Although the FedEx Cup Playoffs start subsequent week in Memphis, Tennessee, the No. 2 golfer on the earth won’t be a part of the sector. Rory McIlroy’s identify was absent Friday from the 69-man listing of opponents for the 2025 St. Jude Championship launched by the PGA Tour.
Seventy males qualify for the primary spherical of the playoffs, however McIlroy is ranked so excessive that he can simply slide into the second spherical of the playoffs with out competing. Although he might be leaving a doubtlessly sizable payday on the desk — the winner at TPC Southwind will convey dwelling $3.6 million — he can choose proper up the next week, becoming a member of the remainder of the highest 50 for the BMW Championship simply an hour outdoors Washington, D.C.
McIlroy will virtually assuredly qualify for the Tour Championship as one of many prime 30 gamers remaining after the BMW Championship. The Northern Irishman and reigning Masters champion is a three-time Tour Championship winner, capturing every of these crowns over the past 9 seasons (2016, 2019, 2022).
Whereas McIlroy is immensely profitable at East Lake Golf Membership in Atlanta, host of the Tour Championship, he has usually struggled on the St. Jude Championship. He has by no means received in Memphis and truly completed second-to-last in 2024. The BMW Championship alters websites yearly He completed fourth the final time it was held at Caves Valley Golf Membership in 2021.
The choice to not play the St. Jude Championship comes as a part of a an early season promise McIlroy made to himself to begin fewer occasions and cut back his total schedule. Speaking with The Telegraph last November, he particularly pointed to subsequent week’s occasion as a skippable one, noting he completed T68 a 12 months in the past and solely moved down one spot within the FedEx Cup standings.