Rory McIlroy has chosen not to play in the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week, and that decision could potentially influence a significant rule change going forward.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship, which is held at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., is the first of three events for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the playoffs, and McIlroy is currently No. 2. The top 50 move on to the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which is the BMW Championship. After that, the top 30 advance to the Tour Championship with a chance to win the FedEx Cup, with the winner receiving a $10 million bonus.
Even without playing in the St. Jude Championship, McIlroy will still advance to the second round at the BMW Championship. McIlroy could even sit out the BMW and still qualify for the Tour Championship.
Peter Malnati, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board, said Tuesday that he is “very concerned” about McIlroy’s absence this week.
“I think there is stuff in the works (to keep it from happening again) and I’ll leave it at that,” Malnati said, via ESPN.com.
The PGA Tour made a significant change to the FedEx Cup playoffs this year by eliminating its starting-strokes format for the Tour Championship. With the previous format, the leader in the FedEx Cup standings began the Tour Championship at 10-under. The player in second started at 8-under, with third place starting at 7-under, fourth place at 6-under and so on until even par.
The starting-strokes format had been in place since 2019. This year, all players will start the Tour Championship at even par.
McIlroy finished second-to-last in the St. Jude Championship last year. He noted in an interview last year that he “only moved down one spot in the playoff standings” even after the poor showing and hinted he would not bother playing in the first playoff event this year.
Tiger Woods has won the FedEx Cup Championship twice after sitting out the first round of the playoffs. Jim Furyk also won once after doing the same.
Obviously, the goal for the PGA Tour is to have its top players competing in every FedEx Cup playoff event. With McIlroy sitting out the St. Jude Championship, we can expect more changes to be implemented ahead of 2026.
