The PGA Tour has a Rory McIlroy problem.
But the rest of the golf world is not complaining.
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The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs begin this week with the top 70 players in the season long standings descending on Memphis’ TPC Southwind for the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Unlike last year, McIlroy will be among them, but the problem persists.
The Masters champion decided to skip the opening event of the PGA Tour’s three-week finale in 2025 off the back of his lofty positions in the FedEx Cup standings.
He could have done the same this season as he sits 12th in the season-long rankings topped by world No.1 Scott Scheffler.
But instead of being absent at the pointy end of the season, McIlroy opted to come and go as he pleased around the majors.
The world No.2 has played just seven PGA Tour events outside of the four majors so far this year.
And one of those appearances was in the Scottish Open, which is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour.
He has not played a PGA Tour event on American soil since the Jack Nicklaus hosted The Memorial Tournament in early June.
But courtesy of his Masters win, a runner-up finish at the Genesis Invitational and top tens at the PGA Championship and Scottish Open, McIlroy has accumulated enough points to ensure his playoff place was never in danger.
With the top 50 advancing to next week’s BMW Championship in St Louis and then top the 30 making the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the Northern Irishman knows he can use the next fortnight as a tune-up.
“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,” McIlroy told reporters at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last month.
“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.”
McIlroy’s comments highlighted a flaw in the PGA Tour’s format that is unique to a player of the career grand slam winner’s standing within the sport.
Most of the world’s top players continue to front up in pursuit of a slice of the massive prize pools up for grabs.
But McIlroy, along with Scheffler, is closing in on Tiger Woods’ record of earning more than US$120 million in prize money on the PGA Tour.
The money is not a significant factor for the 37-year-old.
It is also why he has skipped three of the PGA Tour’s eight US$20 million signature events this year.
McIlroy’s priorities lie elsewhere. He said as much at The Open.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” McIlroy told reporters when asked if his interest in the PGA Tour had waned.
“I think it (his interest) just sort of ebbs and flows. There’s been years where I’ve given it maybe more of my attention and years that I haven’t. Yeah, I guess I’m just at a stage where I have other things that I prioritise.”
McIlroy’s post-Masters funk was one of the biggest talking points of last year.
And it has reared its head again this year, with a tied 32nd finish at the US Open and a tied 40th at The Open to end the major season.
“I think Rory’s going to realise he didn’t play enough this year and just wasn’t sharp enough,” golf journalist Alan Shipnuck, who wrote a biography on McIlroy, said on the Dan on Golf podcast.
“Any year when you win the Masters is by definition a great season but otherwise he’s going to probably get skunked this year.
“He does have pride [but] he just doesn’t want to show up and finish 17th. I think he needs a few more reps.”
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after putting on the 5th green during the final day of the British Open Golf championships at Royal Birkdale golf club, in Southport, England, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)Source: AP
McIlroy has not shied away from his focus now being on the majors, family and opportunities that truly excite him.
“His legacy is secure… his family is getting older, and he’s going to have different priorities in his life rather than just going out and playing golf tournaments,” former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley said on Golf Channel after The Open.
Last year, it was the Ryder Cup that roared him back to life.
Winning on American soil, which the European team achieved at Bethpage Black, was a massive motivator for the Northern Irishman.
With the biennial event not returning until next year in Ireland, McIlroy’s goals are focused elsewhere, including spending more time with his wife and daughter.
“Look, this season feels very similar to last season,” he told reporters after his tied 40th finish at The Open.
“Obviously won the first major of the year, fell off a little bit after that, but still any time you win a major in a year, you have to be pleased about that. Yeah, like I haven’t really took the time to enjoy that or celebrate that.
“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. Yeah, 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,” he continued.
“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.
“So, try to play hard until the end of the season and then try to win one or both of those.”
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland walks on the fourth green on day four of the The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on July 19, 2026 in Southport, England. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Unlike many of his American counterparts, McIlroy still has many commitments ahead of him in 2026.
He endeavours to win a stunning fifth straight Race to Dubai title and a record eighth overall.
To do so, he will play the Irish Open, as he does every year, and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth before the season-ending tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Throw in another trip down under to play the Australian Open at Kingston Heath in Melbourne and McIlroy still has at least eight more tournaments to play this year.
National opens have served as a personal crusade for McIlroy in the last two years in response to golf’s changing landscape off the back of LIV Golf’s presence in the sport.
He has pulled few punches with the media in that time.
Whether it was calling Kingston Heath better than Royal Melbourne on the eve of last year’s Australian Open or telling reporters he is “not fond” of Bryson DeChambeau following the LIV star’s two-shot penalty debacle in the second round at Royal Birkdale.
His willingness to share his attitude towards the grind of the PGA Tour is no different.
“Rory’s always been open,” Shipnuck told the Dan on Golf podcast after McIlroy’s dig at DeChambeau.
“He’s always been forthright. Now he’s in the DGAF era and he’s just letting it fly.
“Also, Rory’s very online. He consumes the golf media, he’s on the socials, he loves a good kill shot, he knows that’s going to travel and he gets joy out of that.
“So, yes, he’s expressing his true self and he’s being real but also he f***ing loves to just turn the knife a little bit and I respect that.
“I mean, we always rip these guys for being robots, for being automatons, for whatever. And Rory gives it you hot and fresh. I thought that was tremendous.”
Love him or loathe him, golf fans have been the biggest winners from McIlroy’s “DGAF era”.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tees off the 5th hole during the final day of the British Open Golf championships at Royal Birkdale golf club, in Southport, England, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)Source: AP
His raw approach to press conferences has kept things interesting.
Australian golf fans, meanwhile, are likely not complaining about not being able to watch McIlroy during some signature events in the early hours of the morning if it means they can see him in the flesh at Kingston Heath in four months’ time.
The PGA Tour and their sponsors will still be concerned.
However McIlroy’s commitment to play the FedEx St. Jude Championship presented them with some relief.
His decision to take three weeks off before The Masters to play bulk practice rounds at Augusta National dominated headlines in April.
McIlroy’s fresh approach came up short at the majors where the world’s best do not play the same course ever year, however.
That might lead to a slight tweak of his plans.
“A couple of years ago he played way too many tournaments, he’s been cutting back ever since [but] I think the pendulum is going to swing back in the other direction [and] he’ll add a few more, just so he can be sharp,” Shipnuck told the Dan on Golf podast.
“One thing Rory doesn’t want to do is tee off early on a Sunday morning.
“If you’re actually going to go through the effort of showing up and playing you want to have a chance to win.
“I just don’t think he gave himself a chance this year enough and I’ll think he’ll realise that.”
McIlroy’s decision to play this week suggests he has realised that.