Rory McIlroy is in favor of tightening the circle of the PGA Tour.
McIlroy addressed the matter on Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Florida’s Bay Hill Club in response to a question about if how he felt about the smaller field at the tournament.
“No, I mean, I’m all for making it more cutthroat, more competitive,’’ McIlroy said, as covered by Sports Illustrated. “Probably won’t be very popular for saying this but I’m all for less players and less Tour cards, and the best of the best.’’
It’s an interesting time for McIlroy to make these remarks, as long shots have been winning left and right on the PGA Tour in recent months.
In nine PGA Tour events in 2024, six of the winners entered the tournament with odds of at least 100-to-1 at the Las Vegas SuperBook.
Chris Kirk kicked things off, winning The Sentry at 200-to-1.
Then, Grayson Murray won the Sony Open as an astounding 400-to-1 shot.
This was followed by Nick Dunlap winning The American Express with 300-to-1 odds.
Matthieu Pavon and Nick Taylor both had 125-to-1 odds when they won the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, respectively.
Finally, Austin Eckroat had 100-to-1 odds before he won the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beaches Garden, Fla.
The shortest odds of anyone who has won a PGA Tour event this year was Jake Knapp, who won the Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta after entering with 40-to-1 odds.
How many of these winners wouldn’t have even been a part of the field under McIlroy’s parameters?
Part of this phenomenon is that so many big-name golfers, including Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have left the PGA Tour for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
However, the stars remaining on the PGA Tour, such as McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, have not won tournaments yet this year.