Rory May Cement His European Tour Winless Streak By Playing PGA Tour Full Time In 2019

I think everyone was a bit shocked by Rory McIlroy’s suggestion he’s pondering an all-PGA Tour schedule in his 2019 future to play against better competition, particularly given how few true European Tour events he plays and that he has one win on the that tour in the last three years.

Now, saying you want to spend more time in the U.S. because you have a nice home here, the weather is better and your wife is from here would have have sufficed. But suggesting the competition element is behind your thinking when Europe just dominated the Ryder Cup and your lone win since 2016 came in the Irish Open, seems like a shot at the European Tour more than it’s a compliment to the PGA Tour.

Anyway, from Ewan Murray’s Guardian story from the season-ending Dubai event:

“I am starting my year off in the States and that will be the big focus of mine up until the end of August and then we will assess from there,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of ‘pure’ European Tour events on my schedule up until the end of August. I guess my thing is that I want to play against the strongest fields week-in and week-out and for the most part of the season that is in America.

“If I want to continue to contend in the majors and to continue my journey back towards the top of the game, then that’s what I want to do.”

We discussed today on Golf Central’s Alternate Shot: