Rory McIlroy commented on the PGA Tour’s proposed two-tiered schedule restructuring on Tuesday, saying second-tier tournaments will be “glorified Korn Ferry” events.
Here's Rory McIlroy on the PGA Tour's Track 2 events essentially being "glorified Korn Ferry Tour events." "The old ways of the PGA Tour weren't actually that bad." pic.twitter.com/22x5RlG9Wl
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) June 16, 2026
PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp announced plans for a two-track system earlier this year, with Track 1 featuring the top players competing together more often, and Track 2 serving as a direct pathway to Track 1. The most significant changes are expected starting in the 2028 season. The number of players moving between tracks and the frequency with which it occurs are still being worked through, but Rolapp said it will be “substantial enough to matter.”
Rolapp said the next board meeting is scheduled for June 22, Monday of the Travelers Championship, where he plans to address media with further updates.
McIlroy used the RBC Canadian Open as a specific example of an event that could lose status under the new framework. “Track two is a glorified Korn Ferry event, like that’s what track two is going to be,” McIlroy said. “So I don’t think the Canadian Open should be one of those. I just think there’s going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn’t pony up $30 million. So that’s the tough thing. But, look, I’m not in those rooms. I don’t know.”
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McIlroy won the Canadian Open in 2019 and 2022 and did not play it this year for the first time since 2018.
McIlroy also addressed the Tour’s structure since LIV Golf launched. “It’s funny, I think as they’ve done all this work, you start to realize that the way the Tour was before LIV came along was actually pretty good,” he said. “It was a pretty good structure, and everything sort of worked pretty well. LIV created this false economy where we had to up prize funds and had to cut fields and try to support the top players and all that stuff, which I think needed to happen because that was the only way to retain talent at the time, but now that LIV looks like it’s less of a threat, I think, as I said, the old ways of the PGA Tour weren’t actually that bad.”
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McIlroy served on the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council for three years, then on the Tour’s policy board for two years before resigning in November 2023, saying at the time that he could no longer commit the time and energy to the role.
Rolapp addressed the meritocracy argument for the new structure at the Memorial Tournament earlier this month. “The competitive meritocracy that makes this sport great and unique — we’ve gotten away from, and we’re getting back to (it),” Rolapp said.
McIlroy shot 80-70 and missed the cut the last time the U.S. Open was held at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, but has not missed a weekend at the event since. His run of six consecutive top-10 finishes from 2019 to 2024 was broken last year with a T19 at Oakmont.
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The 2026 U.S. Open begins Thursday at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.
— TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) June 16, 2026
