After the British Open, Rory McIlroy admitted something no PGA Tour executive wants to hear.<\/p>\n
The Northern Irishman, 37, agreed that the PGA Tour and the FedEx Cup don\u2019t get his juices going as much as they once did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it just sort of ebbs and flows,\u201d McIlroy said after being asked about his interest in the two. \u201cThere\u2019s been years where I\u2019ve given [the PGA Tour] maybe more of my attention and years that I haven\u2019t. Yeah, I guess I\u2019m just at a stage that I have other things that I prioritize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland\u2019s Rory McIlroy leaves the 12th green on day three of the 154th Open Golf championship. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Rory said the PGA Tour schedule changes have played a part in his wavering enthusiasm, including the change to the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n
The tournament switched in 2025 from a staggered stroke start to a straight 72-hole stroke-play event, diminishing the importance of tournaments leading up to it.<\/p>\n
The top 30 players now qualify based on a point system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just need to be in the top 30 going in there to have a chance to win a FedEx Cup,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cSo why would I care about the first two [tournaments]? I sort of came to that decision last year, and I\u2019m just sort of doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The admission comes after McIlroy struggled to find his game during the British Open, finishing tied for 40th at 1-under.<\/p>\n
He said he felt \u201cstuck in neutral for most of the week,\u201d getting a bogey anytime he thought he had a bit of momentum.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland looks on during day four of the The 154th Open Championship. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Regardless of the weekend\u2019s struggles, McIlroy has placed himself among the best golfers of all time, winning the career grand slam at the 2026 Masters.<\/p>\n
The issue, though, is that his success is also part of his dying enthusiasm for the tour. McIlroy has seemingly lost the love for winning the smaller tournaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m nearly 20 years into this, and I need to do everything I can to keep my enthusiasm as high as possible, and playing a lighter schedule definitely does that,\u201d McIlroy said after the Scottish Open.<\/p>\n
The world No. 2 golfer added that a lighter schedule lets him see his family more, specifically his wife Erica and daughter Poppy.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off the 5th hole during the final day of the British Open Golf championships. AP Photo\/Peter Morrison<\/p>\n
The Northern Irishman will take another break following the British Open, with the plan to take several weeks off until the Tour Championship in late August.<\/p>\n
McIlroy said he hasn\u2019t really had the chance to celebrate his Masters win in April, so will do that during the break.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoppy\u2019s got another four weeks off school until she goes back, so I\u2019m just going to enjoy the summer holidays with her and Erica,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m looking forward to the most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the British Open, Rory McIlroy admitted something no PGA Tour executive wants to hear. The Northern Irishman,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2635,44,144,399,56],"class_list":["post-41027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rory-mcilroy","tag-british-open","tag-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}