Rory McIlroy following Roger Federer's advice about scheduling

By skipping three signature events and a FedExCup playoff event this year, Rory McIlroy has made it abundantly clear that he’s content following his own schedule.

And his impetus for that came from an unlikely source.

McIlroy said Tuesday, ahead of this week’s BMW PGA Championship, that it was a conversation with tennis star Roger Federer that led him in part to charting his own course as a professional.

Now in his 19^th year as a pro, McIlroy will embark later this year on trips to India and Australia to play in those countries’ national opens. Though he’s always been an international player, McIlroy’s additional stops were notable because of his decisions not to play in lucrative events in the U.S., including The Sentry, RBC Heritage, Memorial Tournament and FedEx St. Jude Championship.

“At this point, I want to play golf when I want to play golf,” said McIlroy, 36. “I want to play in the locations that I love to go to, and I want to play the majors and the Ryder Cup. That’s it.

“I’m not going to be going by minimums or anything else. I’ll obviously do my bit to make sure I keep my membership and all that on certain tours, but I’m going to play where I want to play.”

McIlroy competed in 16 PGA Tour events this season, one more than the minimum requirement to maintain his playing privileges.

McIlroy said that a few years ago, while Federer was at the tail end of his career, the tennis star told him that he had become rejuvenated competing in new places. McIlroy came to understand the idea, believing that returning to the same tournament year after year can become “a little bit monotonous and a little bit tedious.”

“I think as time goes on and I get to this stage of my career,” McIlroy said, “I get excited about doing that sort of thing.”

The BMW PGA, the flagship event on the DP World Tour, is the second of back-to-back weeks for McIlroy as he ramps up for the Ryder Cup at the end of the month. He’ll have a busy rest-of-the-year schedule too, with scheduled starts at the Dunhill Links, India Championship, Abu Dhabi Championship, DP World Tour Championship and Australian Open.