Rory McIlroy Set To Cut Playing Schedule In 2013

Rory McIlroy has announced that he will play less events in 2013 as he tries to re-find his enthusiasm for the game and pick-up his form at the right times in the season.

The world number one has had a record 2012, winning his second major at the US PGA Championship, helping Europe to the Ryder Cup and climbing to the game’s top ranking. But he claims he is now exhausted and wants to reign in the number of events he plays next season.

“It has been a great season and I am ready to be done,” he said. “It is just such a long season these days. But then I feel I have an obligation to play some of these big events leading up to Dubai.”

These events include the BMW Shanghai Masters, the first of four events he’s planning to play as he looks to match Luke Donald’s feat in 2012 and win both the Race to Dubai and the PGA Tour money list.

The Northern Irishman went on to add: “I won’t find it tough to get myself up for my last events as I want to win the Race to Dubai, especially after coming close a few times.”

McIlroy has played 21 official individual tournaments so far this season, with another four to six before the end of the year – meaning he’s on the course almost every other week.

McIlroy was speaking after a disappointing week in Turkey – including a six stroke loss to Tiger Woods – and conceded that he sometimes struggles to muster enough enthusiasm each time he tees it up.

“The level of intensity (Tiger) displays is impressive as he can just turn it on,” said McIlroy. “It’s something that I struggle to do sometimes.

“I would just love to cut my schedule back even further and I think next year I will cut it down again to a max play of 22 or 23,” said McIlroy.

Cutting around four events off his 2013 calendar would give him essentially another month off, and put him closer to the kind of schedule that Woods plays – meaning that he’ll focus on the majors and other top events, and sit out almost everything else.