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Rory McIlroy has admitted he is considering resigning from the European Tour to make his schedule easier to manage.
The 26 year old may follow the example led by Englishman Paul Casey who left his position in the European Tour in January.
McIlroy has constantly been traveling over the past twelve months, and it’s something the the Northern Irishman has considered.
“I’ve definitely contemplated it,” the 26-year old said. “You know, getting sick of the travel, getting sick of having to cross back and forth between tours.
“The players on the European Tour have had endless dialogue about reducing the number of tournaments that you need to play.”
All players are required to compete in a minimum of thirteen events per year to retain their European Tour membership, and although McIlroy admitted thinking about it, he added that he was unlikely to withdraw.
“Have I contemplated it? Yes, I have. Would I do it? Probably not,” he said.
“I feel like I owe a lot to the European Tour, they gave me a lot of opportunities at the start of my career. I will always be grateful for that.
“I love the Ryder Cup, I always want to play it, so that’s something that’ll keep me a European Tour member, along with a lot of the great plans they’ve got.”
In addition, McIlroy has been in conversation with the new man in charge of the European Tour, Keith Pelley.
“I had a long chat with Keith Pelley this week,” the four-time major champion revealed, “about some of the plans and some of the ideas that they have going forward and they’re very exciting and very promising. Stuff like that I would be excited to be part of.”
Meanwhile, McIlroy has been granted special dispensation ahead of this year’s Race to Dubai after the Northern Irishman suffered an ankle injury in July, meaning the former number one will need to play just twelve of the thirteen European Tour dates.
Having missed three tournaments in the summer through injury, McIlroy’s participation in the upcoming Turkish Open will help the world number three as he looks to extend his lead.
“I feel like I have a chance to win the Race to Dubai and it would look pretty silly in Dubai if I was leading and couldn’t play,” he explained.
“We had to be careful, especially because I’m included in the Race to Dubai now, so number 61 doesn’t get in, number 111 doesn’t get his card… so it was a tough decision for them (European Tour) to make
