PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has heaped praise on Rory McIlroy despite the Northern Irishman opting out of the Memorial Tournament this week, the third Signature Event he has missed on the PGA Tour this season.
McIlroy has already skipped the Sentry and RBC Heritage but his decision to avoid the Jack Nicklaus hosted event at Muirfield Village, for the first time since 2017 caught Nicklaus himself by surprise.
The Masters champion didn’t notify Nicklaus and hasn’t given a reason for his omission from the field but Monahan has leapt to his defence.
“You look at the beauty of our model is that our players have the ability to select their schedule,” Monahan told a group of reporters at Muirfield Village.
“Rory McIlroy I think has played this tournament every year since 2017 and you look at the tournaments he has supported… I don’t have any concern because you look at this, on balance, over time, his support of our tournaments and our partners is extraordinary.
“Look at the season that Rory has had. He’s had a life-altering season. He’s won the Players Championship, you win the Masters Tournament, you win the (career) Grand Slam and you win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.”
McIlroy has played in four Signature Events this season, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am but it remains to be seen whether he will tee it up in the Travelers Championship next month.
The grand slam winner was infamously fined approximately $3m after skipping more than one Signature Event in 2023 – the rules at that time stated you could only skip one event throughout the season although that was dropped last year.
McIlroy will tee it up at the RBC Canadian Open as he looks for his third win there ahead of the US Open at Oakmont.
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