Rory McIlroy has long been known to prepare ahead of any major. The 2026 season has also not looked any different as McIlroy continues to advance his preparation for the final major of 2026. However, he skips events in the wake of doing so. The PGA Tour requires members to compete in a minimum number of events, and McIlroy currently falls short of that threshold. That had sparked speculations over the status of his PGA Tour membership. But the latest reports show that it has been taken care of.

“Notwithstanding the above, the Commissioner, upon application by a foreign member and for medical reasons or other extraordinary circumstances that the Commissioner, at his discretion, determines to be a valid reason for not playing in at least 15 PGA Tour cosponsored or approved tournaments, may reduce the 15-minimum (or 12-minimum, as the case may be) tournament requirement,” reported Bob Harig on Daily Drive.

Overall, McIlroy has played nine PGA Tour events through the 2026 season so far, and this does not meet the Tour’s minimum requirement to play 15 events a year. In theory, that should put his PGA Tour card in doubt. But as per the PGA Tour handbook, a player is exempt from completing the minimum requirement under medical and extraordinary circumstances.

McIlroy faced recurring lower back pain this season. It prompted him to withdraw abruptly from the third round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Due to the same reason, he also came late to the Players Championship. Then he returned and won at the Masters. Afterwards, while many pros struggled to make it through the schedule and compete in the PGA Championship, McIlroy was in the field after skipping the Cadillac Championship and the RBC Heritage this season.

Now, he is also missing the final signature event of the year: the Travelers Championship. He utilized the time to take a look at the Royal Birkdale ahead of the Open Championship next month. This is the third time McIlroy has skipped a signature this year. For the Travelers’ Championship, he has not cited any injury as the reason not to tee up.

Just last month, McIlroy, along with the world No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, visited Shinnecock Hills early to take a look at the course while skipping the RBC Canadian Open.

McIlroy missing events, or rather, playing selectively, is not surprising, as for the last two years, the 32-year-old has followed the same style. In 2025, McIlroy missed the 50th edition of the Memorial Tournament. Even Jack Nicklaus was surprised by his decision but refrained from any criticism.

As Bob Harig reports, Martin Kaymer failed to meet the minimum requirements, and the PGA Tour did not give him any exemption in 2016. He had to earn his card once again. However, in 2019, he was short of one event to make it to the Open Championship as an alternate; the Tour did exempt him in the scenario under extenuating circumstances and allowed him to keep his card.

Now, McIlroy has played a crucial role in the new policy announced by the PGA Tour.

Until now, the Tour ran as a single unified schedule with roughly 35 events a season, with eight signature events featuring elevated purses and limited fields at the top. Now, from 2028, the model will be replaced by two separate tiers.

One will be the Championship Series, the elite tier, which will have 23 to 24 events spanning just seven months, from February to August. The other one is the Challenger Series. It will have 20-plus events running at the same time. Focusing on the Championship Series, the pressure will be harder and more intense.

That said, once this change is implemented, it remains to be seen how Rory McIlroy will set his schedule.