SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Professional golfer Rory McIlroy addressed proposed changes to the PGA Tour's tournament structure on Tuesday during a press event in Southampton, N.Y. McIlroy criticized a potential two-tier system, suggesting it could diminish the status of certain events.

The PGA Tour is considering implementing a new system for 2028, which would categorize events into "track one" for elite tournaments and "track two" for events offering opportunities to advance to track one. "An event like last week, the Canadian Open, potentially going to one of these track twos -- track two is a glorified Korn Ferry (developmental tour) event," McIlroy said. "That's what track two is going to be, so I don't think the Canadian Open should be one of those." The Canadian Open was won last week by Bud Cauley, who is ranked 40th in the world. Four players in the top 10 competed in the event.

LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, launched in 2022. The Public Investment Fund has decided to end its funding for LIV Golf after the 2026 season. McIlroy reflected on the impact of LIV Golf's emergence on the PGA Tour. He stated, "It's funny. Like I think, as they've done all this work, you start to realize that the way the tour was before LIV came along was actually pretty good." He continued, "It was a pretty good structure, and everything sort of worked pretty well." McIlroy added that LIV Golf created a financial situation where the PGA Tour had to increase prize funds and adjust fields to retain talent. "LIV created this false economy where we had to up prize funds and had to cut fields and try to support the top players and all that stuff, which I think needed to happen because that was the only way to retain talent at the time," McIlroy stated. "But now that LIV looks like it's less of a threat, I think the old ways of the PGA Tour weren't actually that bad."

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp announced two weeks ago that the tour's future competition committee was examining changes for 2028. Rolapp is expected to provide an update on these planned changes after a tour board meeting next week. The PGA Tour is anticipated to increase fields to up to 130 players in Track 1 events and restore the 36-hole cut in these events. Rolapp stated earlier this month that any format must feel authentic to players to feel authentic to anyone. McIlroy is preparing for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which is his first tournament in the New York area since last year's Ryder Cup.