McIlroy plans to get off "the hamster wheel" in 2026

Rory McIlroy, Picture: Getty Images

Rory McIlroy is targeting a seventh Race to Dubai, but he's also planning a lighter 2026 schedule he hopes will help yield more majors.

After racking up nine top-three finishes in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, he's aiming to finally get his hands on the Falcon Trophy and distance himself further from his nearest rivals, Marco Penge and Tyrrell Hatton, before next week's DP World Tour Championship finale.

With Penge less than 500 points behind and with 3500 points available for wins over the next two weeks, any of the top 70 players in action, including 41st-ranked Tom McKibbin, could win the Harry Vardon Trophy.

Shane Lowry (112th) and Ludvig Aberg (80th) bring the field to 72 as they get into the last two events thanks to their Ryder Cup team status.

But while McIlroy (36) would love to edge closer to Colin Montgomerie's eight European Order of Merit wins, he'll play more in Europe but fewer events overall next year.

"Look, I'm not getting any younger," he said of the wear and tear caused by golf's "hamster wheel". 

"If I want to play competitively for another ten years like Justin Rose has, for example, I have to remember that I'm not 23 anymore and I can't play that schedule forever. 

"So I think to try to have the longevity that I want to have, I'm going to have to cut back my schedule a little bit over these next few years to make sure I stay injury-free and I play up until the point that I want to."

As for LIV Golf's move from 54 to 72 holes, he described the decision as "peculiar" as it was never a requirement to become eligible for world ranking points.

"I don't think three rounds versus four rounds is what was holding them back," he said of a circuit that has eaten up $5 billion in Saudi investment with little return.

"It certainly puts them more in line with traditional golf tournaments than what we've all done. 

"It brings them back into not really being a destructor and sort of falling more in line with what everyone else does.

"But if that's what they felt they needed to do to get the ranking points, I guess that's what they had to do."

Making the top 50 in the Race to Dubai, who contest next week's season finale, is the goal in Abu Dhabi.

But Séamus Power plays in the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico, looking to make the top 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings, which will determine who will keep their PGA TOUR cards.

Big weeks for Power, Walsh and Foster

With only two events remaining after this week, 135th-ranked Power needs a strong result somewhere to at least make the top 125 who will have conditional status.

It's also a big week for Lauren Walsh and Anna Foster at the LET's Aramco China Championship at Mission Hills.

Walsh is tenth in the Order of Merit with the top 10 at the end of the season exempt into Final Qualifying for an LPGA Tour card and a second bite of the cherry after she failed to come through qualifying last month.

Rookie Foster also has a chance to improve on her 40th position in the Order of Merit before the season-ending Open de España later this month.