San Francisco (AFP) – Rory McIlroy is sharpening his focus for a “pivotal” 2025 campaign amid continuing uncertainty over “what the landscape of golf looks like going forward.” McIlroy, preparing to make his 2025 US PGA Tour debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week, said he expects to pare back his schedule by some five events, with the Open Championship in Portrush and the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York looming large as he considers the season.
“I think every year’s a pivotal year,” the 35-year-old Northern Ireland star said. “I think there’s a couple of things this year that make it maybe a little more so for me. The Open goes back to Portrush, so playing a major championship pretty much at home is a big thing. Then playing an away Ryder Cup for me, I’ve alluded to this a lot, but I feel like winning an away Ryder Cup is one of the toughest things to do in golf at the minute. Obviously the Europeans have an opportunity to do that, which would be really cool.”
Related news
McIlroy’s 2024 included a runner-up finish to Bryson DeChambeau at the US Open, but it’s been 10 years since he captured a major. The Masters at Augusta National in April will offer him another chance to complete his career Grand Slam, while the PGA Championship will be played at Quail Hollow — where he has won the Wells Fargo Championship four times.
As he considers the best way to prepare for golf’s top events, McIlroy said he would play the minimum 15 US tour events needed to maintain his playing status, along with a select number of DP World Tour events. “I played 27 events last year,” he said. “I think to fulfil both minimums I need to play around 22 so that’s what I’ll do … That’s an extra 35 days at home, and that’s something that I want to do.”
McIlroy acknowledged that he’s making his plans in a climate of continuing uncertainty.
– ‘Golf is golf’ –
He believes the election of US President Donald Trump may have removed some obstacles to a deal between the established tours and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf. But even though he thinks a deal “should and will be done,” he added: “it doesn’t solve the problem of what the landscape of golf looks like going forward.”
“I’d say the biggest impediment is maybe the differing visions of what golf should look like in the future,” McIlroy said. With golf fans now also drawn by popular YouTube influencers and newer products like the tech-driven TGL that McIlroy and Tiger Woods launched this month, McIlroy said the PGA Tour should consider paring back.
“I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many,” McIlroy said, noting that the TGL season lasts only two months. “So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think mightn’t be a bad thing,” McIlroy said.
But McIlroy insisted that the push to engage fans should not “dumb down” golf. “Golf is golf at the end of the day,” he said. “First and foremost we’re professional golfers. We want to go out there and shoot the best score possible that we can and try to beat each other. Hopefully, people find that entertaining, and if not, then I don’t know what to tell them.”
© 2024 AFP
