Rory McIlroy blasts PGA Tour Track 2 plan at 2026 U.S. Open

Rory McIlroy used his 2026 U.S. Open press conference at Shinnecock Hills to take a clear shot at the PGA Tour’s planned two-tiered schedule, warning that the lower rung would amount to a watered-down circuit. Speaking Tuesday ahead of the championship, McIlroy said the second tier of the proposed restructuring, known as Track 2, would be little more than a developmental series in disguise.

“Track two is a glorified Korn Ferry event, like that’s what track two is going to be,” McIlroy told reporters, referring to the Tour’s developmental Korn Ferry Tour. It was the most pointed reaction yet from a top player to a restructuring that PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has been shaping since taking the job.

What is the PGA Tour Track 2 plan?

The PGA Tour has been moving toward a two-tiered model that would split the schedule into a top track of marquee, full-strength events and a second track of smaller tournaments. Rolapp announced the broad framework earlier this year, and the most significant changes are expected to arrive around the 2028 season. The stated goal is a cleaner, more compact premium product, but the open question is what happens to long-running events that do not land top-tier status.

McIlroy’s worry is exactly that. He said the structure risks stripping history and prestige from tournaments that have mattered for decades, and that sponsorship money would end up drawing the dividing line. “There’s going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn’t pony up $30 million,” he said.

Why McIlroy singled out the Canadian Open

The example hit close to home. McIlroy is a two-time RBC Canadian Open champion, winning at Hamilton in 2019 and repeating at St. George’s in 2022, and he skipped the 2026 edition for the first time in years. He made clear he does not want that event demoted in any reshuffle.

“So I don’t think the Canadian Open should be one of those,” McIlroy said, pushing back on the idea that a tournament with that kind of pedigree should slide to the second tier. He framed the broader disruption as a knock-on effect of the money that flooded the game in recent years, with golf.com reporting his view that LIV Golf “created this false economy” that the Tour is now trying to manage. His underlying message was that the old structure was not broken in the ways the new plan assumes.

What it means at Shinnecock this week

The schedule debate is the off-course headline, but McIlroy still has a major to play. He arrives at Shinnecock Hills having completed the career Grand Slam with his 2025 Masters win, and he tied for seventh at the 2026 PGA Championship, so the form and the motivation are both intact. He tees off Thursday in a marquee all-European group with Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood at 7:52 a.m. Eastern.

For bettors, McIlroy sits behind only Scottie Scheffler on the board. His outright price ranges from around +950 at DraftKings to about +1200 at FanDuel, the second choice in the field. The case for him is straightforward. Shinnecock’s widened fairways and firm, wind-swept setup reward elite total driving and ball-striking, and McIlroy grades among the very best in the field in high wind. The case against is his history at this venue, where he missed the cut in 2018, and a U.S. Open record that has too often featured one round that derails the week.

For DFS, McIlroy is a premium-priced anchor on DraftKings this week, near the top of every salary list. With prices running soft all the way down the board, rostering him still leaves room to pair another stud, so the build question is whether you pay up for the distance-and-wind profile that fits this course or pivot the savings into mid-range value. The schedule comments do not change any of that, but they do underline how locked in the game’s biggest names are on the sport’s direction even in major week.

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Frequently asked questions

When would the PGA Tour Track 2 changes take effect?

The Tour has signaled that the framework is set now but that the most significant on-schedule changes are expected to land around the 2028 season. Nothing about the two-tiered model alters the 2026 major calendar, so this week’s U.S. Open is unaffected.

Has McIlroy committed to play the Canadian Open in the future?

He did not make a future commitment in the press conference. He defended the event’s stature and argued it should not be relegated to a lower tier, but he skipped the 2026 RBC Canadian Open to prepare for the U.S. Open and did not lay out his 2027 plans.

Who else is in McIlroy’s group for Round 1?

McIlroy plays the first round alongside Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood, with the trio off at 7:52 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. Fleetwood was the runner-up the last time the U.S. Open visited Shinnecock in 2018.

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