Questions about where LIV Golf players belong in the professional game have returned to the forefront of discussion. With LIV Golf now pursuing a restructured second iteration amid reported funding difficulties, players who departed for the rival tour may find re-entry into the DP World Tour increasingly constrained.

Luiten, a DP World Tour winner on six occasions, has put forward the position that former members should not be granted any form of preferential entry. His view is that those players chose to leave the established tour four years ago, and that the tour is not obligated to offer them a straightforward path back.

Under the tour's current framework, any player who joins LIV Golf forfeits both membership on the DP World Tour and the right to compete in the Ryder Cup.

Playing at the DP World India Championship in New Delhi, McIlroy addressed questions about the Saudi-backed venture during his time at the tournament. At the Bloomberg New Economy forum, McIlroy shared his view that LIV Golf had operated on a concept that was only partially sound and carried out with limited effectiveness.

Estimated outlays of £3.7bn over four years — channelled through the Public Investment Fund toward recruiting players such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau — preceded the fund's exit from the venture, an exit that left the organisation without backing and ultimately led to Chapter 11 filings in the United States.

Speaking through the media, McIlroy expressed an openness to the return of LIV players to the tour. McIlroy's comments pointed toward continuity in the established order, yet a number of active tour players have voiced reservations about welcoming those who left back into the fold.

Luiten addressed the question of whether LIV golfers might return to the tour during an interview with a prominent golf outlet. The position he advances draws its foundation from the concept of merit. Participation in the competition is open to any athlete who completes the standard qualifying pathway required of all entrants.

A $300m investment from BC Partners Capital in the next iteration of LIV Golf hinges on a threshold number of players committing to renewed contracts. Rahm's withdrawal, combined with the DP World Tour's position of barring players who signed with LIV Golf, has left the relaunch effort facing an uncertain path forward.

McIlroy noted that the pool of former LIV players willing to join a restructured version of the tour has been shrinking with each passing day, a trend he described as complicating the organisation's effort to find a way through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

McIlroy is among the competitors at the DP World India Championship, which is under way in New Delhi. Any LIV golfer looking to re-enter the mainstream tour pathway is required to work through Q-School, a qualifying route that treats all applicants on equal footing regardless of prior tour agreements.