Rory McIlroy can put a gloss on his PGA Tour season when he tees up at East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship, seeking his fourth title at the tour’s season-ending event.Should he fail to win, it will be his first PGA Tour season without a non-Major victory since 2020, but after another Green Jacket from Augusta was secured in April, McIlroy will not be too concerned.The world number two’s light US schedule put him at odds with the PGA Tour’s 15-event minimum requirement, falling one short, while he will have only completed 13 events after withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back injury.Between March and August, McIlroy only played two non-Major tournaments on US soil as he made the move to London to be his primary residence and focused on practising to prepare for Majors.The PGA Tour’s chief executive Brian Rolapp said he has a “fair amount of discretion” with the rules and McIlroy will keep his full playing privileges next season, with the 15-event minimum being re-evaluated in the new competitive model from 2028.McIlroy’s light schedule in the US is likely to continue in the future, focusing on playing DP World Tour events in the autumn, as it has been the past two years.“I play at least 22 times around the world in a calendar year, which is as much if not more than some of the other top players in the world,” he said.“I would like to keep that number around that same mark, like 20 to 22 events. That seems to be a good number for me. If I’m committed to playing that sort of heavier schedule in the fall [autumn], to go over to the DP World Tour and support that, then yeah, my schedule on the PGA Tour is going to be quite light compared to some others.”PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp. Photograph: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images McIlroy said he is working together with Rolapp on “exciting” new plans for the DP World Tour after the PGA Tour announced it will change its structure from 2028.That gives the DP World Tour, which has a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour, a five-month window to become the forefront of world golf, especially given the uncertainty of the LIV Tour after the withdrawal of funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.The Telegraph reported on Monday that a new global series of events would feature big-money tournaments in England, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, South Africa and the Far East.McIlroy said the report was “close to the mark, but not quite there”, where Irish Open organisers will hope he will use his influence to get the tournament included among the signature events.“It would allow guys to take up [DP World Tour] membership, to then have something to play for at the end of the DP World Tour season, if they choose to do that,” he said.“Because this Tour is not starting until February in 2028, that means you could put the final events of the DP World Tour season in January. So people could actually go over, whether it’s to the Middle East or elsewhere, to play those final two events, if that was something that was interesting to them. And then [they] also could be at their first couple of events of the season to make sure they’re ready to go for the Championship Series in 2028.”Despite his only win coming at the Masters, McIlroy’s PGA Tour season stats are impressive – second in scoring average, third in strokes gained and second in driving distance with an average of 330 yards – and after showing form at the BMW Championship last week, he should contend in Atlanta.“You could argue that each of the FedExCups I’ve won I maybe wasn’t the best player of the entire year, but I always felt like it was a way to redeem myself or end the year on a really positive note.”East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia was the home course of Bobby Jones. Photograph: Kevin C Cox/Getty Images Tour Championship lowdownPurse: $40 million (€34.3 million); $10 million (€8.57 million for the winner).Where: Atlanta, Georgia.The course: East Lake. The host of the Tour Championship since 2004, the home course of the legendary Bobby Jones has provided plenty of exciting finishes over the years, but is set to be replaced as the season-ending course in 2028 when the Tour Championship is revamped to become a two-week match play tournament over a rotation of “prestigious venues”.The field: The best 30 players on the PGA Tour this season compete, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, last week’s winner Wyndham Clark and defending champion Tommy Fleetwood. There are no “gimmicks” of starting strokes or different calculations to be made based on previous performances, the player with the best score takes the $10 million. Irish in the field: Rory McIlroy is the sole Irish player in the field after Shane Lowry was eliminated after the first playoff event. McIlroy has won the Tour Championship three times, tied the most of any player with Tiger Woods, all three coming at East Lake (2016, 2019 and 2022). The Masters champion appeared to brush off any rustiness of a mediocre FedEx St Jude Championship after a month off with a much improved BMW Championship, where he finished third.Quote-Unquote: “A season-ending structure that rewards excellence over the course of the year while building toward a reimagined Tour Championship. We are creating something different, something distinct within professional golf that can resonate far beyond it.” – PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp on the new plans for the 2028 Tour Championship.Betting: Scheffler is favourite at 7-2, McIlroy second favourite at 9-1, then Xander Schauffele is 10-1. Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Clark and Ludvig Aberg are 16-1.On TV: Sky Sports Golf from 6pm on Thursday.