Rory McIlroy still sees concept of a ‘global schedule’ in the future

ORLANDO, Fla. – Last month at the Genesis Invitational Rory McIlroy declared the super league concept over, but the Northern Irishman conceded Wednesday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that he can see a version of a global tour in the future.

The concept has been revisited in recent months as the Saudi-backed super league, which is reportedly working toward a global tour with limited fields, gained traction. But late last month, the startup league appeared to suffer a serious setback when Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, who were both rumored to be leaning in the Saudi direction, announced their support of the PGA Tour.

Full-field tee times from the Arnold Palmer Invitational

McIlroy declared the super league threat over at Riviera but not the world tour concept based on the strategic alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour).

“It’s not as simple as this, but the guys at the PGA Tour could just literally walk down the street to the guys in the ATP [Association of Tennis Professionals] and just have a chat about what they do,” McIlroy said. “It’s two very, very different structures and different schedules, but I think there is a path where one day there could be – it might still be two Tours running side by side parallel to each other – but basically it would be a global tour, a global schedule.”