LIV playing quota.
Earlier this year nobody in the world of golf could have anticipated the Saudi-backed series' fast-moving challenge against the PGA Tour - no more so than McIlroy.
Asked if the threat of the breakaway circuit was over back in February, the Northern Irishman said: "Yeah, yeah. Who's left? Who's left to go? I mean, there's no one. It's dead in the water in my opinion. I just can't any reason why anyone would go."
The recently crowned FedEx Cup champion's comments came at the Genesis Invitational, after big names such as Johnson and DeChambeau ruled out their chances of making the Saudi switch despite links. Of course, just four months later though the American pair - alongside a whole host of others - confirmed they had made a U-turn and signed on the dotted line with LIV.
As mentioned, the Saudi-funded setup strengthened their field on Tuesday after confirming Smith's move, along with Cameron Tringale, Joaquin Niemann, Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III and Anirban Lahiri.
This means that LIV members have won 10 of the last 24 major winners, most notably with Smith being defending Open champion, and Players champion - which is no doubt a dagger through the heart of the PGA Tour.
Of course a lot has happened in the world of golf since McIlroy's comments, and the four-time major champion admitted this summer that he may have 'got it wrong' when it came to the threat of LIV Golf. Speaking at the US Open, he said: "I guess I took a lot of players’ statements at face value.
"I guess that’s what I got wrong. You had people committed to the PGA Tour, and that’s what the statements were that were put out. People went back on that. It’s disappointing. The players that are staying on the PGA Tour feel slighted in some way. If those guys (who have left) thought outside of themselves, they would see this is not the best for everyone."
