The Memorial Tournament (May 27-June 1) will have some of the world’s best golfers, but it won’t have Rory McIlroy. The world number two is sitting out this week, a rarity when the event in question is a Signature Event.
Signature Events boast elevated fields exclusive to the best of the best on the PGA Tour. Not everyone can play them, so those who can most of the time do commit. McIlroy is not, though.
There are a couple of reasons why. First and foremost, McIlroy wanted to have a schedule that was lighter in 2025. This is not even the first Signature Event he’s skipped. It’s the third. It also frees McIlroy up to play a non-Signature Event next week, which will be a boon for the Tour.
Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated wrote this about McIlroy having a justified reason to skip:
“Good luck going back on $20 million purses, but it’s not a great thing to have three of them—along with two major championships—in a seven-week period starting with the Truist through the Travelers Championship.”
“Scheffler did the Byron Nelson and Colonial events a huge solid by playing them. Same for McIlroy next week at the Canadian Open.”
The controversy began because McIlroy was so behind Signature Events from the start. These elevated, expensive events were conceived with McIlroy’s help to combat LIV Golf and to give the best golfers the chance to make money like they would on LIV.
To see McIlroy skipping three of them, including the Sentry and the RBC Heritage, is a bit of a surprise given his role. It’s not necessarily a bad thing in Harig’s eyes.
Golf insider says Rory McIlroy has a good reason for skipping all Signature Events
Rory McIlroy, by sitting out this weekend, is skipping his third Signature Event of the season. There are eight on the schedule, so the Irishman is skipping a fair chunk of them.
Bob Harig thinks this is totally fair given what McIlroy is doing instead and how he’s trying to balance his schedule. He said via Sports Illustrated:
“Take a look at what he is doing in attempting to also play his home tour, the DP World Tour, as well as the PGA Tour. He played the Dubai event in the Middle East to start the year, thus his reason for skipping Hawaii.”
Harig went on:
“He skipped the RBC Heritage but is playing the RBC Canadian, a huge win for a title sponsor that has yet to renew either event for next year… It’s not ideal, and certainly would be great if he were playing one of the best events of the year. But the decision deserves some perspective, too.”
So while Rory McIlroy’s decision to skip certain events is noteworthy, those events don’t necessarily need him. Others, the ones he’s playing instead, could stand to have the boost of such a highly-touted golfer, so it’s not a loss for golf overall.
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Edited by Tushar Bahl
