'Diminished' PGA Tour could scale back - McIlroy - Voice of Asia

Rory McIlroy believes that golf fans may be experiencing "fatigue" due to the sheer number of events now available, and suggested that the current PGA Tour schedule is "absolutely too much." The 35-year-old Northern Irish golfer has been outspoken in his criticism of the breakaway LIV Golf tour, while also being a co-founder of the upcoming TGL (Tomorrow Golf League), which is entering its inaugural season.

With the rise of YouTube golf content, McIlroy, ranked third in the world, acknowledged that the PGA Tour's more traditional event schedule has been "diluted" by the substantial competition from elsewhere, and suggested emulating the National Football League (NFL), which has a 17-game regular season. "I can see how, with the amount of golf that's on offer, that the consumer can get a little fatigued," McIlroy said. "So, maybe a little bit of contraction and maybe adding a little bit of scarcity to what we do, like the NFL, I don't think would be a bad thing." He added, "I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is absolutely too much."

McIlroy is set to begin his 2025 PGA Tour campaign this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and cautioned against making too many changes in an attempt to mimic other events. "I don't think we should be lowering the bar of golf to try to get more people into it," he said. "Golf is golf, at the end of the day. It's been like this for hundreds of years. You know, I really like the way golf is, I think a lot of people do, but I still understand the criticisms of how the entertainment product can be better." He concluded, "Hopefully people find it entertaining, and if they don't, I don't know what to say."

A persistent criticism of PGA Tour events in recent weeks has been the slow pace of play, and the four-time major winner admitted there are no easy solutions. As a signature event, the field at Pebble Beach this week will be limited to 80 players, but adopting such a field size for the entire season would deprive others of playing opportunities. "There's a lot of different answers, and not every answer is going to make everyone happy," he said. "I would say shrinking the field. Shrinking the field would help pace of play, but it would deprive people of opportunities. I think the other thing is when we play at this time of year, the tee times have to be tighter to get everyone around before dark." He added, "If we could spread the tee times out a little bit, hopefully that would help with pace of play."