McIlroy Eyes Possible Return to PGA Tour

News-Golf (livesportschannel24.blogspot.com) - Looks like Rory McIlroy wasn’t kidding when he said he hated links golf. The U.S. Open winner told the media Wednesday he was at ease playing golf in the states and may take up dwelling as a neighbor of Tiger Woods as well.

"I'm leaning towards taking my card up again absolutely," McIlroy said in a press symposium on the eve of this week’s Bridgestone Invitational. "I feel as if I play my best golf over here. I'm very comfortable in this country....I’m definitely looking towards coming back and playing a full schedule over here."

McIlroy’s latest comments represent an about-face for the 22-year-old who romped to an eight-stroke Open victory at Congressional nation Club in June. Even the FedEx Cup schedule, which McIlroy cited as one reason for quitting the PGA last year to focus on the European Tour, did not come into view to be a deterrent to the young man from Hollywood.

That may come as a revelation to Mcilroy's agent Chubby Chandler. As only just as June of this year, Chandler told the Irish Times his client would not retake his PGA Tour card because of the FedEx Cup, a series of four events that begins with The Barclays in August and ends with the Tour Championship in late September.

Yet McIlroy, who hails from Northern Ireland but made it clear after a T25 finish at the British Open in July that he could do without the hail and other nasty weather ordinary to links golf in the U.K., suggested he would gladly exchange foul playing conditions for the problem of the FedEx Cup events.

"I’m not a fan of golf tournaments that the ending is predicted so much by the weather. It’s not my sort of golf," he said after his final round of the Open Championship. "Looking forward to getting back and playing in Akron [at this week’s Bridgestone Invitational], playing the PGA and getting back into some nice conditions."

He reiterated his dislike for the British elements on Wednesday. "Probably the Open," he said about why he considered reapplying for his PGA Tour card. "The weather.

"I just thought about it," he explained. "I consider as if my game really suits playing course over here. Most of my favorite events seem to be on this side of the pond. And my game suits it over here. I'm very relaxed over here."

Sources within Team Rory also suggested he was struggling with all the attention in his homeland and being “Northern Ireland’s famous person”. The 22-year-old will still appear on his home continent, but the move will be a blow for the European Tour. McIlroy tore up his US card after just 12 months last year, speaking of his dislike of the end-of season FedEx Series, missing his home as well as some of his favourite events in Europe.

The PGA Tour has made strenuous efforts to persuade golf’s young occurrence into a U-turn and was thrilled when McIlroy approach it yesterday to ask about the likelihood of a return. In truth, it was akin to David Beckham asking Preston if they would like him back. With the PGA Tour’s TV contract up next year this was just the news its commissioner wanted to hear. There could be tens of millions resting on this, as the reaction confirmed. “We would be ecstatic if it happens. Rory is a enormous asset and an immense talent,” said Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief of operations.