Rory McIlroy is set to dramatically cut his playing schedule next year, with the World No.3 revealing he could feature in just 18 tournaments in 2025.
The Northern Irishman has just wrapped up his 21st start of the season at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship, where he finished in a tie for ninth at East Lake.
The four-time Dubai Desert Classic champion is now set to finish the year on the DP World Tour with appearances in Ireland, England, Scotland, Abu Dhabi and Dubai all pencilled in over the coming months.
That will take his tournament total to 26 for 2024, while he’s also expected to make one more start this year, which could potentially be at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
After telling reporters that 27 events was certainly his limit, the four-time Major champion revealed he could well be set for a major schedule change in 2025.
“I'm usually sort of like a 22 sort of person,” said McIlroy, who is leading the way for the Harry Vardon Trophy on the Race to Dubai.
“But again, that was when I was sort of in my 20s and didn't have the responsibilities that I do now. I'm going to try to cut it back to like 18 or 20 a year going forward, I think.
“I feel like the tournaments came thick and fast, and obviously with the Olympics thrown in there, as well, this year, it sort of condensed everything a bit.
“It's been a long season, and I'm going to just have to think about trying to build in a few extra breaks here and there next year and going forward because I felt like I hit a bit of a wall sort of post-U.S. Open, and still feel a little bit of that hangover.”
While those events are likely to be cut from his PGA Tour schedule, McIlroy could also feature in fewer DP World Tour events next year due to the new Ryder Cup qualification process.
The new process arguably favours players that play predominantly on the PGA Tour, with there now only being one Ryder Cup Points List operational in the 2024/2025 qualification period.
PGA Tour Signature Events, the FedExCup Play-Offs and the Players will each have 3000 points up for grabs, while regular PGA Tour events have 2000 points on offer.
In comparison, DP World Tour Rolex Series events offer 2000 points and regular events between 1000-1500.
We won’t know McIlroy’s full schedule for the season until early next year, but we do know that the 35-year-old will do everything in his power to be part of Luke Donald’s European side at Bethpage Black next year.
“I think once Rickie gave Tommy that putt on the 16th with green, I started thinking about Bethpage,” said McIlroy.
“The qualifying started in Europe, and we're all trying to get points on the board early to make sure that we don't have to rely on a pick. I think that's obviously the big thing.
“I think one of the great things that we did leading up to Rome is we pretty much had the team set a few months in advance, so hopefully we can do the same thing again and know the 12 that we're bringing to New York pretty early.
“We can then, I guess, think about pairings, think about all of those things that you need to so that once we get there a few weeks out, we're prepared, and everyone knows what they're doing.”
