Though the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin next week in Memphis, Tennessee, the No. 2 golfer in the world will not be part of the field. Rory McIlroy’s name was absent Friday from the 69-man list of competitors for the 2025 St. Jude Championship released by the PGA Tour.
Seventy men qualify for the first round of the playoffs, but McIlroy is ranked so high that he can easily slide into the second round of the playoffs without competing. Though he will be leaving a potentially sizable payday on the table — the winner at TPC Southwind will bring home $3.6 million — he can pick right up the following week, joining the rest of the top 50 for the BMW Championship just an hour outside Washington, D.C.
McIlroy will almost assuredly qualify for the Tour Championship as one of the top 30 players remaining after the BMW Championship. The Northern Irishman and reigning Masters champion is a three-time Tour Championship winner, capturing each of those crowns over the last nine seasons (2016, 2019, 2022).
Whereas McIlroy is immensely successful at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, host of the Tour Championship, he has generally struggled at the St. Jude Championship. He has never won in Memphis and actually finished second-to-last in 2024. The BMW Championship alters sites annually He finished fourth the last time it was held at Caves Valley Golf Club in 2021.
The decision not to play the St. Jude Championship comes as part of a an early season promise McIlroy made to himself to start fewer events and reduce his overall schedule. Speaking with The Telegraph last November, he specifically pointed to next week’s event as a skippable one, noting he finished T68 a year ago and only moved down one spot in the FedEx Cup standings.