McIlroy to strengthen campaign in pursuit of top spot

Rory McIlroy dropped a bombshell by hinting he could give up his European Tour membership in an effort to get back to the top of the world rankings in 2019.

The world No. 7 plans to concentrate on playing in the United States, especially with the changes that have been made to the 2019 world golf schedule.

Four-time Major winner McIlroy is a three-time champion of the Tour's Race to Dubai and has been a part of every European Ryder Cup team since 2010.

Next year, the WGCMexico Championship will be played in February, the Players Championship has been advanced to March, the Masters in April, the PGA Championship has been moved to May and the US Open is in June.

Which means there will be one big tournament every month across the Pacific until the British Open in July.

"I am starting my year off in the States (at the Tournament of Champions) and that will be the big focus of mine up until the end of August and then we will assess it from there," said the former world No. 1.

"I think it is the result of the changes," he explained ahead of the Tour's season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

"The way the schedule has worked for next year, it is going to be different for a lot of guys.

"Everything is going to be so condensed between March and August, and that is why I am taking a big off-season to get myself ready, and then go at it hard from March all the way through to basically the end of the season."

The former world No. 1 has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year - his only title in the last two years - and he is eager to get back to the top echelon of the sport.

"I'd maybe give it like a B-minus, and a win this week would get it up to a B," said McIlroy about his season.

"I don't want to continue to dwell on the negatives. There's been a lot of positives in there, as well. I've played very consistently. I've had 10 top-10s. I finished second and had a great chance to win The Open.