19th Hole

Rory McIlroy is “sick” of easy European Tour course setups. Does he have a point?

Published

7 years ago

Sep 30, 2019

A disgruntled Rory McIlroy departed the Alfred Dunhill Links on Sunday, but not before taking a dig at the European Tour, describing their course setups as being “too easy”.

An intriguing take from the second-best player in the world who had just finished T26 at the Scottish event.

Indeed, it isn’t the only performance in recent times either where McIlroy has been outdone by his peers on the European Tour—having failed to record a win in Europe since 2016.

Following his worst finish at a tournament since The Open, the Ulsterman loosened his tongue, and railed against the course setups on the European Tour, stating

“I’m honestly sick of coming back over to the European Tour and shooting 15-under par and finishing 30th. I don’t think the courses are set up hard enough. There’s no penalties for bad shots. It’s tough when you come back when it’s like that. I don’t feel like good golf is regarded as well as it could be.”

Strong rhetoric from the 30-year-old Holywood native who clearly feels the European Tour is failing to match the PGA Tour in their ability to create challenging course setups.

Less than 24 hours after making the comments, McIlroy took to Instagram to acknowledge he had been wrong to make the remarks 15 minutes after his final round on Sunday. However, the 30-year-old maintained that he would like to see tougher setups on the European Tour.

“I would personally like to see tougher set ups in Europe because it will produce better, more complete young players in the future and that can only be a good thing for our game and our Ryder Cup chances going forward.”

As McIlroy explained in the post, last week’s event was a Pro-Am played across links courses in benign conditions which will always lead to low scores – similar to what you’d see at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.

Taking the Ulsterman’s criticism at face value, then the reason behind his disappointing T26 finish last week boiled down to one thing—not playing well enough. If these courses are as simple as McIlroy is making them out to be, then his failure to produce his best on them shows that he simply needs to play better.

After all, are the “easy” course setups on the European Tour much different to the target golf we see week in week out on the PGA Tour? After crunching some numbers, the answer appears to be no.

Ignoring WGC’s and Major championships, through 24 regular strokeplay events in 2019 on the European Tour, the average winning score has been -16.125. On the PGA Tour, through 33 standard strokeplay events, the average winning score has been -16.9. Furthermore, three European Tour events have been won by scores in the single digits under par in 2019, as opposed to the PGA Tour, where just two tournaments have produced winners in the single numbers.

The talent pool on the PGA Tour is undoubtedly greater than that of the European Tour. But it’s also worth noting that big names from across the pond such as Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele have also tried their hand on these “easy” European Tour courses in recent times, and neither player was able to land any severe blows.

The 30-year-old’s timing of his criticism, as he has since acknowledged, was poor and came one week after PGA Tour stalwart Billy Horschel said of Wentworth that

“You can’t fake it around here. If you hit shots off-line, you’re going to get penalised for it. It’s a beautiful test of golf and I absolutely have loved my entire week here. Everything that encompasses this event can rival the best of the best on the PGA Tour in my opinion.”

With the likes of Le Golf National waiting around the corner, perhaps McIlroy just needs to be more prudent in choosing which events he competes in during his trips back home to Europe.

Do you think McIlroy is justified in his criticism of European Tour course setups being too easy, WRXers?

19th Hole

How much each player won at the 2026 Masters

Published

1 month ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Rory McIlroy made it two wins in as many years at Augusta National, seeing off the challengers on a dramatic Sunday to slip on the green jacket once again. The victory earned Rory a whopping payday of $4.5 million, with Scottie Scheffler his closest challenger earning $2.43 million for his sole runner-up finish.

With a total prize purse of $22.5 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Masters tournament.

For players that did not make the cut, they still earned $25k for their efforts at the year’s opening major.

