Rory McIlroy believes ending his injury-plagued year with a three-month break will aid his quest to bag a fifth major golf championship in 2018.
The world No.4 revealed on Tuesday he would play his final event for 2017 at the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links event in Scotland in early October.
The Northern Irishman, who won the $US10 million ($A13 million) FedEx Cup bonus last year, begins his playoffs series at this week's Northern Trust in New York - the first of the US PGA Tour's four post-season events.
Former world No.1 McIlroy said a third consecutive season without claiming a major championship and a rib injury that forced 10 weeks on the sidelines earlier this year led him to the decision.
"I feel like the last three years have been a little bit stop/start for me," McIlroy said at Glen Oaks Club on Wednesday.
"There's been some success in there, but I don't feel like it's been smooth sailing every single year; I just want to be healthy and just have zero distractions."
McIlroy's last major haul delivered the 2014 US PGA Championship and British Open, adding to his 2011 US Open and 2012 PGA Championship titles.
His best finish at the majors this year was a tie for fourth at July's British Open and seventh at the Masters, while his most recent Tour win was the Tour Championship in September.
The 28-year-old hopes the rest period will allow him to play a heavy schedule in the US early in 2018 and to arrive at the Masters in April ready to win Augusta's coveted green jacket.
"If I'm shutting it down at the end of October this year, my focus is on January 18 and being ready to go," he said.
"I planned on playing a heavy schedule at the start of this year. Didn't quite work out that way but I plan on trying to do that next year, playing a lot on the West Coast."
With a Masters victory, McIlroy would join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to complete golf's career grand slam.
McIlroy's tumultuous season has included him sacking long-time caddie JP Fitzgerald in July as well as an equipment change in May.
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