Rory McIlroy skips PGA Tour playoff opener, sparking playoff rule debate

Rory McIlroy has had another busy schedule this season. But this week, he found a way to lessen his workload. 

McIlroy elected to skip the St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, much to the dismay of at least one PGA Tour organizer. Peter Malnati, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board, said he was “very concerned” by McIlroy’s decision.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship serves as the first leg of the playoffs. The BMW Championship is the playoff’s second leg, while the Tour Championship later this month in Atlanta will conclude the 2025 postseason.

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Rory McIlroy walks off the first tee during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. (Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)

McIlroy’s choice appeared to prompt PGA Tour officials to mull a rule change that could mathematically lock in certain players to the second and third playoff legs.

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McIlroy and PGA Tour playoffs top-seeded golfer Scottie Scheffler accumulated so many points from events throughout the season that their leads would keep them within the top-50 and top-30 thresholds that the upcoming tournaments mandate. The Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta brings the year’s top-30 players together for a shot at the FedEx Cup trophy.

Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the RBC Canadian Open golf tournament.  (Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images)

Malnati hinted that a rule change was possibly on the horizon. “I think there is stuff in the works, and I’ll leave it at that,” he told GolfWeek. 

Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth pushed back against the idea McIlroy’s actions will be the start of a trend for other players. Spieth previously served as the PGA Tour policy player director.

“You might have 1-2 guys do that for an event, but I don’t think it will become a thing because they are still huge events against the best players in the world,” Spieth said. “I think they’re trying to figure out how to make sure you don’t skip both of them and ideally neither of them.”

McIlroy’s absence was not completely unexpected, considering he previously hinted that he was contemplating skipping this year’s St. Jude Championship.

Rory McIlroy walks off of the no. 13 green during the first round of the Masters Tournament. (Katie Goodale/Imagn Images)

“There’s a few tournaments that I played this year that I don’t usually play and that I might not play next year,” McIlroy told The Telegraph in Nov. 2024. 

“I played the Cognizant in Palm Beach Gardens, [the Valero Texas Open in] San Antonio and [the RBC Heritage at] Hilton Head. And I’ll probably not play the first playoff event in Memphis. I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings.”

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Despite missing the first leg of the postseason, McIlroy is expected to compete in the penultimate event of the playoffs in Baltimore and the final leg in Atlanta later this month. The Northern Irishman is also slated to be lead participant for Europe in this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

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