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After becoming the Grand Slam champion, Rory McIlroy made his intentions very clear. He wanted to grow the game of golf. One way he thought of doing that was by using his influence to play internationally. He vowed to play in global open tournaments more often. And McIlroy proved that by participating in the 2025 Crown Australian Open recently.

Watching the Irishman in action at Royal Melbourne opened the eyes of experts. There is more to golf than what the PGA Tour has to offer. And with the Hero World Challenge hosted the same week, Andy Johnson & Brendan Porath blamed the Tour for trying to steal the spotlight from the outstanding event down under.

In the latest episode of the Fried Egg Golf podcast, Johnson told Porath, “This event should be an event that every top player in the world plays in.” He was mesmerized by what the course had to offer. The narrow fairways, the close bunkers, and the wayward greens made it exciting to watch.

And as it was played in Australia. That means the broadcast was live during American prime time. But by heavily advertising the Hero World Challenge, “the Tour completely screwed it up for world golf. They’re so selfish and the fact that the Hero World Challenge is the same week is the same week as this.”

After accusing the PGA Tour of ruining the experience for the golf fans, Johnson also claimed that the Australian Open is one of the best tournaments in the world. Porath agreed with his co-host and mentioned how the event is perfectly set up for the golf fans to enjoy a Saturday night in December during football season.

For a fact, Johnson mentioned how golf is a global sport as compared to football. But the NFL actively prioritizes playing on international venues more often than the PGA Tour. This year, they are scheduled to play 7 matches internationally, whereas the PGA Tour only had 3 tournaments outside the Americas.

This is alarming because the NFL doesn’t boast as many international players as the PGA Tour. The pool of global talent in golf is much more vast than it is in football. So, for the Tour to restrict itself mostly to American soil seems quite regressive.

Interestingly, it’s not just the PGA Tour as a league that is holding back its national talent from exploring wider avenues. Some of its best players have also limited themselves to playing on home soil. And one of them is leading by example.

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Rory McIlroy’s efforts for golf’s global growth are being thwarted by his rival

When Rory McIlroy first made the statement about exploring international golf, other top golfers were also asked what they were doing to grow the game. One of them was the world #1, Scottie Scheffler. And his response to the query surprised many in the community.

Hoping that he would also take the same route in the near future, reporters learned that Scheffler had no plans to travel the world to play golf. During the Scottish Open press conference, he said, “It would be wonderful to be able to play an international schedule, but right now we play most of our tournaments in the States, and I come over here for these few weeks.”

As he mentioned, apart from the weeks when he plays The Open, he prefers staying in the United States. To clarify, he mentioned that he likes to stay close to home: “For me, it’s important to get time at home because that’s my priority and playing tournaments that I can.”

Scheffler’s primary focus has always been his family. Whether it is driving his father’s old car or living in the old family home that he bought just before his marriage. He has never chosen golf over his family. So it’s understandable why the world #1 wouldn’t want to go on a global tour just yet in his career.

He might change his mind a few years down the line when he has achieved a lot more and is looking to explore the world. But for now, Scottie Scheffler is happy that the PGA Tour is sticking to a schedule that is based mostly in the United States.