Rory McIlroy outlines major PGA Tour change he thinks fans would strongly support

The Northern Irishman, who was also the main draw at Royal Melbourne, feels tournaments like the Australian Open could benefit if the PGA Tour season were trimmed down.

He said (via Fox Sports): “Yeah, I think I understand what they’re doing. They’re trying to get their domestic model right before focusing internationally, and they obviously don’t want to go up against football.

“NFL is king in the States, and it makes sense from an American point of view, but then I think it does let international and global golf shine for five months of the year.

“So if the Tour are really thinking about playing from February through to August, that leaves September through to January for here and Europe and wherever else in the world to really be the shining light of golf for those five months. So I think people could really get behind that.

“And you sort of have the American swing with maybe the Scottish Open and The Open in the middle, but the rest of the big international stuff sort of in that September to January time frame, which I think works pretty well, especially for the southern hemisphere, for tournaments like this.”

Rory McIlroy’s proposed change could work very well for golf fans

Reducing the number of events is something PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has openly discussed, though details on what that might look like have not been made clear yet.

As McIlroy mentioned, cutting down the schedule would put more eyes on events like the Australian Open.

That would not be a bad thing, considering how well this year’s event went. The Australian Open drew huge crowds and strong viewership numbers, showing there is a real appetite for golf outside the traditional American calendar.

This was despite it going head-to-head with Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge, which included Scottie Scheffler and many of the game’s biggest names.