Rory McIlroy became the first player to retain their Masters title at this year’s Masters.
The Career Grand Slam winner brought his major championship wins tally to six, level with Phil Mickelson, Lee Trevino, and Sir Nick Faldo. He enters a new stratosphere among the all-time greats of the game.
With PGA Tour players having won the last six major championships, you’d think this would be great news for the tour as they look to finish off LIV Golf in their ongoing battle. But in the long run, this could cause serious problems.
Why Rory McIlroy’s Masters win should worry the PGA Tour
Many doubted McIlroy before this year’s Masters because he hadn’t played for weeks before arriving at Augusta. He withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational and hadn’t played competitively since The Players.
But that gave McIlroy time to focus on The Masters. He revealed that he spent the weeks leading up to the year’s first major flying back and forth to Augusta to prepare for his Masters defense.
He also admitted he didn’t play in the Valspar Championship, the Houston Open, or the Texas Open in the build-up to The Masters because he doesn’t really like those events. He thought his time would be better spent focusing on the major season.
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This is a worrying sign for the PGA Tour. McIlroy now has a template that involves playing fewer events leading up to majors in order to lock in on the biggest tournaments. This could be a turning point for McIlroy to feature less and less on the PGA Tour.
As CEO Brian Rolapp looks for ways to encourage players to play in more of their events, McIlroy might be about to push the other way and focus more on the majors. That would be a blow to their new vision.
The PGA Tour’s new vision requires players to play more often
Rolapp has announced that the PGA Tour is looking to shrink its schedule to around 20 events, all of equal value in money and in FedEx Cup points. He wants an end to the signature event format, where players can pick and choose when they play.
If every event pays the same, then, in theory, the best players would be encouraged to play more often to earn more points in the FedEx Cup race. With the biggest stars playing more often, these events would be must-see week in, week out.
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But if McIlroy decides that he cares only about his major record moving forward, the PGA Tour’s new schedule would be severely threatened. If the best players in the world realized that not playing on the tour is best for their major preparation, then the FedEx Cup could become a bit of a joke.
That’s why when the tour is building their new schedule, they must allow some breathing room in the lead up to the majors, and play at venues that the stars want to play at. Otherwise, the events before the majors would hardly be worth watching.
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