McIlroy feels PGA Tour would get better fan engagement with shorter schedule

Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday he felt the PGA Tour's tournament calendar is oversaturated and can benefit from changes that would allow golf fans a bit of a breather and a chance to actually miss the sport.

McIlroy, who will make his PGA Tour season debut this week as the defending champion at the CJ Cup in Ridgeland, South Carolina, feels getting the most fan engagement possible would mean moving away from a seemingly never-ending schedule.

This week's CJ Cup is one of the 47 official tournaments on the PGA Tour's 2022-23 schedule, a lengthy campaign during which the circuit's top players will play in at least 20 events.

"We need to get to the place where it's not oversaturated ... I would love us to come back in January and people will have missed watching competitive golf," McIlroy told reporters at Congaree Golf Club.

"I don't think that happens right now because there's 47 events a year. So I think to get the most fan engagement that we possibly can, we have to let people miss it for a little bit."

When asked what he felt the autumn schedule should look like, reigning FedExCup champion McIlroy conceded that it was a time of year that belonged to American football.

"It's football season, right?" said McIlroy.

"I'm not comparing golf to football at all, but you think about the exclusivity of the NFL and they play 18 weeks a year. Then people are just so ready for the football season to start again. I'm not saying that golf's going to be that way, but you've got to let people miss it a little bit."

While Northern Irishman McIlroy feels less could be more when it comes to the PGA Tour schedule, he is not suggesting golfers disappear during the fall months altogether but rather use that time growing the game elsewhere.

"I'm not