Rory McIlroy Says Europe Needs to 'Get Into the Mix' for New PGA Tour Designated Events

Beginning next year, there will be 11 events outside of the four major championships and Players Championship that will be “designated," but none are outside the U.S.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy addressed an issue that multiple changes to the PGA Tour schedule have still neglected: the Tour’s “strategic alliance’’ with the DP World Tour.

Since its announcement in 2021, the two tours have co-sanctioned a couple of events, including the Genesis Scottish Open, which allows 50 players from each tour into the field the week preceding the British Open.

Last year, the Tour said that the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour points list not otherwise exempt would receive a full PGA Tour card for the following year, another addition to the strategic alliance.

But with all of the talk about “designated events’’ and increases purses, the DP World Tour, so far, has not been included.

“I think Europe needs to get into the mix,’’ McIlroy said Friday at the Bay Hill Club after shooting 69 in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I think everyone knows this (the PGA Tour) is the place that you want to play golf, right? People complain about these 10 cards going to European Tour players that get on this Tour. But if I’m a European Tour player, that’s brilliant.

“Instead of trying to think about what’s good for the Tour, think about what’s good for the players who are on that Tour. I think that’s where people need to sort of reframe their mind a little bit.

“So to have the opportunity to be in the top 10 in Europe and then get over where all the opportunity is, which is here – I’m not saying there’s no opportunity over there, there is. But the one thing I would like to see going forward with this designated events schedule is trying to get some of those tournaments in the mix overseas.’’

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sent a memo to players on Wednesday outlining an update to the designated events system that was first introduced this year. As part of the plan, there will be 11 events outside of the four major championships and Players Championship that will be “designated’’ with increased purses and smaller fields. A majority will likely be played without a 36-hole cut, which means all players get paid.

But none of the tournaments are outside of the United States. As it stands, only four events in the 34-week window from Kapalua in January through the Tour Championship in August will be played outside of the U.S. – the Mexico Open, the RBC Canadian Open, the Scottish Open and the Open Championship, which this year is at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy’s desire to get some DP World Tour events designated as part of the schedule will be tricky. He named a few that could be possibilities.

“Irish Open. Spanish Open. Scottish Open is obviously a co-sanctioned event now which is a big step forward,’’ he said. “Wentworth (home of the flagship tournament, the BMW PGA Championship.) There’s a few obvious ones that stick out that you could try to incorporate into more of a world tour schedule, more so than it just being purely DP World, purely PGA Tour and trying to sort of combine the two a little bit.’’