Rory McIlroy Going Global In Coming Years

For Rory McIlroy, 2025 was truly his year.  He managed to accomplish the career grand slam with his win at the Masters Tournament.  Now on the DP World Tour, he finds himself with his own award named after him.  McIlroy has achieved such success that in the following years, he plans to take his game to a more international level.  This may not sit well with the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy Going Global

It is not unusual for players to play for other leagues.  McIlroy has played for the DP World Tour this year, and he even won this year’s Irish Open.  Plenty of players on the PGA Tour play for the DP World Tour and the Asian Tour while the PGA is in its off-season.  Even LIV players do this, as part of a way to gather OWGR points.

Recently, McIlroy has expressed a desire to do international tournaments more often.  Back in October, he admitted to this.

“I would say as time goes on, my schedule will get hopefully more international.  Because that’s what I’ve enjoyed doing, but I think over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed it even more.  I’ve enjoyed getting to play in front of people that I’ve never played in front of before.  But it does, it fits really nicely.”

With this next move in his career, McIlroy will have plenty of doors open to him.  He will, of course, continue to play for the PGA Tour, but keep to a minimum attendance, all while traveling around the world.

Clashing With The PGA

During the FedEx Cup, Rory McIlroy skipped the St Jude Championship.  A move that sparked criticism for him.  He did it to give himself a small break between tournaments.  However, it did spark a call for a rule change that could have had McIlroy removed from the FedEx Cup.  With McIlroy planning on skipping more PGA events, there seems to be some talks behind the scenes.  On the Golf Channel podcast, Rex Hoggard said that he believes the PGA is not happy with this.  In fact, there was some “hand-wringing last week when he talked about rolling back his schedule.”  

Although McIlroy is working within the rules of the PGA, there may be retaliation against him for skipping so many events.  The minimum attendance may be raised in the coming years as a direct result of this.

McIlroy And The PGA In 2026

Going into 2026, McIlroy is still riding high from his success in 2025.  He won’t be leaving the PGA Tour anytime soon.  The PGA Tour has limited power over McIlroy, due to how pro golfers are contractual workers.  The Tour will have some issues with McIlroy if he continues to take advantage of the rules, especially in the FedEx Cup if there is a repeat of what happened this year.  However, unless the Tour decides to retaliate, McIlroy will be enjoying his career as he takes his game global.  Players from around the world are going to have to watch out for McIlroy, because he may just stroll up to the tee box.