Rory McIlroy wishes the PGA Tour season were as short as the NFL’s

Rory McIlroy’s mind seemed to be elsewhere as he four-putted the same green in Sunday’s finale of the BMW Championship as he did on Saturday on his way to a T8 finish in the third of four FedEx Cup playoff games.

We’re even tempted to give the world No. 1 a break for mocking his ex-fiancee, Caroline Wozniacki, Saturday at Cherry Hills CC, though it is just about impossible to chalk up his tasteless act to mere fatigue.

But the way The New York Times’ Karen Crouse described McIlroy as continually checking his watch during Sunday’s press conference so he could get to Mile High Stadium for the start of the Broncos-Colts game indicated that focus on the umpteenth tourney of the PGA Tour’s never-ending season was not a priority for those still in contention for this week’s Tour Championship as well as those who threw in the golf towel and are biding their time before the Ryder Cup in two weeks.

“I think the great thing about football is how short the season is. So it’s always in demand. People want it,” McIlroy said on Thursday. “Once the Super Bowl finishes, they can’t wait for football season to start up again. I think that’s the great thing about it.”

The same cannot be said for the league in which McIlroy toils, as he was hardly the only tour player to complain about the length of the tour campaign — especially the jam-packed playoff schedule that marks an official end to the regular season.

There is no Super Bowl-to-season-opener hiatus for weary golfers, fans or scribes. Though players that include Phil Mickelson and reigning FedEx Cup champion Henrik Stenson have more than hinted that the season goes on too long, next year’s is right back up two weeks after the Ryder Cup.

“East Lake is a really great golf course, and I would really like to come back and defend and to play it again,” said Stenson, who was actually relieved to miss out on defending his title when he finished the BMW 11 shots back of winner Billy Horschel. “But I finally get a bit of a break.”

There was something to be said for a little R&R, Stenson noted.

“You got guys who are playing 66 percent of my schedule, complaining that they’re worn out, and I played 31 tournaments, had no offseason and going into another 28-week season,” he said. “So, you can understand that I’m a little bit low as well.”

Mickelson, who generated some rare bad PR when he quit midway through the tourney, wholeheartedly agreed.

“My primary goal is to rest and prepare for the Ryder Cup,” Mickelson said in a statement Saturday after carding a 6-over 76 in his second round. “Without a chance to contend at the Tour Championship, the most important thing for me now is to prepare for the Ryder Cup.”

Phil’s Ryder Cup buddy, Keegan Bradley, disqualified himself from the BMW and the $10 million cash-grab playoff finale over a rules issue, while Garcia — who skipped last week’s Deutsche Bank Championship — said he was just too tired to concentrate at the end in Denver.

“If I was mentally sharp, if I was rested, the way I was at the beginning and middle of the year, I would have talked myself into going for the green,” Garcia said after a chip shot that Johnny Miller called “just a flat choke” on the 17th hole on Sunday. “But, for some reason, I couldn’t. Then, just a mistake after another mistake.”

Even Geoff Ogilvy, who has not exactly burned up the course of late but made it to East Lake on the strength of a T2 finish at the Deutsche Bank and a T36 outcome at the BMW, was less than thrilled to be moving on to the finale of the Finchem Follies.

“To be honest with you,” Ogilvy said after finishing 25th in the standings and becoming one of the top 30 who will vie for the $10 million jackpot starting Thursday, “I’m not a 100 percent excited about playing golf next week.”

The Tour Championship will be Ogilvy’s seventh competition in eight weeks and he predicted the congested year-end schedule would discourage tour participation in the upcoming months.

“You’re going to start seeing some of the best players rarely between next week and March,” Ogilvy said. “No one wants to feel sorry for us, because this is an amazing thing we get to do. But if they want us to play our best in six or seven or eight of the biggest tournaments of the year in a 10-week stretch, it’s just too much.”

We’ll let the musical stylings of Dan Hicks (not Johnny’s NBC Sports sidekick) usher us into Tour Championship week: