Mcilroy confirms he won’t be home for the Irish Open

Rory Mcilroy has confirmed he will not compete in this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open or any other tournaments outside of the United States for the foreseeable future.

The Irish Open has been switched from Mount Juliet to Galgorm Castle in Mcilroy’s native Northern Ireland and takes place the week after the US Open at Winged Foot.

It forms part of a second “UK Swing” on the European Tour with the subsequent ASI Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship, but Mcilroy is not interested in overseas travel during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m planning to stay in the States, I don’t see myself travelling internationally for a while,” Mcilroy said ahead of the Northern Trust at TPC Boston, the first Fedex Cup play-off event.

“I’m playing four of the next five weeks with that last week being a major championship.

“It might be different if there could be fans there and stuff, but it’s behind closed doors and it’s not an Irish Open like we’re used to it being the last few years with obviously big prize funds and everything.

“But not even that, (it’s) just the fact I want to spend time at home and not travel too much the next few months.”

With numerous tournaments in the Far East being cancelled or postponed, the CJ Cup is rumoured to be among the events which could temporarily relocate to the US and Mcilroy sounds interested in taking part.

The 31-year-old said: “If they were to do that, I don’t want to diminish the tournaments, but it’s a gap-filler, right?

“You play US Open, you play those couple on the west coast and then you play The Masters. That sounds like a wonderful fall (autumn) schedule to me.”

● Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour season is over after he withdrew from the Northern Trust due to injury.

Koepka has struggled with injuries to his left knee and a hip.