Rory McIlroy on his schedule: 'It's a lot of golf'

McIlroy said he'll be trying out some new clubs this week, the product of frustration at the Northern Trust at Liberty National in Jersey City.

McIlroy is set to tee off at 1:55 p.m. on Thursday in the first round, playing with Sungjae Im of South Korea and Billy Horschel.

Rory McIlroy is at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., ready for the BMW Championship -- the second stop of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

He's also ready for an upcoming break in competition, especially after inclement weather delayed the final round of the Northern Trust in the first leg of the playoff.

"This morning, I was tired. Look, we all had a long week last week as well, but just summoning up the effort to get out of bed and get to your 7:20 pro-am tee time, it took a little more effort today than it usually does," McIlroy, 32, said.

"But yeah, just everything. It's a lot of golf. It's hard to feel fresh at this time in the season. It all just sort of catches up with you."

McIlroy is set to tee off at 1:55 p.m. on Thursday in the first round, playing with Sungjae Im of South Korea and Billy Horschel.

"I'm just sort of getting through it, to be honest," the Northern Irishman said. "I'm going day-by-day and just trying to get through it as best I can and try to make it to next week."

Next up for McIlroy should be the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. Ranked 28th in the FedEx Cup standings, he's likely to be among to the top 30 to advance.

After that, he plans to spend some time at home with his wife, Erica, and their daughter, who soon will turn 1, and prepare for the Ryder Cup.

"I'm going to take a bit of time off after the Ryder Cup, and that'll be nice," he said.

"Since we came back after the sort of COVID halt. ... I think this is my 33rd event since then. Next week will be 34 and then Ryder Cup 35. So all that in a space of 15 months, it's a lot of golf. It's probably too much for me. I've played more than I probably should have and feel like it's just sort of all caught up with me."

McIlroy said he'll be trying out some new clubs this week, the product of frustration at the Northern Trust at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J.

"I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the ninth hole," he said about his play Monday. "So I was without a 3-wood coming here."

He admitted he might have been exaggerating a bit.

"I might not have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National, so if someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there's one in there somewhere."