The Northern Irishman may not appear again until Tour Championship at the end of August
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy watches his iron shot from the 12th tee on day three of the Open at Royal Birkdale. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP via GettyWith the changes to the FedEx Cup playoff structure so that the Tour Championship, with its wheelbarrows of green backs, is a standalone tournament in itself with, no weighting off the order of merit, McIlroy looks set to skip both the St Jude Classic and the BMW Championship and head straight to the tour finale in Atlanta which has a purse of $40 million and a limited 30-man field.
“There’s been years where I’ve given it maybe more of my attention and years that I haven’t, I guess I’m just at a stage that I have other things that I prioritise,” explained McIlroy of taking time and space in his schedule before heading back to the States. He expanded: “The PGA Tour is in a lot of flux at the minute with a lot of their schedule and structure and everything like that.
So I think the change where it doesn’t matter where you are in the top 30 going into the Tour Championship, it’s like I just need to be in the top 30 going in there to have a chance to win a FedEx Cup, so why would I care about the first two? I sort of came to that decision last year, and I’m just sort of doing the same thing.
”Wily Ryan Fox navigates tricky Birkdale winds to win Open ChampionshipMcIlroy has 30 careers wins on the PGA Tour and has won the Tour Championship three times, most recently in 2022. He is currently 11on the FedEx Cup order of merit standings, so assured of a safe passage into the Tour Championship even in skipping the first two of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Of placing family life as his priority in the coming weeks, McIlroy said: “Poppy’s got another four weeks off school until she goes back, sort of middle to end of August, so just going to enjoy the summer holidays with her and Erica. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.
“Then, obviously, I’ll get back to playing and still in a decent position, I guess, in both title races. As long as I’m in the top 30 going into the Tour Championship, and then I’m in a decent spot still in the Race to Dubai, try to play hard until the end of the season and then try to win one or both of those,” said McIlroy, who successfully defended his Masters title in April and then finished tied-7th in the US PGA, tied-32nd in the US Open and tied-40th in The Open.
While the Tour Championship will be McIlroy’s only tournament left to play in the United States, he will return to Europe for the Amgen Irish Open at Doonbeg and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and also has wider international commitments to play in India and Australia as well as the DP World Tour finale in Dubai.
“I’ve really enjoyed my stretches of golf in Europe, really enjoyed that part of the year last year, and I’m looking forward to that again for sure,” said McIlroy.on the FedEx Cup standings – outside that magic top-30 who make it to the Tour Championship – and will play in the St Jude Classic with the aim of moving into the top-50 who progress on to the BMW. Meanwhile, Séamus Power – who returned to competition following injury with a tied-11th finish in the Puntacana in Mexico over the weekend – is in the field for this week’s 3M Open on the PGA Tour.
Power is currently 115Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke – who both missed the cut in The Open – return to Gleneagles for this week’s ISPS Handa Senior Open where Paul McGinley, breaking away from his television duties, is also in the field at a venue where he successfully captained Europe to victory over the USA in the Ryder Cup in 2014.
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