Rory McIlroy has made an expected announcement as he plans to being his 2026 season with the DP World Tour and not the familiar PGA Tour
11:44 ET, 25 Oct 2025Updated 11:44 ET, 25 Oct 2025
Rory McIlroy makes expected announcement ahead of 2026 season(Image: Getty Images)
Four time major winner Rory McIlroy has announced that he will be starting off his 2026 career with the DP World Tour, not the familiar PGA Tour, which is expected. McIlroy’s first DP World Tour event will be at Dubai Creek Resort at the Dubai Invitational.
The decision comes after the PGA Tour was forced to abruptly cancel its first tournament of the year.
“I’m excited to be starting my year in Dubai,” said McIlroy. “The UAE is a place where I’ve enjoyed a lot of great weeks, and I’m sure this will be no different.
“Dubai Creek Resort was a fantastic host venue two years ago, and Abdulla and his team put on an incredible event. I came very close to winning that week, so I’m hoping 2026 will be another really good year for me. And to start strong in the Middle East would be the perfect way to get it under way.”
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After the Dubai Invitational, McIlroy will also play the following week at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he has seen previous success four times. The two events are currently his only confirmed tournaments for the start of 2026, although he will actually make his first official start of the 2026 DP World Tour season at the Australian Open and the season wrap-around event at the BMW Australian PGA Championship.
McIlroy, current world No. 2 has indicated that his schedule will feature many more worldwide events during the rest of his career, which means more appearances away from the PGA Tour and on the DP World Tour instead. He recently explained the “luxury” he has as one of the PGA Tour’s leading stars when it comes to deciding his schedule.
“I’ll always look at the schedule at the start of the year and see what best fits me and my life, and everything else that I do with family or other opportunities that I’m pursuing outside of golf,” he said.
Rory McIlory makes announcement ahead of 2026 season
“This year that meant skipping a few signature events. I might skip less, I might skip the same amount.
“The luxury of being a PGA Tour player is we’re free to pick and choose our own schedule for the most part. I took advantage of that this year and I’ll continue to take advantage of that for as long as I can.”
Rory mentions that he’s only ever started his career once on the PGA Tour, which was back in 2019 when he played the Sentry in Hawaii, which has now been cancelled for the 2026 season.
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“I think it’s all positive,” said McIlroy on the schedule tweaks.
“Golf builds through the January, February, March months, gets a huge popularity spike through Augusta and to try and keep that momentum going through the next few weeks, through the PGA, through the US Open, I think is a good thing.
“It’s quite a workload for the players to play that much golf in that stretch but it’s not as if we’re having to travel halfway around the world to do it,” said McIlroy.
