Mcilroy threat to quit European Tour
Focus on US circuit and winning more majors Move will bar him from Ryder Cup captaincy
Rory Mcilroy is considering turning his back on the European Tour next year, even though it could cost him the chance ever to be Ryder Cup captain.
The Northern Irishman revealed that he is scheduled to play only two regular Tour events in 2019 as he concentrates on the PGA Tour and his ambition to win more majors. Under a regulation drawn up last year, that would bar him from becoming a Europe vice-captain or captain in the future.
The rule says: “Players cannot be a European Ryder Cup captain or a vice-captain if they decline membership of the European Tour or fail to fulfil their minimum event obligation in any season, from 2018 onwards.”
Mcilroy would need to appear in a minimum of four regular events – including his home tournament, which is the Irish Open. But because of the revamp to the major calendar, which sees the US PGA Championship moving forward from August to May, the 29-yearold world No7 is unsure how often he will return from his Florida base to his home tour.
There is even the possibility he will miss the Irish Open, an event that he has helped save by promoting it for the last four years. He is definitely teeing it up in the European Masters in Switzerland, because of a sponsor commitment, and he may add the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club.
“Everything is up in the air,” Mcilroy said. However, what is certain is that he will be well rested when he starts 2019 proper.
After the DP World Tour Championship, which begins here at Jumeirah Golf Estates tomorrow, he will play only one tournament in the ensuing 13 weeks, meaning that for the first time he will skip the European Tour’s “Desert Swing” in January.
“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 to have that break and impose an off-season on myself and then go at it hard from March all the way through to basically the end of the season,” Mcilroy said.
“I’ve got two events on my schedule in Europe. I am starting my year off in the US [in Hawaii in January] and that tour will be the big focus of mine up until the end of August and then we will assess from there.
“I’ve a couple of ‘pure’ European Tour events on my schedule up until the end of August. I guess my thing is that I want to play against the strongest fields week in and week out and for the most part of the season that is in America.
“If I want to continue to contend in the majors … and to continue my journey back towards the top of the game, then that’s what I want to do.
“If it were to be that I don’t fulfil my membership next year, it’s not a Ryder Cup year so it’s not the end of the world. I am always going to want to play the Ryder Cup, so if that does happen, so be it, and I will try and make the Ryder Cup team the year after.”
If Mcilroy decides to hand in his card for 2019 it will mean he will be playing catch-up in qualifying for the 2020 match, because any points he earns as a non-member will not count. However, he would believe this to be a risk worth taking and back himself to earn the requisite points in a more limited time.