Rory McIlroy won the Masters for the first time this year to achieve a modern career grand slam – but is noticeably missing from the championship event in Memphis this week
Jordan Spieth shared his thoughts on McIlroy’s decision to skip the event this week
Masters champion Rory McIlroy won’t be competing in the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis this week, and a slew of players have shared their thoughts on the controversial decision.
The Northern Irishman’s choice to skip the event won’t affect his chances at a fourth FedEx Cup title as he is second in the standings. This means that he is guaranteed to make the Tour Championship at East Lake later this summer regardless of his position this week or at next week’s BMW Championship in Maryland.
Jordan Spieth, the three-time major winner, opened up about McIlroy’s move on Tuesday, when he said: “You might have one or two guys do that for an event but I don’t think it will become a thing because they are still huge events against the best players in the world.”
Spieth continued: “I think they’re trying to figure out how to make sure you don’t skip both of them and ideally neither of them.”
Peter Malnati, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board, told reporters that he was “very concerned” by McIlroy’s choice to skip the event. He said: “I think there is stuff in the works [to keep it from happening again] and I’ll leave it at that.”
Rich Beem, the former PGA Tour golfer, also shared his thoughts on the topic. He told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast that the weather could have played a role in McIlroy’s decision.
McIlroy won his first major in Augusta and took home the green jacket in April
Beem said: “Memphis is typically very hot. It gets into the 90s, and you’re drinking like 20 bottles of water – it can be that stifling.”
He added: “Memphis can really sap your energy, just because of how hot and stifling it is. You would be playing four rounds there, then you’ve got to go to a long course (Caves Valley), then you have the same thing in Atlanta with the heat.”
Last year in Memphis, McIlroy opened with a 68 before falling away, and he finished second-to-last. However, his ranking in the FedEx Cup only slipped two places – from third to fifth.
He told the Telegraph in November that he would therefore consider skipping this year’s event. He said: “I’ll probably not play the first playoff event in Memphis. I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year, and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings.”
The FedEx St Jude Championship is the first of three events in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and is held at TPC Southwind in Tennessee from August 6th-10th. The PGA Tour has held a tournament in Memphis every year since 1958, but the event moved from the Colonial Country Club to TPC Southwind in 1989.