The 2025 PGA Tour season has yet to conclude, but that has not stopped some from looking to next year’s schedule. After the PGA Tour released the playing calendar for the 2026 season on Tuesday, Rory McIlroy was asked about the cadence of the tournaments and the addition of another signature event to the campaign.

Adding the Miami Championship amid a busy portion of the schedule that includes two major championships and three signature events in a six-week stretch, the PGA Tour has made it so there are now nine big-money, limited field events on the calendar — one more than the eight that have occupied the space the last two seasons.

“I think it’s all positive… golf builds through the January, February, March months, and obviously golf gets a huge popularity spike or whatever through Augusta; and then to try to keep that momentum going through the next few weeks, through the PGA, U.S. Open, I think it’s a good thing,” McIlroy said ahead of the Tour Championship. “It’s quite a bit of a workload for the players to play that much golf in that stretch, but I think it’s not as if we’re having to travel halfway around the world to do it. 

“These are all pretty easy stops on the East Coast for the most part. But I think it’ll be good. It’ll be a good schedule, and I think if the Tour and the top players get off to a good start, I think that builds momentum for the Tour, and I think the Tour can just sort of ride that momentum through that stretch.”

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The Miami Championship will be held at Trump National Doral at the end of April and is preceded by the Masters, RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic and followed by the Truist Championship and the PGA Championship. Only the Zurich Classic is a non-signature event of this crop of tournaments with the Myrtle Beach Classic also taking place opposite of the Truist Championship.

With players no longer facing monetary fines for skipping signature events, McIlroy has made it clear that he is more than willing to miss an opportunity to play for $20 million should it not align with his schedule. The world No. 2 did not play in the RBC Heritage the week following his dramatic Masters victory nor the Memorial Tournament two weeks after the PGA Championship and two weeks before the U.S. Open. McIlroy missed other tournaments like The Sentry, which he has not played in since 2019, and the St. Jude Championship — the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

“I’ll always look at the schedule at the start of the year and see what best fits me and my life and everything else that I sort of do, whether it’s with family or other opportunities that I’m pursuing outside of golf,” McIlroy said. “I’ll always look at that. I’ll always choose the schedule that best fits me, and this year that meant skipping a few signature events. I might skip less next year. I might skip the same amount, I don’t know…the luxury of being a PGA Tour player is we are free to pick and choose our schedule for the most part, and I took advantage of that this year and I’ll continue to take advantage of that for as long as I can.”

By adding another signature event and getting rid of a full-field event (the Mexico Open), the PGA Tour has made it slightly more difficult for those not qualified for signature events at the onset of the season. Those players include those who failed to finish the year inside the top 50 and subsequently do not get position themselves Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup Fall as they also get into the first couple of signature events. 

Korn Ferry Tour graduates, PGA Tour veterans and others will need to make the most of their opportunities when they arrive, and McIlroy pointed to a couple of players who were in those shoes at the beginning of the year who they may be able to take inspiration from.

“I would look at someone like Jacob Bridgeman or Andrew Novak or some of these guys that were in a similar position to them this year and being able to play their way into signature events with good play and feel like I’ve got an opportunity to do some great things.”