World number three Rory McIlroy has confirmed that he will not play in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth later this month.
The Northern Irishman won the European Tour's flagship event two years ago but has opted against playing this year due to a hectic schedule.
McIlroy, who turned 27 today, told reporters: "The reason I took three weeks off after Augusta was that I'm not going to have more than a week off until after the Ryder Cup [in September]. Until October it's going to be very busy.
"I'm playing [this week at the Wells Fargo Championship], next week at The Players, the Irish Open and then it's basically week on, week off from there. Memorial, week off, US Open, week off, French Open, week off, Open, week off, PGA, week off, Olympics, week off, Fed Ex Cup, Ryder Cup.
"There's a little bit of travel in there as well so it's a busy stretch coming up and you can't play every week. You want to feel as fresh as you can for every tournament that you play so I feel it's the best way for me to approach it."
Although McIlroy will not play at Wentworth, his decision to play at the 100th Open de France means that he will skip the WGC-Bridgestone in Ohio, an event he won in 2014.
Pascal Lemesre
