Rory McIlroy’s prospects of pocketing £2.65million ($3.6m) have been boosted after Scottie Scheffler pulled out of the Truist Championship. The world No. 1 opted to withdraw from the PGA Tour Signature Event, which gets underway just a week before the second major of the season, the PGA Championship.
The reigning Masters champion has claimed the trophy on four occasions (2010, 2015, 2021 and 2024) when the tournament was formerly known as the Wells Fargo Championship. Even without Scheffler in the mix, the remainder of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings are expected to feature, with the exception of world No. 8 Russell Henley.
McIlroy has been consistently outspoken about his decision to focus on the major tournaments, and shed light on his thinking when he took to the stage at the Laureus World Sports Awards. He said: “Completing the career Grand Slam, I always felt like that was going to be the highlight of my career.
“But I’m still competitive, I still feel like I have a lot left to give. I’m at a point in my career where I really have to target the bigger events, the four Major championships, the Ryder Cup. Trying to add to that number is something that’s really important to me.
“I got a lot of inspiration from athletes that are maybe at the back end of their careers, and still able to achieve these great things. And I think of Novak and Roger and Rafa in tennis, or I look at Messi or Ronaldo in soccer, I look at Tom Brady in American football. I take inspiration from those guys and what they were able to achieve later into their careers.”
Boasting six majors to his name and currently performing at the very top of his game, a triumph at the PGA Championship would allow McIlroy to pull clear of the four-way tie he currently shares with Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson and Nick Faldo.