{"id":46636,"date":"2025-08-05T23:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/46636\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T23:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T23:22:10","slug":"very-concerned-rory-mcilroy-could-be-banned-from-exploiting-pga-tour-loophole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/46636\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Very concerned’ – Rory McIlroy could be banned from exploiting PGA Tour loophole"},"content":{"rendered":"

PGA Tour players could be banned from skipping playoff events after Rory McIlroy decided to miss the St. Jude Championship.<\/p>\n

This week’s tournament<\/a> at TPC Southwind opens the playoff system for the FedEx Cup, the tour’s championship trophy.<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy looks set to start his FedEx Cup campaign in the second playoff eventCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

McIlroy<\/a> was part of the 70-man field but will miss out on a $20million [\u00a315m] total prize purse having chosen to opt out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His decision comes after the PGA Tour dropped starting strokes<\/a> and brought back a 72-hole stroke format at the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n

In previous editions, the player with the most FedEx Cup points was allowed to start ten-under par at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

McIlroy is second in the FedEx Cup point standings and already set to feature in the 50-man field at the BMW Championship.<\/p>\n

But he won’t be involved at the St. Jude Championship, with PGA<\/a> player director Peter Malnati left unhappy with such a big no-show.<\/p>\n

“Very concerned,” he said<\/a> via Golfweek when asked about his worries over the reigning Masters champion being absent.<\/p>\n

And in response to the introduction of a preventive measure, he said: “I think there is stuff in the works and I’ll leave it at that.”<\/p>\n

However, his fellow director Webb Simpson said: “I don\u2019t know Rory’s reason but I totally get it. It\u2019s a hard to thing to fix.”<\/p>\n

The removal of starting strokes means McIlroy is unlikely to see his hopes of winning the championship impacted by missing an event.<\/p>\n

He is all-but guaranteed to remain in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup points and compete for the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n

\"ATLANTA,<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy is the record three-time winner of the FedEx CupCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

McIlroy, along with the rest of the 30-man field, will be set to start on level par at the final playoff event this year.<\/p>\n

Whichever player finishes with the lowest score after four rounds will be crowned as the FedEx Cup champion.<\/p>\n

McIlroy and his thoughts on TPC Sawgrass<\/p>\n

TPC Sawgrass is where the PGA Tour headquarters are located.<\/p>\n

It also hosts the The Players Championship, one of the tour’s<\/a> flagship events and a tournament McIlroy has won on two occasions.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman won his second title earlier in 2025, but has previously expressed his dislike for the Floridian course.<\/p>\n

“I don’t like the course,” he said<\/a> before the Dubai World Championship in 2010. “That’s one of the reasons I’m undecided whether to play it or not.”<\/p>\n

\"McIlroy<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

McIlroy may have won at Sawgrass, but he isn’t the biggest fan of the courseCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“It’s a Pete Dye course. It creates angles, a bit like Whistling Straits,” he added. “He designed that course as well, where the tee boxes are sort of lining you up in the wrong direction. <\/p>\n

“Visually it’s very tough off the tee. It makes you feel uncomfortable because it looks like you’ve only got a little bit of fairway to hit but actually once you get up there, it’s a little bit wider. <\/p>\n

“It’s just very demanding visually.”<\/p>\n

FedEx Cup playoff schedule<\/p>\n

August 7-10 – St. Jude Championship – Top 70 players eligible<\/p>\n

August 14-17 – BMW Championship – Top 50 players eligible<\/p>\n

August 21-24 – Tour Championship – Top 30 players eligible<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PGA Tour players could be banned from skipping playoff events after Rory McIlroy decided to miss the St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[26257,5904,8693,2623,101,26258,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-46636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-fedex-cup","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-pga-tour","11":"tag-rory-mcilroy","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-st-jude-championship","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}