Rory McIlroy intends to spend more time on the US tour next year, juggling his commitments with the European Tour as he seeks to make an impact on both sides of the “Pond.”
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy carries a career-best world ranking of No. 2 into the Hong Kong Open, which begins tomorrow at the Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling.
“I will add on a couple more events to my schedule in America next year,” McIlroy said yesterday. “It won’t be a drastic change, but I love playing on the golf courses in the US.”
McIlroy, who recently split with long-time manager Chubby Chandler, reduced his playing commitments on the US PGA Tour this season, figuring in only 10 tournaments, down from a high of 16 last year.
He pointed to world No.1 Luke Donald as an example of someone who has successfully played both sides of the Atlantic.
“Luke [Donald] has proved this year that that it can be done. He has played on both tours and he heads the money list on both as well,” McIlroy said.
Englishman Donald topped the US PGA Tour money list with earnings of more than US$6.5 million from 19 tournament appearances and heads the European Tour’s Race to Dubai with winnings of more than 3.8 million euros (US$5.1 million) from a dozen events.
US Open champion McIlroy, who finished a comparatively low 29th on the concluded PGA Tour Order of merit with US$2.3 million, is currently in third place on the European Tour money list and is hoping a good share of the US$2.75 million on offer in Hong Kong this week will reduce his gap to Donald, which stands at more than 1 million euros.
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