McIlroy to continue on European Tour

Rory McIlroy admits he has considered playing exclusively in the US but will continue to ply his trade on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 26-year-old has, for some time, split his time between the PGA Tour and the European Tour and has racked up many air miles over the past five years.

Figures released this week show that the Northern Irishman spent two weeks in planes over the past year and visited 120 different airports along the way.

His work is now done stateside this season and the four-time major winner will focus his attention on preparing for the Race to Dubai’s Final Series after being given an exemption to compete despite not featuring in the requisite number of tournaments this year.

He missed a few weeks in the summer with an ankle injury and the authorities took that into consideration when asked to make a special case for the former word number one.

A few players have decided to thrown their lot in with the PGA Tour and former Ryder Cup ace Paul Casey is the latest to do so.

But, although he confessed that it has been on his mind, McIlroy will not be following suit.

“I’ve definitely contemplated it,” he told BBC Sport. “You know, getting sick of the travel, getting sick of having to cross back and forth between tours.

“The players on the European Tour have had endless dialogue about reducing the number of tournaments that you need to play.

“But I feel like I owe a lot to the European Tour, they gave me a lot of opportunities at the start of my career. I will always be grateful for that.

“I love the Ryder Cup, I always want to play it, so that’s something that’ll keep me a European Tour member, along with a lot of the great plans they’ve got.”

Tagged European Tour, PGA Tour, Rory McIlory, Ryder Cup