1: Rory McIlroy, $4.5 million
2: Scottie Scheffler, $2.43 million
T3: Tyrrell Hatton, $1.08 million
T3: Russell Henley, $1.08 million
T3: Justin Rose, $1.08 million
T3: Cameron Young, $1.08 million
T7: Collin Morikawa, $725,625
T7: Sam Burns, $725,625
T9: Xander Schauffele, $630,00
T9: Max Homa, $630,00
11: Jake Knapp, $562,500
T12: Jordan Spieth, $427,500
T12: Brooks Koepka, $427,500
T12: Hideki Matsuyama, $427,500
T12: Patrick Reed, $427,500
T12: Patrick Cantlay, $427,500
T12: Jason Day, $427,500
T18: Viktor Hovland, $315,000
T18: Maverick McNealy, $315,000
T18: Matt Fitzpatrick, $315,000
T21: Keegan Bradley, $252,000
T21: Ludvig Aberg, $252,000
T21: Wyndham Clark, $252,000
T24: Matt McCarty, $182,083
T24: Adam Scott, $182,083
T24: Sam Stevens, $182,083
T24: Chris Gotterup, $182,083
T24: Michael Brennan, $182,083
T24: Brian Campbell, $182,083
T30: Alex Noren, $146,250
T30: Harris English, $146,250
T30: Shane Lowry, $146,250
T33: Gary Woodland, $121,500
T33: Dustin Johnson, $121,500
T33: Brian Harman, $121,500
T33: Tommy Fleetwood, $121,500
T33: Ben Griffin, $121,500
T38: Jon Rahm, $105,750
T38: Ryan Gerard, $101,250
T38: Haotong Li, $96,750
T41: Justin Thomas, $92,250
T41: Sepp Straka, $87,750
T41: Jacob Bridgeman, $83,250
T41: Kristoffer Reitan, $78,750
T41: Nick Taylor, $74,250
46: Sungjae Im, $69,750
47: Si Woo Kim, $65,250
48: Aaron Rai, $61,650
T49: Corey Conners, $57,600
T49: Marco Penge, $57,600
51: Kurt Kitayama, $55,250
52: Sergio Garcia, $54,000
53: Rasmus Hojgaard, $52,650
54: Charl Schwartzel, $51,300

19th Hole

CBS’s Sunday Masters coverage slammed by golf fans

Published

1 month ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

While Sunday was a dramatic day at the Masters, many golf fans were left feeling frustrated by the CBS final round coverage.

There were plenty of moments that golf fans took to social media to air their frustrations on Sunday over, including a lack of shots being shown throughout the day, being behind the live action, confusion over the approach shots of the final group on 18, and providing an angle for the winning putt where the cup couldn’t be seen.

Here’s a look at some of the criticisms that were directed at the CBS coverage throughout the day on X:

This has been a brutal broadcast for CBS. When the folks from Augusta sit down with them this year, you can bet they’ll talk about this 15 seconds where we have no idea where Rory’s ball went, and Dottie moans. #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ak3mkpIN7V

— Ryan (@PossiblyRy) April 12, 2026

It’s rare criticism coming in for CBS, who are usually heavily praised for their Masters coverage each year.

19th Hole

The surprise club Tommy Fleetwood says is key to his Masters chances

Published

1 month ago

Apr 7, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tommy Fleetwood goes in search for the first major victory of his career again this week, with the Englishman proving to be a popular pick at Augusta National.

Fleetwood’s best showing at Augusta came back in 2024 where he finished T3, and while speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, the 35-year-old emphasized the importance of his 9-wood in his pursuit of the green jacket.

Speaking on Tuesday to media, Fleetwood said:

“It’s a great 9-wood golf course. I think it’s always been — I can’t remember when I first put like a 9-wood in or a high lofted club, but it’s a perfect like 9-wood golf course. I’ve had that in the bag for a few years.”

The Englishman continued, revealing that his strategy for the week won’t just be to hit driver off the tee as much as possible:

“Yeah, it’s funny really because I know Augusta is probably associated with being fairly forgiving off the tee in a way, so you think you can whale around driver a little bit. But I don’t necessarily think that’s always the play for me. I think there’s holes that set up really well where I can draw it with the mini driver if I’m feeling less comfortable with the driver and things like that.”

That strategy he believes will make his TaylorMade Qi10 9-wood extra critical this week in Georgia:

“The biggest thing is the 9-wood for me. If I can put myself in position on the par-5s or the 4th long par-3, like it — for me, I can’t really hit that high 4-iron, so 9-wood helps me a lot.”