The playoffs are made up of three rounds through August, starting with the Tour’s 70 top-ranked players competing at the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Tennessee. The top 50 progress to the second round, the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland, before the top 30 players contest the Tour Championship shootout at East Lake Golf Club, Georgia.
The quadruple points on offer through the first two events offer players the chance to quickly climb the rankings. But McIlroy, who is currently second in the FedEx Cup standings behind Scottie Scheffler after winning the Masters and the Players this year, is already assured of a place in the top 30 and so has chosen to rest rather than take part in the opening tournament.
McIlroy’s decision comes after the PGA Tour removed the much-maligned “starting strokes” from the Tour Championship, in which the top ranked players were rewarded by starting the tournament several shots under par. This season, all 30 players will start the finale on level par, removing any incentive for McIlroy to play in the opening playoff round beyond the financial rewards – there is around £2.7m up for the winner – and the five-time major winner is doing OK in that regard.
Rory McIlroy has opted out of the opening FedEx playoff
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McIlroy signalled his intentions a year ago, as soon as starting strokes were set to be abolished, saying he doesn’t get on well with TPC Southwind.
But Peter Malnati, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board, said he was “very concerned” by McIlroy’s decision to skip the event, which means the FedEx Cup playoffs begin without one of the game’s biggest stars when the remaining field of 69 players get underway on Thursday.
Asked if the Tour would look to change the rules to prevent something similar happening in the future, Malnati added: “I think there is stuff in the works and I’ll leave it at that.”
Fellow player director Webb Simpson empathised with McIlroy’s decision, having done something similar in 2020 when he chose to sit out the second round in order to rest for the Tour Championship.
“I think it’s too hard of a thing to make guys have to play, we’re still a sport where you can play when you want to play,” Simpson said. “I knew I couldn’t fall more than one spot and I thought losing one stroke at East Lake was worth a week of rest because I was toast. I don’t know Rory’s reason but I totally get it. It’s a hard thing to fix.”
