Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy, who begins his season this week, will reduce the number of tournaments he plays in what he describes as a “pivotal year”.
“Every season is important but I think there are two or three things that make this a pivotal year for me,” McIlroy, who begins his season on Thursday at the PGA Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Monterey, California, said on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old world number three has two tournaments in particular in his sights: the British Open, which returns to his home course of Portrush in Northern Ireland, and the Ryder Cup in New York in September.
McIlroy, statements
“I’ve said it before, but I think winning a Ryder Cup away from home is the hardest thing in golf today,” he said. McIlroy, a four-time major winner, has not won a major for more than a decade. In 2024, he finished second to American Bryson DeChambeau at the US Open after a cruel ending.
McIlroy will have another chance to add to his collection of Grand Slams at the Masters in Augusta (Georgia, USA) in April. The PGA Championship will be played at Quil Hollow, where McIlroy has already won the Wells Fargo PGA Championship four times.
The Briton assured that he will play the minimum number of tournaments necessary to retain his playing rights on the PGA and DP World Tours circuits. “I played 27 tournaments last year. To keep my rights I need to play about 22, so that’s what I’m going to do. That means 35 more days at home, and I want to do that.”
Involved in the prolonged negotiations between the PGA and the LIV Tours, McIlroy believes that the election of Donald Trump may have removed some of the obstacles to an agreement, “which must happen and will happen.” But “it doesn’t solve the problem of golf’s uncertain future,” he says.
“The biggest obstacle is created by the different ideas of what golf should be in the future,” between preserving traditions or targeting a younger audience with the help of influencers and redesigned formats.
“I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is too many anyway,” he said of the PGA Tour, which runs from early January to mid-December, citing the new TGL virtual golf tour – which he launched with Tiger Woods – which only lasts two months. “We could revise things a bit, maybe create a little more scarcity, like the NFL does, I think that wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
Tennis World USA