The “will he, won’t he” drama of Rory McIlroy committing to the European Tour continues this week. After initially stating that he wouldn’t focus on the European Tour in 2019, Euro Tour hot shots went into crisis mode, met with Rory and talked him back into standing by the ole European Tour. Well, this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions pressers, Rory seems to have changed his tune again.
First Rory starts by saying the decision was easy because of his general quality of life:
“Easy, my life’s here [the U.S.]. I have an American wife. I live in America. Honestly, I enjoy it here more. The way of life is easier. The weather. The convenience.”
Oh, ok. These seem like reasonable things. But wait, there’s more…
“I’ve always been trying to split my time [between Tours], and this year … I’m sick of always showing up in Florida 100th in the FedEx Cup,” he said. “Not that it’s a big deal. I’ll always play enough golf to give myself a chance at the end. I just don’t like seeing that number beside my name. The rest of the guys have played 12 PGA Tour events, and I’m playing my first or my second … you’re not in a good position starting off.
“You go to Europe and get paid a nice amount of money to start the year,” added the 29-year-old, who also owns eight wins on the European Tour and one in Australia. “I want to switch it up. I’ve done it for 11 years so I may as well do something a little different.”
Well, that’s a fair argument from Rory. To maintain his “elite stature,” he’d prefer to not start behind the 8 Ball in competing for the $10mil prize at the end of the year on the PGA Tour. I totally get that. BUT WAIT, there’s more again, and it’s based on one of our favorite topics at DRH…Official World Golf Ranking points.
“It’s so one-sided. Look, you can talk all you want about these bigger events in Europe, but you can go to America and play for more money and more ranking points. I think as well with the world ranking points, everyone out here, all of their contracts with sponsors, it’s all about world ranking points. If players are getting paid more and earning more world ranking points, why would you play over there?”
Oh man, that’s tough to argue with. I imagine this is somewhat of a tough pill to swallow for those guys that chased after Rory to bring him back to the Euro Tour. It’s just reality. Well, Rory had more salt for that wound.
“I want to play against the best players in the world. I get a buzz from that. I’d much rather go down the stretch against Justin Thomas or Dustin Johnson. I’m not putting anyone down in Europe, but the depths of fields and everything is just that bit better over here. It’s what everyone is striving for. It’s why [Italy’s] Francesco Molinari is here this week. It’s where it’s heading.
“The ultimate goal is here,” McIlroy added. “The European Tour is a stepping stone. That’s the truth. The European Tour is a stepping stone. That’s the way it is. It’s tough. I still want to support the European Tour, and I talk about this loyalty thing with Europe. … [But] it’s not as though I’m just starting out and jumping ship. I’ve done my time. I’ve done everything I feel like I need to do to say OK, I’m going to make my own decisions and do what I want.”
Yikes. That’s straight shooting. Tough to argue with any of it though. My feeling is that these guys are essentially individual contractors that are free to do whatever is best for them and their team. As the boss of their business, they get to decide what makes the most sense for them. Rory’s priority should be to himself, and not worrying about making sure he’s feeding everyone else in the industry by appeasing the European Tour.
To read more takes on Rory’s comments, check out the full Golf Digest post where we pulled most of these quotes from. I enjoyed it.
Check out Tommy’s post about skewing World Ranking points here too.
