"That is a great record but the point is it could have been much better."

A couple of interesting takes on Rory McIlroy's decision to join the PGA Tour, even though he's essentially still going to play a worldwide schedule.

Brian Keough at the Irish Golf Desk on how the decision came down:

There is no doubt, as Lawrence points out, that spending lengthy periods of time in the US means you simply don't get home to see your coach as often as you might like. Just look at Harrington's disastrous DIY swing tweak this year. Then there's the travel, as McIlroy's World Cup partner Graeme McDowell can attest after a nefarious PGA Tour foray cost him a Ryder Cup place at the K Club in 2006. McDowell's manager at the time was Chubby Chandler.

Maybe that's why Chandler was trying to persuade McIlroy to stay put in Europe and his Oct 21 email to the SportsBusiness Journal telling them that "Rory has decided not to join the PGA Tour in 2010" appears to have backfired on him spectacularly.

When I asked McIlroy about it before the Volvo World Match Play in Spain, he said: "I saw that. That's not accurate." And he said it in a hurt tone that hinted that he was not totally happy that a decision had been taken on his behalf or that he was being railroaded into doing something he was not quite sure he really wanted to do.

Lawrence Donegan thinks young Rory will regret a worldwide schedule and compares his decision to Ernie Els in the late 90s.

And why shouldn't his plan work exactly as he hopes it will (which is to say, help him fulfill his talent and win majors)?

The answer is because it has never worked for any player, not over the long run. Ask Lee Westwood, who tried the two-tour thing a few years ago and quickly wised up, or Padraig Harrington, whose punishing trans-Atlantic schedule is, I'd bet, part of the reason why his game has gone backwards this year. Better still ask Ernie Els, who is managed by the same company as McIlroy and whose career, terrific though it has been, might serve as a cautionary tale.

For years, Els has been the only golfer in the world who truly has played a "worldwide schedule". It has made him a popular figure and a very wealthy man, but has it allowed him to make the most of his talent? Well, you might say, he has won 60 times around the world, and three of those wins have been major championships.

That is a great record but the point is it could have been much better.