Rory McIlroy has called on the PGA Tour to maintain the open qualifying nature of national open tournaments while supporting their growth, citing the Scottish Open as a successful template. The Northern Irish golfer spoke to media at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, on Wednesday, ahead of this week’s Genesis Scottish Open.
McIlroy highlighted the Scottish Open’s evolution since the PGA Tour began co-sanctioning the event with the DP World Tour in 2022. The tournament, which has been staged annually since 1986, gained additional prominence when Genesis became the title sponsor that same year. Recent champions include McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, and Chris Gotterup, all of whom currently rank within the world’s top 20 players.
The event serves as a critical preparation tool for the Open Championship, which follows the week after. It allows players to adjust to links golf and helps American competitors acclimate to time zone differences. McIlroy noted that the co-sanctioning has strengthened the tournament, pointing to the quality of the field and continuous improvements to the course and facilities as key factors in its success.
McIlroy expressed interest in seeing a similar partnership for the Canadian Open, which traditionally leads into the U.S. Open. He suggested that co-sanctioning could add meaning to a series of national opens, though he acknowledged uncertainty regarding how such a move would align with the PGA Tour’s new two-track competitive structure.
The PGA Tour is currently implementing a Championship Series, or Track 1, featuring exclusive events with fields of 90 to 100 players and purses of $20 million. McIlroy warned that this model must not infringe on the traditional fabric of national opens, which rely on open qualifying for amateur and professional players alike. He argued that closing these events would strip them of their identity, distinguishing them from other tour events like the Travelers Championship or RBC Heritage.
