THE PGA TOUR has been grouping the game’s biggest names together for the first two rounds of the top events, but Rory McIlroy does not like it.
McIlroy, who will play with Dustin Johnson and Jason Day on Thursday and Friday at the Memorial Tournament, told commissioner Jay Monahan that the star-studded groupings have “backfired a little bit”.
“I mean, I don’t mind playing with the top guys in the first two days, but the objective is to get those top guys in contention on Sunday,” McIlroy said, via golfchannel.com.
“So we’ll see if it works out or not over the next few weeks. But I get why they’re doing it, and I get why it creates a bit of a buzz at the start of the week.
“But I would rather see Rickie [Fowler] and Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger [Woods] play on a Sunday than on a Thursday and two of them going home.”
During The Players Championship, McIlroy was grouped with Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, while Woods played with Mickelson and Fowler. McIlroy would like to wait and see those groups later in the week.
“There’s just so much buzz and hype around the group on a Thursday or Friday when there doesn’t really need to be,” McIlroy said. “And that could affect some players.”
McIlroy has four top-five worldwide finishes this season, including a runner-up last week at the BMW PGA Championship.
