McIlroy calls for PGA Tour to scale back — "47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many”

Rory McIlroy believes the PGA Tour has been “diminished” by over-saturation and reckons it might not be a bad thing to “scale it back” by reducing the number of events to leave “fatigued” fans wanting more.

In an era where slow play is turning viewers off and the major tours are competing for eyeballs with LIV Golf, YouTube influencers and even his own TGL, the Holywood star believes golf should not “dumb down” just to get bigger audiences and entertain by simply producing compelling golf.

“When we're growing up dreaming of professional golfers and trying to get the best out of ourselves, the last thing on our mind is being an entertainer,” McIlroy said ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he is joined by Shane Lowry and Seamus Power and the returning world number one Scottie Scheffler.  

“We’re competitive people at the end of the day, we want to play against the best players in the world and we want to try to come out on top.

“I think that in itself should be entertaining to people, but I think in this day and age, you know, it's become a hobby to bash golf and where golf is and is it entertaining, is it not entertaining.

“I came out on the wrong side of it last year, but I would say the last round of the US Open was pretty entertaining last year and that was pure competitive golf. I think the more we can get to scenarios like that, the better.”

While his simulator golf TGL venture with Tiger Woods aims to attract a younger demographic for two hours a week from January to March, McIlroy believes golf can help itself by having a proper off-season.

“I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that's sort of available to them,” he said.

“So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think mightn't be a bad thing. I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many.”

As for slow play, he struggles to see how a shot clock concept could be introduced and points to nail-biting finishes as the only way forward.

“There's a lot of things about golf that are very different than other sports, but I think that's what makes it unique,” he said. “I don't think we should try to dumb down golf to appeal to more people.”

Justin Thomas has asked players to be more accommodating of the media but McIlroy reckons the competition should be enough and Scheffler agrees.

“I never strived to be an entertainer,” said the Texan, who returns to action following surgery to a hand injury he suffered when a  wine glass he was using to cut out pasta shapes shattered into his upper palm on Christmas Day.

“I think Justin did bring up some good points about being open to doing a bit more stuff, but at the end of the day I think what people like is competition.  

“I think the more we can stop talking about all the other BS that's going on in the game of golf. I mean, we're playing Pebble Beach this week…”

Scheffler won nine times last year, and McIlroy expects him to dominate again if he continues to limit his mistakes

“I've never – this is anyone, this is Tiger, this is in the history of golf – I don't think I've ever seen a golfer play as many bogey-free rounds as Scottie,” McIlroy said.

“He just doesn't make mistakes. It's so impressive… If he continues to do that, he's going to be the dominant force that he was last year and the year before that.”

Scheffler’s cooking accident cost him the chance to play The Sentry and The American Express but he was relieved he didn’t do more damage.  

“It's one of those deals where immediately after it happened I was mad at myself because I was like gosh, that's so stupid, but you just don't think about it when you're in the moment,” Scheffler said.

“It really wasn't like terrible, but I knew I kind of messed something up just because the way my hand wasn't really moving much and if I did, it hurt pretty bad. So I kind of knew something was up.”

After undergoing surgery and getting the all clear from medics, he’s itching to get going.

“Yeah, season debut, it's a little weird making it this late in the year, but yeah, good to be back,” he said.

“Everything's feeling good. Yeah, it's nice to be here at Pebble. Definitely excited to play. Feeling well rested. Overall feeling good.”

Elsewhere, Leona Maguire makes her 2025 debut in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona.

On the DP World Tour, Pádraig Harrington and Conor Purcell play the Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship at Royal Golf Club while on the HotelPlanner Tour, Liam Nolan will be looking to build on last week’s brilliant third place finish in the MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood Estate in South Africa.

He’s joined in Hartbeespoort by Max Kennedy, Robert Moran, Jonathan Caldwell and Dermot McElroy.