Rory McIlroy offers radical solution to the pace of play issue: "That's going to p*ss some people off"

Northern Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy has presented a solution to address the slow pace of play that has become a issue on the PGA Tour. While he admits his solution will not sit well with some players, he thinks shrinking field sizes will significantly improve the pace of play.

Rory McIlroy is a 35-year-old pro golfer on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. Having turned pro in 2007, he has 26 PGA Tour wins, and currently sits at number three on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

The four-time Major winner spoke to the media ahead of his first tour start of 2025. He offered a radical solution to the slow pace of play that was an issue during the recently concluded American Express and Farmers Insurance Open. McIlroy believes using smaller fields would solve the problem. However, it will also reduce playing opportunities, which might provoke negative reactions from players.

"I could say smaller fields. Smaller fields, smaller fields would help pace of play. But that takes away playing opportunities from people and that's going to p*ss some people off," Rory McIlroy said.

McIlroy also added, "You could say... I think as well, the other thing is when we play in this time of the year, the tee times have to be a little bit tighter together so that they can get everyone through with daylight and everything."

The Northern Irish golfer also offered another solution: spacing out tee times.

"If you could be able to space the tee times out a little bit more, that would hopefully make things flow a little bit better."

PGA: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am - Second Round - Source: Imagn

Following his TGL debut, McIlroy is set to participate in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links. The tournament is scheduled to be geld from January 30 to February 2 and will feature other high-profile players such as Ludvig Aberg, Keegan Bradley, and Harris English.

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Rory McIlroy will be cutting down events from his 2025 schedule

Besides suggesting smaller field sizes, Rory McIlroy also told the media that he intends to reduce the number of PGA Tour events he participates in this year. However, he plans to meet the minimum requirements of 15 PGA Tour events and seven DP World Tour events.

McIlroy also believes there are too many tournaments in the PGA Tour schedule and that they should be reduced to introduce a sense of scarcity, which may make the game more enjoyable. He said:

"I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many. To scale it back and have a little more scarcity, like the NFL, might not be a bad thing."

The World No. 3 also expressed concern that sharing the game between the PGA Tour events, LIV Golf, and TGL may further contribute to its oversaturation.