The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy won’t be a part of it.
The reigning Masters champion wasn’t in the St. Jude field released by the PGA Tour on Friday. The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings after the conclusion of this week’s Wyndham Championship will qualify for the event, so with McIlroy’s absence, the field in Memphis, Tennessee, next week will stand at 69.
McIlroy finished second-to-last last year at the St. Jude, an event he has never won. He had previously indicated he wouldn’t play the tournament this year.
“I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year, and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings,” he told The Telegraph last November.
McIlroy is second (behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler) in the latest FedEx Cup standings, so he doesn’t need to play the St. Jude to be among the top 50 who qualify for the BMW Championship the following week. The playoffs then wrap up with the Tour Championship, to which the top 30 in the FedEx standings will advance.
McIlroy hasn’t played since a T-7 at the Open Championship two weeks ago.
