Rory McIlroy admits his PGA Tour pace of play solution "is going to p*** some people off"

Rory McIlroy believes the simplest way to improve pace of play on the PGA Tour is to shrink field sizes, but he knows that solution would only "p*** some people off". 

McIlroy, 35, was speaking to the media ahead of making his first start on the PGA Tour this season at famed Pebble Beach.

Pace of play has once again reared its ugly head on the PGA Tour, especially at both The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open where the final round groups took in the region of five and half hours to get round. 

CBS Sports on-course commentator Dottie Pepper was infuriated at what she saw playing out in front of her at Torrey Pines on Sunday. 

"Have some respect," Pepper vented into her mic as players made the turn. 

Limiting field sizes, such as the 80-man field at this week's Signature Event on the PGA Tour, has also proven something of a controversial topic in recent months.

At least among those PGA Tour players on the outside looking in who consider their playing opportunities against the world's best have been somewhat restricted. 

To further rub salt into their wounds, the eight Signature Events of the PGA Tour season all come with at least $20m prize purses. 

Those defending limited fields claim those missing out simply need to play better golf in order to come through the Aon Swing 5, which rewards the most in-form players who are not already exempt before a Signature Event. 

The PGA Tour also recently announced that in 2026 only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup will be assured of full status the following season. 

That has divided opinion, too. 

Shrinking field sizes and opportunity for players is not something the likes of McIlroy necessarily want to see, but he does believe it contributes to improving the pace of play.

"There's a lot of different answers, but not every answer is going to -- is not going to make everyone happy," said McIlroy, when asked for how he would go about fixing the current pace of play issue on the PGA Tour. 

"I could say smaller fields. Smaller fields, smaller fields would help pace of play, but that takes away playing opportunities from people and that's going to p*** some people off. 

"You could say -- I think as well, the other thing is when we play in this time of the year, the tee times have to be a little bit tighter together so that they can get everyone through with daylight and everything. 

"If you could be able to space the tee times out a little bit more, that would hopefully make things flow a little bit better."

McIlroy also discussed wanting to shrink the PGA Tour schedule down because he considers there are too many tournaments per season. 

Not just for the players but the fans, too. 

The four-time major champion is of the mindset the PGA Tour needs to take a leaf out of the NFL's book where a season is staged over six months instead of a full calendar year.

"I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that's sort of available to them," admitted McIlroy.

"So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think might not be a bad thing."

McIlroy added: "I think 47 or 50 tournaments a year is definitely too many."

McIlroy also revealed during his latest press conference that he will condense his own playing schedule down in 2025. 

He intends to play his required 15 events on the PGA Tour and then around seven on the DP World Tour in order to maintain both of his memberships around the world. 

McIlroy will not be playing his usual 27-28 events a season because he wants to spend those additional weeks at home with his wife Erica and daughter Poppy. 

He also believes a lighter playing schedule will give him the best possible chance to contend in all four majors this season. 

Not that McIlroy needs any further reminding but he now enters an 11th season without a major title to his name.

McIlroy needs to win The Masters in April in order to complete golf's career grand slam. 

This week's famed Californian links has not proven a particular favourite of McIlroy's down the years with a number of indifferent results.

The Northern Irishman slumped to a T66 at Pebble Beach in 2024, although he did win the Pro-Am event alongside his playing partner Jeff Rhodes.

McIlroy's's best career result at Pebble Beach to date remains a T9 at the 2019 U.S. Open. 

This week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am marks the second Signature Event of the season. 

As a result there is a whopping $20m on the line with the winner pocketing a huge $3.6m. 

See how much the world's best are playing for at Pebble Beach here. 

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is making his first start of the PGA Tour season at Pebble Beach. 

Scheffler has had to spend the last four weeks on the sidelines after undergoing hand surgery following a Christmas Day blunder. 

The two-time Masters champion was seen in practice for the first time in 2025 on Tuesday morning, with the signs looking encouraging according to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis. 

World No.2 Xander Schauffele remains out of action though, albeit he has received a positive injury update this week. 

Scheffler starts a warm 9/2 favourite.

McIlroy finished T4 in his first start of the 2025 season two weeks ago at the Dubai Desert Classic. 

He suffered a shock debut defeat on TGL to Tiger Woods' Jupiter Links GC at the SoFi Center on Monday night. 

Boston Common GC were heavy favourites to beat Woods' team but they lost in overtime. 

McIlroy is priced up second in the betting market this week at odds of 12/1 alongside in-form World No.4 Collin Morikawa. 

Woods, 49, is not competing at Pebble Beach this week as he continues to make a full recovery from a sixth back surgery.

It is not yet known when Woods will make his first start of the 2025 PGA Tour season.

Woods will host his annual Genesis Invitational in two weeks time.

The event has changed location from Riviera CC to Torrey Pines as a result of the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. 

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