News

Rory McIlroy ready to commit to European Tour after crisis talks with Keith Pelley

Published

7 years ago

Dec 18, 2018

Last month, news emerged that Rory McIlroy was set to give up his European Tour card, but it now looks as if the Irishman has had a change of heart.

European Tour boss, Keith Pelley, is said to have flown to Belfast for crisis talks with the four-time major winner, and McIlroy is now ready to commit to an additional two European Tour events in 2019 to secure his card.

The 29-year-old had not been set to feature on the European Tour in 2019 until July, but there is now an excellent chance that McIlroy will compete in an event in the middle east in January, and it also opens up the possibility for him to feature at the Irish Open in July.

McIlroy had previously come under fire from some quarters, including Paul McGinley who is on the European Tour board, for what they felt was disloyalty to the European Tour. The four-time major champ’s remark that “Next year, I am looking out for me” did little to improve relations, but it appears as if McIlroy, as he has done in the past, has backed down from his original headstrong position.

In 2016, the 29-year-old was backed into a corner over who he would choose to represent at the Olympic Games. McIlroy eventually declared for Ireland, but later withdrew from the games, and then took a swipe at those who were disappointed with the move, claiming, “it’s not my responsibility to grow the game.”

It appears that this latest U-turn from McIlroy continues the trend of the 29-year-old opting to temper his original views or intentions in the face of pressure.

GolfWRXers, do you feel McIlroy should be more mindful in his pressers or do you find his honesty refreshing?

Let us know what you think!

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Gianni Magliocco

Gianni is the Managing Editor at GolfWRX. He can be contacted at gianni@golfwrx.com

7 Comments

BAR

Dec 19, 2018 at 4:15 pm

I feel like those “crisis talks” included some pretty sensational perks. The schedules changed dramatically for 2019 and he can make a fortune in the states, playing against a field he feels is more competitive. I don’t think he “owes” anything to the European Tour, but if he can slip in two more events to maintain his card, that sounds pretty reasonable. Euro Tour would lose a HUGE celebrity if he stopped playing, so it’s in their best interest to incentivize his participation, in whatever form that would take.

On the topic of “do you feel McIlroy should be more mindful in his pressers or do you find his honesty refreshing?” I feel like journalists in the audience need to call players out more. I know that could have significant professional repercussions, but when a golfer criticizes a course for being “unfair” – i.e. Ian “Pouter” or when Rors says he’s finally got his driver dialled in but it doesn’t matter because he’s going to have to replace it on Monday with “something new”, I feel like there needs to be some probing on that kind of stuff to call them out one their own smack talk. How could there not be any strong follow up questions to Rory stating he’s thinking of abandoning his home tour?

Reply Report comment
Point misser

Dec 19, 2018 at 3:02 pm

No one in the USA likes Rory

Reply Report comment
- fukU
  
  Dec 20, 2018 at 1:51 am
  
  I think you are confusing Rory with Point misser, and the USA the universe.
  
  Reply Report comment
JThunder

Dec 18, 2018 at 5:43 pm

“Crisis talks” – dictionary anyone?

Is the European Tour putting all their eggs in one basket, like the entire golf world did with Tiger? We learn nothing from the past.

Reply Report comment
- David
  
  Dec 19, 2018 at 10:23 am
  
  Honesty is always a good thing, unfortunately for Rory his honesty displays his lack of humility and thankfulness for the riches the game of golf has given him. Whether he plays the PGA or Euro tour, doesn’t matter, he should always do what is best for his health and life balance. But if it is for life-balance, then it should be communicated as such, and not stated as if he were a teenage child “looking out for #1”. I personally think he’s a good guy, but definitely lacks that appreciate for all he’s been given by the game of golf.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Willem
    
    Dec 20, 2018 at 12:46 am
    
    World class sportsmen are given raw talent by their genes and hard work (whether it is recognised as such by casual onlookers or not) gives opportunities in the chosen sport. Then, any success comes through sheer mental strength. This is the same in all sports.
    
    I fail to see why any sportsman should appreciate the money or lifestyle or give back to the game. It is their profession and other people (and the tours) make millions off of the players hard work and talent, employ thousands and their efforts entertain hundreds of millions.
    
    I don’t feel I have to give back to my profession. Why should a golfer?
    
    Reply Report comment
- fukU
  
  Dec 20, 2018 at 1:49 am
  
  You mean when the entire golf world put all its eggs in the Tiger basket, and it lead to the largest increase in interest, and participation that the game had ever seen?
  
  Reply Report comment

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News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

3 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.