Rory McIlroy Calls For European Designated PGA Tour Events

Rory McIlroy currently holds the FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai titles on the PGA and DP World Tour circuits, and now, at Bay Hill and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Irishman has given his thoughts on how the future layout of the schedules could coincide for a 'world tour'.

Speaking on Friday, McIlroy was vocal about the future designated tournaments, which see reduced fields of between 70 to 80 players with no cut, with the four-time Major winner stating that "I think Europe needs to get into the mix." 

He went on to add: "I think everyone knows this (PGA Tour) is the place that you want to play golf, right. It is what it is, I think this -- people complain about these 10 cards going to the European Tour players that get on this Tour. But, like if I'm a European Tour player, like that's brilliant. Instead of trying to think about what's good for the Tour, think about what's good for the players that are on that Tour. I think that's where people need to sort of reframe their mind a little bit.

"So, to have the opportunity to be in the top 10 in Europe and then get over where all the opportunity is, which is here -- I'm not saying there's no opportunity over there, there is. But the one thing I would like to see going forward with this sort of designated events' schedule is trying to get some of those tournaments in the mix overseas."

Recently, it was reported that the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will become a designated event in 2024, with it also reported by Golfweek that, in 2023, the WGC Match Play will be played for the very last time at Austin Country Club and perhaps ever.

According to McIlroy, this sets up for more European events, with the 33-year-old listing a number of tournaments that could step up to the plate. "Irish Open. Spanish Open. Scottish Open is obviously a co-sanctioned event now, which is a big step forward. Wentworth. There's a few obvious ones that stick out. 

"You could try to incorporate (them) into more of a World Tour schedule, more so than it just being purely DP World, purely PGA Tour, and trying to sort of combine the two a little bit."

There has certainly been some reaction to the news of the designated tournaments, with Eddie Pepperell calling it one of the “worst things to happen to the game in the last 12 months”. Along with the Englishman, LIV golfers couldn't help but take a dig, with Richard Bland asking: "How does this help the so called strategic alliance with the DP World Tour", whilst Ian Poulter called it "ironic".