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Rory McIlroy airs TWO radical proposals to repair golf’s massive drawback – however star admits his concepts will ‘p*** individuals off’

Rory McIlroy has named his two radical proposals that he believes could benefit the PGA Tour. 

McIlroy, who will play in his first PGA Tour event of the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, was quizzed over how the organisation’s chiefs can overcome the issue of slow play.

During a press conference, the 35-year-old responded with two suggestions. ‘There’s a lot of different answers,’ he said. ‘But not every answer is going to — is not going to make everyone happy. I could say smaller fields.

‘Smaller fields, smaller fields would help pace of play, but that takes away playing opportunities from people and that’s going to p*** some people off.

‘I think as well, the other thing is when we play in this time of the year, the tee times have to be a little bit tighter together so that they can get everyone through with daylight and everything.

‘If you could be able to space the tee times out a little bit more, that would hopefully make things flow a little bit better.

Rory McIlroy has named his two radical proposals that he believes could benefit the PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy has named his two radical proposals that he believes could benefit the PGA Tour

The 35-year-old suggested that 'smaller fields would help' speed up the pace of play

The 35-year-old suggested that ‘smaller fields would help’ speed up the pace of play

‘I think as well nowadays most people go for par 5s in two, so you’ve got to wait on that. You’ve got longer par 3s. There’s a lot of different things that go into it.I don’t — I don’t know. It seems like it’s — you can maybe improve it by 15 or 20 minutes. 

‘But that’s still a five and a half hour round into a five hour and 15 round so is that really improving it enough to make a huge change? I don’t know.’ 

McIlroy’s advice regarding the PGA Tour’s set up comes amid the growing strength of the Saudi-backed LIV tour.

Earlier this month, McIlroy told Tom McKibbin that cashing in on a move to LIV would not be ‘worth the sacrifice’.

The 22-year-old, who has been something of a protege to McIlroy since his emergence from the same Holywood Golf Club, is expected to accept a £4million offer to joining the Saudi-backed circuit.

That would mean shunning the PGA Tour card he earned just two months ago, with the added blow that his climb through the rankings will stall. 

Given the world No 114 is also on Luke Donald’s radar for the Ryder Cup later this year, McIlroy has advised his fellow Northern Irishman against taking the short-term gain.

The 35-year-old did admit that a smaller field could, in turn, 'p*** people off'

The 35-year-old did admit that a smaller field could, in turn, ‘p*** people off’

‘If I were in his position and I had his potential, which I think I have been before, I wouldn’t make that decision,’ said McIlroy, who joins McKibbin in the Dubai Desert Classic field this week.

McIlroy added: ‘There is still a ton of money to be made on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. There is so much money in the game, some would argue too much for the eyeballs we attract. So whatever the benefit may be, I don’t think it’s worth the sacrifice for what he’s potentially going to give up.

‘I have known Tom since he was 10 years old and we had a really good conversation. I talked to him multiple times over the course of December to get a feel of what he was thinking and what he was going to do. All I could do was give my perspective’.