Mcilroy's schedule

GreeBo

so, is it time for Rory to focus on playing majors and basing his schedule around them or does he benefit from playing the medium/smaller events?

byronbay2

Yeah, he has said he's going to be more "ruthless" about his schedule next year, obviously with a view to concentrating on the Majors and the other "big" events (WGC events, FedEx Cup). I doubt whether he will be seen too often on the European Tour next year - hopefully he'll play The Irish Open!
Now that he seems to have improved his putting so much, it must be scary for the other tour pros. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that he could "do a Tiger" and dominate the Majors for the next few years i.e contend in every Major and win a couple every year. Obviously, moving to Nike clubs and balls will be interesting but I doubt it will be a problem.
I think that Donald and Westwood will also "refine" their schedules next year to try and break their Major ducks. I believe that at least one of them will win a major next year. With the British Open being so unpredictable now, it makes sense to concentrate on the 3 US-based majors.

AGC

Westwood needs to do a lot more than refine his schedule to win a major.

I would expect the lowest ranked event that Rory will play will be the Irish Open

charlieIRL

to play less and concentrate on quality more than quantity

is the quote he used to describe his 2013 schedule.

GreeBo

I think it would be a real shame if the top guys just play the majors, kinda damages the regular events, we all know the bump in numbers Tiger used to bring to ordinary tournaments.

Perhaps you should have to play in X regular events before you are eligible to play in the majors?
Might force the lads to support the whole tour and not just the top of it.

PARlance

GreeBo wrote: »

I think it would be a real shame if the top guys just play the majors, kinda damages the regular events, we all know the bump in numbers Tiger used to bring to ordinary tournaments.

Perhaps you should have to play in X regular events before you are eligible to play in the majors?
Might force the lads to support the whole tour and not just the top of it.

I don't think he'd be thinking that extremely at all, I would imagine that "being ruthless" might mean dropping out of 4 or 5 tournaments throughout the space of a year.
It'll have a negative effect for those few for sure but I think it's a reasonable thing to do.

My big fear would be that the Irish Open might fall into the "being ruthless" group. Do even think about it Rory

soundsham

GreeBo wrote: »

so, is it time for Rory to focus on playing majors and basing his schedule around them or does he benefit from playing the medium/smaller events?

I think that's what he does 80% of the time
Now he will focus on this 100 %

Previously he said he does well or nearer to his best coming fresh to a tournament, I remember Padraig previously saying he used to prefer to come to a major having played the previous week is so, that's why he played the Irish PGA (I think it's called) prior to his British opens .

Rory will tailor his season to peak how he sees best and if this means not playing a certain week no sponsor will change his mind
if this isn't a success he may change in the future

....../Or maybe he's just putting it out there that if you want me you'll have to cough up
Same as tiger 1m+ to make me play at your event ,that's fairly ruthless !!

PARlance

Just looking at the stats, he seems to have played 16 USPGA events and 15 European tour events this year. A tough ask (the poor fella) when you consider his schedule involves more travel /time zones than most.

Hope "ruthless" doesn't mean ditching some of the European Tour events, but my guess would be that these are the ones that'll be affected.

thomasm

According to the Indo today the Irish Open is one of the 3 European events he will play next year, the others are The Open and The BMW at Wentworth

AGC

http://www.independent.ie/sport/golf/mcilroy-to-put-carton-house-on-hitlist-in-massive-boost-for-irish-open-3307976.html

thewobbler

Like everyone on this board, I love golf, and would relish (give my right testicle for) the chance to spend a few years touring the globe playing the top courses.

But I could imagine that after a few years of that, playing mostly close to home, with the odd major trip abroad, would be a more satisfying life - especially if you have the financial wherewithal to pick and choose how you want to live.

You've got to imagine that in Rory's case, he's not missing out on much by removing 6-8 dates from his calendar. He's been there and done that, does he need to keep doing again?

ssbob

thomasm wrote: »

According to the Indo today the Irish Open is one of the 3 European events he will play next year, the others are The Open and The BMW at Wentworth

He will only play 3 mainland European events but he will prob play the middle east and asian big money events.

