Rory McIlroy: LIV Golf's move to 72 holes is 'peculiar'

Rory McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai as he attempts to close in on Colin Montgomerie's record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles.

Wed, 05 Nov, 2025 - 10:28

PJ Browne

Rory McIlroy is interested to see how LIV Golf's move to 72-hole tournaments from its usual 54 plays out.

It was announced on Monday that LIV will expand to the more traditional four-round events for its 2026 season, a switch which could boost attempts to be recognised by the Official Golf World Ranking.

"I think it's a peculiar move because I think they could have got ranking points with three rounds," said McIlroy ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

"I don't think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back. It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments. It brings them back into not really being a disruptor and sort of falling more in line with what everyone else does. But if that's what they felt they needed to do to get the ranking points, I guess that's what they had to do.

"I think what's hard is you've got the LIV guys, and say potentially they get World Rankings, but because their strength of fields are going to be so weak because a lot of the guys have fallen already in the rankings because they have not had ranking points for so long, I don't know if the ranking points are really going to benefit them."

McIlroy leads the Race to Dubai ahead of this week's tournament at Yas Links and next week's DP World Tour Championship. He's 500 points ahead of Marco Penge as he aims to win a seventh Harry Vardon Trophy and close in on Colin Montgomerie's record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles. The world number two has been grouped with Penge and Tyrrell Hatton, while Shane Lowry will play with Tommy Fleetwood and Rasmus Hojgaard.

"I like that I'm having to lock in for these two events," said McIlroy.

"It's Marco that's right behind me, but there's a few others that have a chance, as well.

"I know I'm going to have to play well these next couple of weeks but I've got good records here and next week at the Earth Course as well. I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm looking forward to feeling that again and trying to win another one."

Penge, now ranked 29th in the world, has become one of the Tour's best drivers.

"He should be longer," said McIlroy when asked if Penge drives it further than him. "He's nine years younger than me.

"He's done amazingly well, even coming back in April after not playing for a few months and winning in Hainan and continuing and playing well throughout the summer. I think he finished tied second with me at The Scottish Open, and obviously (won) Denmark and Spain. He's played great. He's sort of that modern golfer, hits it long, and seems to not really have a ton of weaknesses."

McIlroy has played nine DP World Tour tournaments so far this year. It will be a similar number next year but he may cut down on how many events he plays overall.

"I've alluded to the fact that I'm going to play a little bit less just throughout the year," he said. "Really prioritise the major championships and a few of the other bigger events.

"But the world of golf does a really good job of keeping you... I describe it as keeping you on the hamster wheel. And sometimes it's nice to get off that hamster wheel and do things your own way.

"I'm not getting any younger. If I want to play competitively for another ten years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I'm not 23 anymore and I can't play that schedule forever.

"I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I'm going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to."