Odds Say Rory McIlroy Loses European Tour Membership

• Rory McIlroy is considering giving up his European Tour membership in 2019
• Forfeiting his status could impact his future Ryder Cup appearances
• Check the odds on what the four-time major champ will do

Rory McIlroy made waves Tuesday by suggesting he will give up his European Tour membership in 2019 and focus solely on the PGA Tour. He said he wants to focus on playing the best competition and, as he explained, “for the most part of the season, that is in America.”

In order to maintain status, he has to play at least four regular European Tour events outside of the majors and WGC tournaments. There are odds on whether he’ll go through with it or not.

Odds Rory McIlroy loses his 2019 European Tour Membership

Rory McIlroy considers giving up his European Tour membership in order to focus on playing the best competition in America each week. ⬇️https://t.co/mWauUACdRj

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) November 13, 2018

Ryder Cup Ramifications for Rory McIlroy

McIlroy has hinted that he may only play two regular events – the European Masters and Scottish Open – which wouldn’t fulfill his obligations. But all is not lost from a Ryder Cup perspective, at least in the short term.

“Right now, that is all sort of up in the air, but if it were to be that I don’t fulfill my membership next year, it’s not a Ryder Cup year, so it’s not the end of the world,” he told the press. “I am always going to want to play the Ryder Cup, so if that does happen, so be it, and I will try and make the Ryder Cup team the year after.”

McIlroy has hinted that he may only play two regular events – the European Masters and Scottish Open – which wouldn’t fulfill his obligations.

But here’s where things get interesting 20 or so years down the road. A new rule states that no player can captain the European Team if they decline membership or fail to fulfill the minimum event requirement in any season. Does that change the Ulsterman’s mind? Do we really think they’d deny McIlroy’s captaincy one day over semantics? The tour has already gone into high gear to suck up to him a little with this tweet today.

#StatShot: McIlroy's putt in 2015 📊

The numbers behind one of the biggest putts of @McIlroyRory's career. pic.twitter.com/j2XMsAD6lS

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 14, 2018

Golfers Would Love to Have McIlroy’s “Down Years”

Based on McIlroy’s lofty expectations one win in two years on both the European and PGA Tours (2018 Bay Hill) counts as a major disappointment – but it’s not like he’s been playing all that bad on the European Tour at all!

Rory McIlroy Statistics

If McIlroy sticks to his plan it would hurt the tour but it hasn’t made his contemporaries get down in the dumps about it.

Don’t worry @McIlroyRory I too one day can imagine a future where I won’t play on the European Tour for a while. Probably because I’ll get banned.

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) November 14, 2018

What Will Rory McIlroy End Up doing?

He’s feeling a little salty about his recent form, but after this week’s DP World Tour Championship he’ll play just once – at the Sentry Tournament of Champions – in the next 13 weeks to gear up for a busy stretch between March and August. After his long break he’ll feel rejuvenated and avoid the drama of losing his membership and add two events to his schedule to fulfill his obligations.