Rory McIlroy becomes latest star to skip signature event by not entering Memorial

There apparently comes a time among golf’s elite when a $20 million purse, $4 million winner’s check and a tournament’s rich history aren’t enough to make the week worth it. Rory McIlroy has arrived at that place.

With nine PGA Tour starts this season, three wins, and the completion of the career Grand Slam in the Masters—not to mention a trip home to Northern Ireland, a media tour with his green jacket, and a PGA Championship week of middling play and an unexpected driver switch—McIlroy likely is a bit weary. With the U.S. Open only three weeks away and McIlroy previously committed to play in the RBC Canadian Open immediately ahead of Oakmont, he made the call that something had to be sacrificed, and it will be his appearance in the signature, Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament next week. His name was not on the PGA Tour’s list of entrants on Friday.

Rory McIlroy becomes latest star to skip signature event by not entering Memorial

There apparently comes a time among golf’s elite when a $20 million purse, $4 million winner’s check and a tournament’s rich history aren’t enough to make the week worth it. Rory McIlroy has arrived at that place.

With nine PGA Tour starts this season, three wins, and the completion of the career Grand Slam in the Masters—not to mention a trip home to Northern Ireland, a media tour with his green jacket, and a PGA Championship week of middling play and an unexpected driver switch—McIlroy likely is a bit weary. With the U.S. Open only three weeks away and McIlroy previously committed to play in the RBC Canadian Open immediately ahead of Oakmont, he made the call that something had to be sacrificed, and it will be his appearance in the signature, Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament next week. His name was not on the PGA Tour’s list of entrants on Friday.

With swing still a work in progress, Rory McIlroy rebounds from first-round triple to creep closer to Memorial lead

With swing still a work in progress, Rory McIlroy rebounds from first-round triple to creep closer to Memorial lead

This is the second time in the last two signature events that one of the top two players in the world has decided not to play. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler opted out of the Truist Championship after he won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson the week before, and, of course, then captured the PGA Championship last week.

The decision to not play Memorial figures to not have been easy for McIlroy, given his strong relationship with Nicklaus and the fact he’s missed only two of the events at Muirfield Village in the past 15 years. McIlroy has good results there, with five top-10s, but he hasn’t won and has rarely contended for a title, with only two top-fives and the most recent of those coming with a T-4 in 2016.

The Memorial field is otherwise loaded with all of the top-ranked players in the world, including Scheffler, the defending champion who has top-three finishes in his last three starts at Muirfield Village.

Six of the season’s eight schedule signature events have been played, with the Memorial and Travelers Championship, in the week after the U.S. Open, as the two left. The winners of the $20 million tournaments are: Hideki Matsuyama (The Sentry), McIroy (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am), Ludvig Aberg (Genesis Invitational), Russell Henley (Arnold Palmer Invitational), Justin Thomas (RBC Heritage) and Sepp Straka (Truist Championship).