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Rory Mcilroy has had another busy schedule this season. But this week, he found a way to reduce his workload.
Mcilroy chose to omit the St. Jude championship on TPC Southwind in Memphis, to dismay at least one PGA Tour organizer. Peter Malnati, director of players of the PGA Tour Policies Board, said he was “very worried” for Mcilroy’s decision.
The Fedex St. Jude championship serves as the first section of the playoffs. The BMW championship is the second game of the playoffs, while the Tour championship at the end of this month in Atlanta will conclude the 2025 postseason.
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Rory Mcilroy leaves the first tee during the first round of the open golf tournament of Upen. (Charles Leclaire-Imagn images)
Mcilroy’s choice seemed to take PGA Tour officials to reflect a rule change that could mathematically block certain players to the second and third playoff legs.
2025 FEDEX ST. Jude Championship Field: Complete golfist list for the first stretch of playoffs
Mcilroy and PGA Tour golfer, Scottie Scheffler, accumulated so many points of the events throughout the season that her potential clients would keep them inside the thresholds between the 50s and the first thirty that the next tournaments send. The Tour championship in East Lake in Atlanta brings together the 30 players of the year for a shot in the Fedex Cup trophy.
Rory Mcilroy hits its exit blow to the eighth hole during the second round of the RBC Canadian open golf tournament. (Images Dan Hamilton/Imagn)
Malnati hinted that a rule change was possibly on the horizon. “I think there are things in process, and I will leave it that way,” he told Golfweek.
Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth retreated against the idea that Mcilroy’s actions will be the beginning of a trend for other players. Spieth previously served as director of PGA Tour policy players.
“It is possible to make 1-2 boys do that for an event, but I don’t think it becomes a thing because they are still great events against the best players in the world,” Spieth said. “I think they are trying to discover how to make sure you don’t skip them both and ideally none of them.”
The absence of Mcilroy was not completely unexpected, considering that he previously hinted that he was contemplating omitting the St. Jude championship of this year.
Rory Mcilroy leaves no. 13 Green during the first round of the Masters tournament. (Katie Goodale/Imagn images)
“There are some tournaments that I played this year that does not usually play and that might not play next year,” Mcilroy told The Telegraph in November 2024.
“I played cognizer in Palm Beach Gardens, [the Valero Texas Open in] San Antonio and [the RBC Heritage at] Hilton Head. And I will probably not play the first playoffs event in Memphis. I mean, I ended up basically dead the last there this year and I just went down a place in the playoff classification. “
Despite missing the first section of the postseason, Mcilroy is expected to compete in the penultimate playoff event in Baltimore and the final stretch in Atlanta at the end of this month. The Irish of the North is also scheduled to be a main participant in Europe in this year’s Ryder Cup in Bethpage Black in New York.
