The 2025 FedExCup Playoffs are officially underway with the opening round of the St. Jude Championship. But instead of all eyes being on the action at TPC Southwind, much of the spotlight has shifted elsewhere—squarely onto Rory McIlroy. The four-time major winner’s high-profile decision to skip the event has sparked debate across the golf world, drawing reactions from fans, PGA Tour officials, and fellow pros alike. And now, after days of scrutiny, someone has finally stepped up in his defense: Lucas Glover.
The backlash began when Peter Malnati raised alarm bells, calling McIlroy’s absence “very concerning,” and even hinting at behind-the-scenes talks of implementing a new rule to prevent similar decisions in the future. Tommy Fleetwood, meanwhile, offered a more balanced take, emphasizing that, “Everyone has a choice, if they wanna play or not. They can choose their schedules. Especially somebody like Rory.”
After days of conversation and addressing the move as wrong, finally Lucas Glover took the step to back the Northern Irishman’s move. In the recent video shared by SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio of The Lucas Glover Show, he agreed on all the aspects that the move of the recent Grand Slam winner would affect the tour and viewership. But away from that, he also talked about Rory’s perspective, saying, “Rory’s gonna do what’s best for Rory. And Rory has played a lot of golf. He is gonna play a lot of golf after this. I understand all that.”
The 36-year-old, who is now on target, had made his intentions clear in November 2024 about his participation. He, intending to limit participation, during an interview with the Telegraph, shared that if he were in a suitable spot (having enough FedEx points), he would skip featuring the St. Jude Championship. But despite that, his move has been the major concern, even bigger than the event.
“I don’t blame [Rory]. There’s nothing anybody can do, he’s doing what’s best for him right now.”
On the newest “Lucas Glover Show”, Lucas gives his thoughts on Rory McIlroy skipping the FedEx St. Jude Championship – which is underway now.
FULL EPISODE: https://t.co/ix9AQeNInn pic.twitter.com/UYO84ld5yD
— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) August 7, 2025
Away from all that, Glover still doesn’t blame him. He even stated, “I don’t blame him, and there’s nothing anybody can do, he’s doing what’s best for him right now. This year, and that’s fine.” Being a professional and the 2009 US Open winner, he understands the motive behind the move and totally agrees with it. In fact, this isn’t the first time he backed the golfer, as even earlier, Glover has supported McIlroy for his participation and has even praised him for his game.
With Glover backing the decision, there are insiders who discussed and projected backfire for the PGA Tour if the ‘Rory McIlroy Rule’ is introduced.
Insiders talked about the downside of the Rory McIlroy rule
With the talks going on to increase participation and reduce the golfers skipping events, the Golf Channel analysts, Ryan Lavner and Eamon Lynch, talked about the downside of it. In the recent discussion, Lavner said, “To me, that is dangerous territory. The PGA Tour has already tried to have compulsory participation in the elevated events a couple of years ago. That backfired.” Earlier in 2023, the Tour tried to mandate participation in Signature Events and introduced fines if skipped. Well, the rule didn’t go as planned. McIlroy paid $3 million in fines for skipping two events, and the same was with other players too. Eventually, the rule was scrapped this season.
Further, Lynch joined and backed the players. He said, “These guys have the right under the rules to play wherever and whenever they want; it is not compulsory at all. And I don’t see the players voting to make it compulsory.” With that being considered, and the experience with the mandate rule. The PGA Tour hasn’t had much success, and as per the experts, this time too, it could backfire.
With McIlroy being in the second spot in the standings with almost 1000 points lead, his participation or skipping wouldn’t affect the ranking much. Well, he is not the only golfer who skipped the event. In the past, Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, and Shane Lowry took the same step during the 2019 season. Now, with that being the trending topic instead of the event. What are your thoughts on the decision? Are you in support of McIlroy or the Tour? Share with us in the comments below.
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