@ajcurry even though he played 16 in US and 15 in Europe, 7 of these were co-sanctioned events so in actual fact, he played in 24 tour-sanctioned events this year and has admitted he added a few in the middle of the year due to missing cuts.

Claude Harmon

ssbob wrote: »

He will only play 3 mainland European events but he will prob play the middle east and asian big money events.

@ajcurry even though he played 16 in US and 15 in Europe, 7 of these were co-sanctioned events so in actual fact, he played in 24 tour-sanctioned events this year and has admitted he added a few in the middle of the year due to missing cuts.

I think the 15 in europe include the 4 majors and 3 WGC events, so in reality its more like 24 in total.

ssbob

Claude Harmon wrote: »

I think the 15 in europe include the 4 majors and 3 WGC events, so in reality its more like 24 in total.

Yes that's what I was saying.... I don't think he'll make any radical changes but events I reckon he will drop will be:

1. Wells Fargo
2. Fedex St. Jude Classic
3. Hong Kong Open

Depending on money etc, he may add the New Turkish Airlines Open to his Rota so I would imagine he will play 22/23 events next year.

Loire

You often hear players talking about focusing on the 4 majors as if that's what will ultimately define them as players. Maybe that's true, but that in itself must bring even more pressure on them to win these majors. I agree that these are the "big" events, but surely winning a few smaller tournaments before coming into a major can only be better for you than sitting at home / practicing and thinking about nothing else other than Major "X" in 3 weeks time?

redhill

Here's a report from the Golf channel with his supposed schedule
Seems to be missing Bay Hill again, also it's a bit fractured early season , a lot of one off tourneys, not playing many consecutive weeks at all

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/report-mcilroy-outlines-schedule-for-2013/

Golf by Tour Miss is reporting that Rory McIlroy has outlined his playing schedule for 2013, and it features one notable addition.

Despite a friendly threat from Arnold Palmer, who joked that he would break the Northern Irishman’s arm if he didn’t tee it up at Bay Hill, McIlroy apparently does not intend to play at Bay Hill, at least according to this report. Instead, he will play the Shell Houston Open, scheduled for March 28-31, two weeks before The Masters.

His tentative schedule, according to the report:

HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship, Jan. 17-20

WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Feb. 20-24

Honda Classic, Feb. 28-March 3

WGC-Cadillac Championship, March 7-10

Shell Houston Open, March 28-31

The Masters, April 11-14

Wells Fargo Championship, April 25-28

Players Championship, May 9-12

BMW PGA Championship, May 23-26

U.S. Open, June 13-16

Irish Open, June 27-30

Open Championship, July 18-21

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Aug. 1-4

PGA Championship, Aug. 8-11

The Barclays, Aug. 22-25

Deutsche Bank Championship, Aug. 29-Sept. 2

BMW Championship, Sept. 12-15

Tour Championship, Sept. 19-22

BMW Masters, Oct. 24-27

Turkish Open, Nov. 7-10

DP World Tour Championship, Nov. 14-17

The events reportedly still under consideration are the Oct. 4-7 Alfred Dunhill Links, the Oct. 31-Nov. 3 WGC-HSBC Champions and the Hong Kong Open (date not yet determined).

GreeBo

thewobbler wrote: »

Like everyone on this board, I love golf, and would relish (give my right testicle for) the chance to spend a few years touring the globe playing the top courses.

But I could imagine that after a few years of that, playing mostly close to home, with the odd major trip abroad, would be a more satisfying life - especially if you have the financial wherewithal to pick and choose how you want to live.

You've got to imagine that in Rory's case, he's not missing out on much by removing 6-8 dates from his calendar. He's been there and done that, does he need to keep doing again?

That was kinda my point, he is not missing out on much, but the tour is and thus so are the lower ranked fellas who really need the money to survive.