Rory to focus on US campaign

Rory McIlroy dropped a bombshell by hinting he could give up his European Tour membership in an effort to get back to the top of the world rankings in 2019.

The world No. 7 plans to concentrate on playing in the United States, especially with the changes that have been made to next year's world golf schedule.

Next year, the WGC-Mexico Championship will be played in February, the Players Championship has been advanced to March, the US Masters in April, the PGA Championship has been moved to May and the US Open is in June.

Which means there will be one big tournament every month across the Pacific until the British Open in July.

"Everything is going to be so condensed between March and August, and that is why I am taking a big off-season to get myself ready, and then go at it hard from March all the way through to basically the end of the season," said the former world No. 1, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year - his only title in the last two years. - AFP