Let’s not pillory Rory for trying to iron out play

FOR the European Tour it is a question of priorities.

Do they want Rory McIlroy to be the best he can be, to win Majors and continue to bring superstar quality to their Ryder Cup team in 2020?

Or would they rather have him around more often, looking as jaded and out of sorts as he’s been over the last couple of seasons?

Put in such stark terms surely it’s a no-brainer. So let’s lay off McIlroy and respect his right to do what he feels he needs to get back to his best.

The reaction to him speculating he might curtail his appearances in Europe next season was more hysterical than necessary.

For a start, it’s not set in stone the Northern Irishman will not play the four Tour events outside the Majors and WGCs required to fulfil the criteria of membership.

So far he is committed to two but his admission he can’t be sure he’ll manage another couple on his schedule is the characteristic honesty of a guy who doesn’t shirk a straight question.

Many other golfers would have thought twice about answering so frankly and for that McIlroy is due credit, not condemnation.

That hasn’t stopped critics questioning his commitment to his home tour’s cause or suggesting he’s killing his chances of ever being Ryder Cup captain due to last year’s rule change.

The regulation states “players cannot be a European Ryder Cup captain or a vicecaptain if they decline membership of the European Tour or fail to fulfil their minimum event obligation in any season, from 2018 onwards.”

But rules can be relaxed as quickly as they are brought in, let alone over the passage of 20 years before he’d even be considering swapping clubs for the captaincy.

Make no mistake, the financial success of this biennial cash cow props up the European Tour, covering the losses made in a non-Ryder Cup year.

If you honestly think the Tour would deny themselves the obvious commercial appeal of having Rory captain Europe, you naively ignore the biggest commodity underpinning the whole event.

What would be more damaging for the Tour – and the Ryder Cup – would be if his career stutters. If his spellbinding 20s turn to a stagnating 30s and he never adds to his haul of four Majors.

If he never claims that elusive Masters to join the

Give Rory space to get his mojo back and he will repay with much more

club of career Grand Slam winners. So if getting back to his brilliant best means stripping back his schedule for one season in order to base himself more in America then so be it. Don’t pillory him for it, support him.

Understand his reasoning which, when he laid it out all so openly last week, made a lot of sense. It was a measured, sensible assessment and one that European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley should respect.

For McIlroy is far more valuable to him as a superstar seen occasionally than a mediocre ever-present.

Give him space to get his mojo back and he will repay with much more in the long term.