‘Absolutely not’: Rory McIlroy talks retirement — and 1 tour he’ll never play

We all hang it up, though when can be a complicated question. 

Can be. 

When Rory McIlroy heard it asked Wednesday morning, it wasn’t completely out of the reporter’s mouth when he had his reply. 

You’ve been relatively injury-free minus a few soccer games and what have you. How do you see your career winding down? You’ve got time. And you hit a certain age where you’re not quite as good anymore. How do you come to grips when you get to an age …

“I’ll be OK with that,” McIlroy said. 

We’ll check back in a few years, of course, as plans and egos change. For now, McIlroy is playing golf at its best level and, as the world’s second-ranked player, he’s playing among the best at that level. This week, at the Players Championship, he’s among the favorites. But there’s also the saying about Father Time and his undefeated streak, and McIlroy is just under two months shy of turning 36. For the working folks among us, those are prime 9-to-5 years. But for athletes? Well, you begin getting asked questions. 

Not coincidentally, they were brought to McIlroy in light of the unfortunate circumstances around a friend, a 15-time major winner — and a 49-year-old trying to work his way back from back surgery last September, the umpteenth procedure performed on his body. On Monday afternoon, though, we learned there’d be another for Tiger Woods; his social media accounts announced that he had torn his left Achilles tendon as he started to “ramp up” training and practice. 

Understandably, McIlroy was blunt in assessment of the news. 

“Yeah. It sucks,” he said. “Yeah, he doesn’t have much luck when it comes to injuries and his body. Obviously he was trying to ramp up to get ready for Augusta, and Achilles surgeries obviously aren’t fun. Hoping he’s in good spirits and hoping he’s doing OK.

“We obviously won’t see him play golf this year, and hopefully we see him maybe play in 2026.”

Could McIlroy see Woods be competitive in a return?

“He’ll try. I know he’ll try,” he said. “But that’s a question for him, not for me. I obviously don’t know what’s in his head. But judging by prior behavior, he’ll definitely try.”

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As for McIlroy, he’s been relatively injury-free since turning pro in 2007, minus an ankle injury suffered while playing soccer in 2015, as the reporter at the start of this article, the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson, pointed out. But McIlroy said he’d be good with moving on, whenever that time might be. 

“I look at other sports,” he said, “and I’ve had an unbelievable — I turned pro in 2007. I’m 18 years into a career. Not a lot of athletes can say they’ve had an 18-year career, and I’m only 35.

“I can acknowledge how lucky golfers are to be able to do what they do for so long compared to other athletes, so whenever I feel like the time is right, I’ll have no problem moving aside and letting the next generation do their thing.”

That said, that’s easy to say. Most athletes perform feeling bullet-proof, which can be a joy to watch when they’re in their prime — and painful when they move past it. There are countless examples. 

For McIlroy, he’s at least put some thought into it. This year, he’s shown good form, with a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and two other top-20s on the PGA Tour, and a tie for fourth at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour. He said Wednesday his game feels good. 

Still, there’ll come a day when a slide may come. 

“I think [I’ll move on] when I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve in the game and I get to the point where I don’t think I can maybe do that anymore,” he said. “I’d also like to walk away with a little bit left in the tank. I don’t want to be out there embarrassing myself. I’d like to walk away maybe a little before I should, put it that way.

“There’s always one more, but that’s OK. I think if you can come to terms with that and walk away on your own terms, then that’s a good thing.”

But there’s one place he won’t go. 

On Wednesday, a day ahead of trying to win the Players Championship for a second time, the conversation ended this way. 

Asked a reporter: “If Champions Tour is still kind of what it is …”

Answered McIlroy: “Absolutely not. I will not play Champions Tour golf. 

“Look, I’ve said a lot of absolutes in my time that I’ve walked back, but I do not envision playing Champions Tour golf. Something has went terribly wrong if I have to compete at golf at 50.”