Rory McIlroy Projected to Play 14 PGA Tour Events in 2026

Rory McIlroy is making his 10th PGA Tour-sanctioned start of 2026 at the Genesis Scottish Open. Yardbarker.com reported that the 37-year-old is projected to end the season with 14 starts, one short of the circuit’s minimum requirement. McIlroy has already skipped the RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship and Travelers Championship.

He said he flagged the possibility of missing the threshold to PGA Tour officials at the end of 2025 and remains in “constant dialogue” with the tour. “I speak to Brian [Rolapp] and his team a lot. I made them aware that this could happen at the end of last year.

They know,” McIlroy said, according to yardbarker.com. The PGA Tour player handbook permits the commissioner to reduce the 15-event minimum for a foreign member under medical or extraordinary circumstances. Under prior policy, players who fell short faced a one-year suspension, a penalty previously applied to Seve Ballesteros in 1986 and Martin Kaymer in 2016.

Yardbarker.com reported that the tour is expected to invoke an “extenuating circumstances” provision to protect McIlroy’s full membership. McIlroy has described his lighter schedule as a deliberate choice made over the past 18 months to two years. “I’ve been doing this a long time.

I’ve been on tour more than half of my life at this point. So I’ll pick and choose my spots like I have been doing sort of the last 18 months to two years,” he said in June 2026. On May 6, 2026, McIlroy compared his approach to that of Tiger Woods.

“That’s what Tiger used to do; he picked and chose what events he wanted to play where he felt like he had the best cadence to his schedule, and where he had the best chance to win. I think what Scottie and I are doing at the minute is no different,” he told Sirius XM PGA Tour radio. McIlroy’s next scheduled start is the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which begins July 16.