Rory McIlroy proposes radical change to golf’s major schedule

Not a fan of the new, condensed men’s major schedule? 

You’re not alone. Rory McIlroy doesn’t like it either.

The world No.2, who lost out in a play-off to Sebastian Soderberg at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland at the weekend, thinks that the calendar has become too congested with the US PGA Championship moving from its traditional August slot to a new date in May.

The move, which was made in time for this year, meant that only 102 days separated the first round of the first men’s major of the year (The Masters) and the last round of the last (The Open).

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It also means a wait of almost nine months until the next time one of golf’s four marquee events takes place.

Speaking to the BBC’s ‘The Cut’ podcast, McIlroy explained why he thinks that’s a bad thing.

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“If the narrative becomes that majors are the only important thing in golf, that’s a dangerous narrative to run with because are fans then not going to care the other 48 weeks of the year?” said the four-time major champ. “And if the majors are spaced so closely together, are fans only going to care from the second week in April to the third or fourth week in July and everything else doesn’t really matter”

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McIlroy believes that golf should look to another sport for a solution to the problem.

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“I’d like to see them spaced out the way tennis does it,” he added. “They have the Australian Open in January and obviously the US Open’s going on right now. They’ve got a nice nine-month window of relevancy and that’s my thing with golf.

“You want to stay relevant for as long as possible throughout the year and you want as many eyeballs as possible on it. I don’t know if, by spacing the majors so closely together, that’s the right thing to do”

You can listen to the whole podcast here.