{"id":658583,"date":"2026-08-27T03:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/658583\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T03:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T03:50:26","slug":"rory-mcilroy-looking-to-finish-pga-tour-season-on-a-high-as-he-targets-a-fourth-tour-championship-crown-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/658583\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy looking to finish PGA Tour season on a high as he targets a fourth Tour Championship crown \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy<\/a> can put a gloss on his PGA Tour<\/a> season when he tees up at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship, seeking his fourth title at the tour\u2019s season-ending event.<\/p>\n

Should he fail to win, it will be his first PGA Tour season without a non-Major victory since 2020, but after another Green Jacket from Augusta was secured in April, McIlroy will not be too concerned.<\/p>\n

The world number two\u2019s light US schedule put him at odds with the PGA Tour\u2019s 15-event minimum requirement, falling one short, while he will have only completed 13 events after withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back injury.<\/p>\n

Between March and August, McIlroy only played two non-Major tournaments on US soil as he made the move to London to be his primary residence and focused on practising to prepare for Majors.<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour\u2019s chief executive Brian Rolapp said he has a \u201cfair amount of discretion\u201d with the rules and McIlroy will keep his full playing privileges next season, with the 15-event minimum being re-evaluated in the new competitive model from 2028.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s light schedule in the US is likely to continue in the future, focusing on playing DP World Tour events in the autumn, as it has been the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play at least 22 times around the world in a calendar year, which is as much if not more than some of the other top players in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to keep that number around that same mark, like 20 to 22 events. That seems to be a good number for me. If I\u2019m committed to playing that sort of heavier schedule in the fall [autumn], to go over to the DP World Tour and support that, then yeah, my schedule on the PGA Tour is going to be quite light compared to some others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PGAPGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp. Photograph: Cliff Hawkins\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

McIlroy said he is working together with Rolapp on \u201cexciting\u201d new plans for the DP World Tour after the PGA Tour announced it will change its structure from 2028.<\/p>\n

That gives the DP World Tour, which has a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour, a five-month window to become the forefront of world golf, especially given the uncertainty of the LIV Tour<\/a> after the withdrawal of funding from Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund.<\/p>\n

The Telegraph reported on Monday that a new global series of events would feature big-money tournaments in England, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, South Africa and the Far East.<\/p>\n

McIlroy said the report was \u201cclose to the mark, but not quite there\u201d, where Irish Open organisers will hope he will use his influence to get the tournament included among the signature events.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would allow guys to take up [DP World Tour] membership, to then have something to play for at the end of the DP World Tour season, if they choose to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause this Tour is not starting until February in 2028, that means you could put the final events of the DP World Tour season in January. So people could actually go over, whether it\u2019s to the Middle East or elsewhere, to play those final two events, if that was something that was interesting to them. And then [they] also could be at their first couple of events of the season to make sure they\u2019re ready to go for the Championship Series in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his only win coming at the Masters, McIlroy\u2019s PGA Tour season stats are impressive \u2013 second in scoring average, third in strokes gained and second in driving distance with an average of 330 yards \u2013 and after showing form at the BMW Championship last week, he should contend in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could argue that each of the FedExCups I\u2019ve won I maybe wasn\u2019t the best player of the entire year, but I always felt like it was a way to redeem myself or end the year on a really positive note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EastEast Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia was the home course of Bobby Jones. Photograph: Kevin C Cox\/Getty Images Tour Championship lowdown<\/p>\n

Purse: <\/b>$40 million (\u20ac34.3 million); $10 million (\u20ac8.57 million for the winner).<\/p>\n

Where:<\/b> Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n

The course:<\/b> East Lake. The host of the Tour Championship since 2004, the home course of the legendary Bobby Jones has provided plenty of exciting finishes over the years, but is set to be replaced as the season-ending course in 2028 when the Tour Championship is revamped to become a two-week match play tournament over a rotation of \u201cprestigious venues\u201d.<\/p>\n

The field:<\/b> The best 30 players on the PGA Tour this season compete, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, last week\u2019s winner Wyndham Clark and defending champion Tommy Fleetwood. There are no \u201cgimmicks\u201d of starting strokes or different calculations to be made based on previous performances, the player with the best score takes the $10 million. <\/p>\n

Irish in the field:<\/b> Rory McIlroy is the sole Irish player in the field after Shane Lowry was eliminated after the first playoff event. McIlroy has won the Tour Championship three times, tied the most of any player with Tiger Woods, all three coming at East Lake (2016, 2019 and 2022). The Masters champion appeared to brush off any rustiness of a mediocre FedEx St Jude Championship after a month off with a much improved BMW Championship, where he finished third.<\/p>\n

Quote-Unquote:<\/b> \u201cA season-ending structure that rewards excellence over the course of the year while building toward a reimagined Tour Championship. We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it.\u201d \u2013 PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp on the new plans for the 2028 Tour Championship.<\/p>\n

Betting:<\/b> Scheffler is favourite at 7-2, McIlroy second favourite at 9-1, then Xander Schauffele is 10-1. Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Clark and Ludvig Aberg are 16-1.<\/p>\n

On TV:<\/b> Sky Sports Golf from 6pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy can put a gloss on his PGA Tour season when he tees up at East Lake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,19,17,14408,5952,5950,132],"class_list":["post-658583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117165440610505297","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}