Rory McIlroy is confirmed for next week's FedEx St. Jude after skipping playoff opener last year
· Yahoo Sports
Given all of the changes to the schedule and purses that the PGA Tour has announced over the last few months—all being done to further emphasize the game’s biggest stars—it could have been a bad look for Rory McIlroy to not play in next week’s playoffs-opening FedEx St. Jude Championship. As it is, McIlroy skipped three signature events this season—RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship and Travelers Championship.
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And taking a pass on Memphis didn’t totally seem out of the realm of possibility, considering McIlroy chose to skip the FedEx Cup Playoffs opener a year ago before finishing T-12 in the BMW Championship and T-23 in the Tour Championship that was won by Tommy Fleetwood.
The good news is that the World No. 2 has indeed decided to compete this time around. The PGA Tour confirmed on Friday that McIlroy will be in the 70-man field next week at TPC Southwind. It will be McIlroy’s first tournament action since he notched an uneven and disappointing T-40 in the Open Championship.
McIlroy, 37, is currently 12th in the FedEx standings—in large part because he’s only played in 11 events this year. By comparison, the top player in the table, Scottie Scheffler, has competed 17 times, including all but one signature event. The tour requires members to compete in a minimum of 15 events, but McIlroy was given a reprieve on that by the tour, which cited its "extenuating circumstances" clause.
In missing Memphis last year, McIlroy cited the fact that he was guaranteed to make the final 30 for the Tour Championship and thus had a chance to win the FedEx Cup title even if he didn’t compete in the opener.
McIlroy also finds himself in two title races each year because of the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai. He’s won four straight and seven overall, and this year he’s currently in second behind Patrick Reed, who has played five more official European events than McIlroy.
McIlroy’s only victory that counts toward both tours was the repeat of his Masters title in April. On the PGA Tour, he has three other top-10s, with the best being a T-2 in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. McIlroy’s best finish of late came at the co-sanctioned Scottish Open, where he tied for seventh.
Next week’s St. Jude will be followed by the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis and the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.