World No 1 Rory McIlroy reckons a type of merger between the PGA Tour and the European Tour should be supported, now more than ever.
McIlroy got off to a steady start at the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday with an opening-round 68 at the Colonial Country Club.
Watch: Charles Schwab Highlights round one
The PGA Tour has finally returned to action after 91 days without any golf and given the severe circumstances and protocols that currently have to be followed, McIlroy is concerned about the division that is being created, given the fact that the European Tour will only resume by the end of July.
‘It’s not great when they’re having to do things and they’re taking such a financial hit because of the coronavirus and this pandemic. So am I concerned? Yes. But I don’t know what else I can do. I don’t feel like I’m responsible for the health of the Tour. I’m a player; I play on the Tour and I’m very grateful for the opportunity that they’ve provided me over the years.
‘But if anything, I think this pandemic has highlighted the fact that the game of golf at the highest level needs to be simplified. I think there’s too many funnels, there’s too many channels. I don’t know if everything being under one umbrella is the solution, but definitely fewer umbrellas I think is a way forward, and I think that’s what — trying to sort of figure out everything as we’ve been going along.’
The Northern Irishman worries that a too complicated system, especially now, could do more harm than good for the world of golf as tours continue to search for compromises and adjustments in order to complete the season schedule.
McIlroy feels a correspondence between the PGA Tour and European Tour could indeed be the way forward to ensure players aren’t at a disadvantage from competing.
‘I’ve sort of been calling for it for a while. Yeah, I would like to see that. I think for the health of both tours, a world tour is something I’ve always wanted, but it had to be done the right way. I think the PGL coming in and trying to do it their way wasn’t the right thing, so trying to make change from within the game already and not letting an outsider come in is the right way to do it, so I’d be supportive of that for sure,’ continued McIlroy.
The decision that the Official World Golf Ranking will come into effect again this week has caused a lot of anger from players on the European Tour, who won’t be in action until its resumption at the British Masters.
‘Tours consolidating, whether it’s some European Tour events offering FedExCup points and some PGA TOUR events offering Race to Dubai points, I don’t know, but yeah, just a little bit more cohesion, and then I think, as well, trying to figure out the schedule going forward this year,’ he further suggested.
