By Neil Squires
SOUTHPORT, England, July 14 (Reuters) – Rory McIlroy has called for golf to extend its major championship season beyond its current four-month window.
The current schedule, introduced seven years ago when the PGA Championship was brought forward from August to May, compressed the calendar for the sport’s most high-profile events.
But McIlroy, chasing a seventh major title at this week’s final major of 2026 at Royal Birkdale, believes the move has impacted its visibility.
“I’d like to see the major season spread out a little bit longer. The Masters is always going to have the build-up, but I think then PGA into US Open, US Open into here, it just seems like it’s very, very quick.
“From a player perspective, if you get on a bit of a run, it’s nice to be playing well and go from one straight into the next but for the sport as a whole and for, I guess, the general interest in the game, obviously I can see the positives in the major season being stretched out a little bit longer.”
McIlroy, the back-to-back Masters champion, won his one and only Open Championship 12 years ago.
While St Andrews remains his favourite course on the Open rota, he feels Birkdale – where he finished tied for fourth in 2017 – still suits him even after its recent redesign.
“I’ve always liked this course. I first played here in the Amateur Championship and then played an Open back here in 2017 and did OK,” he said.
“If you were to poll every player in the field, I’d say it would be up there in terms of being everyone’s favourite Open venues to play for sure.
“I think one of the common things you hear about Birkdale is it’s very fair for a links golf course. The fairways aren’t overly undulating, so when you land the ball in the fairway here, it seems like it stays on the fairway and there’s not a ton of blind shots.”
(Reporting by Neil Squires; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
