Rory McIlroy has one PGA Tour Signature Event win to his name this season.
The PGA Tour brought the Signature Event model into play in 2023, but is McIlroy a fan of the elevated events?
Originally referred to as designated events two years ago, the eight tournaments in 2025 have drawn huge crowds and big interest from golf fans.
The elevated tournaments with increased prize pots were initially brought into place as an answer to the riches on offer over on LIV Golf.
Interestingly, Bryson DeChambeau predicted last year that LIV golfers would end up integrating with PGA Tour stars for the Signature Events.
That obviously hasn’t turned out to be the case, up until now at least.
Aside from that though, have the Signature Events been a positive addition on the whole for the PGA Tour?
Rory McIlroy says whether the PGA Tour’s Signature Event system works
McIlroy recently said playing a Signature Event the week before a major is a good thing, but he’s not so keen on playing one after a mentally draining week at a major championship.
The Northern Irishman won the second elevated event of the 2025 season at Pebble Beach earlier this year.
But is he a fan of the system in general?
Dan Rapaport shared what McIlroy told him about signature events, when speaking on The Dan on Golf Podcast on Monday.
He said: “What a great week, super fun to watch, and this is what Signature Events are about. I asked Rory about this earlier in the week when I was at the Travelers, I said, ‘how do you feel three years in if the Signature Event model is working?’, and he said, ‘I think it is working if you look at the tournaments we’ve had and the winners we’ve had’. Yeh, it was a fantastic show the week after the US Open.“
The PGA Tour haven’t found the perfect Signature Event system
The PGA Tour have received criticism from some quarters for inviting certain players who were not qualified to compete at Signature Events.
Rickie Fowler received a sponsor exemption for the Travelers Championship, and his second round 77 made that decision look like a poor one.
However, in fairness to Fowler, he did bounce back with rounds of 64 and 67 to finish in a respectable tie for 36th.
However, the biggest problem as far as I’m concerned is two-fold.
Firstly, the eight events are crammed in too close together. It doesn’t feel right that we haven’t even reached the height of summer yet and all of the Signature Events are done and dusted.
And secondly, there is no place for an elevated event after a major championship, despite what some people are saying about the success of the Travelers.
None of the best players in the world genuinely want to go and play another tournament immediately after a physically and mentally draining week at a major.
The PGA Tour will need to take a good look at those two things moving forward, if the Signature Event system is to be an unadulterated success.
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