Who knew skipping an event would lead to a chain reaction among fans, management, and even fellow players? Rory McIlroy, who is in a glorious spot with his FedEx Cup standings, chose to skip participation at the St. Jude Championship. Interestingly, he hinted at his limited participation way before, in November 2024. However, now that he has confirmed his move, an enormous wave of revolt has started. Unexpectedly, a fellow player, who had missed the event earlier, joined in speaking about him.
Tommy Fleetwood, back in 2022, skipped the event when his mother passed away. Even though he had different reasons, his 47th place on the FedEx Cup standings offered him the luxury of skipping the event. Now, with McIlroy’s move, earlier Peter Malnati shared, saying, “Very concerning,” and now Fleetwood joined in.
Recently, the English golfer joined SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, where he spoke with Michael Breed about the participation. For himself, Fleetwood made clear that he loves the game and wishes to participate as much as he can. But for McIlroy, he added, “Everyone has a choice, if they wanna play or not, right? They can choose their schedules. Specially, somebody like Rory. I think he can definitely pick the one that he wants to play and aim for the ones that he feels like he wants to do better and invest in. And then plan the schedule around.”
“Everyone has a choice if they want to play or not”
Tommy Fleetwood spoke with Michael Breed about why he wanted to play this week in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.@TommyFleetwood1 I @MichaelBreed pic.twitter.com/V48jF5GqaG
— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) August 6, 2025
Well, that has been the case with the Northern Irishman. He is currently in second position in the standings with almost a 1000-point difference from the third-place Sepp Straka. So even if he misses the event, he will not be losing much. Even in November 2024, he shared that he would skip the St. Jude Championship if his place was secured.
But now that it has become a huge issue, let’s not forget about the players who missed the event earlier. There are five players, including Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama, who missed the event in the past due to personal loss and injury. But the rest three took time off, considering the upcoming events, similar to what McIlroy plans.
Players who skipped the FedEx Cup playoff event before Rory McIlroy
After the Grand Slam winner chose to skip, Peter Malnati updated about a new rule being discussed. He hinted at it by saying, “I think there is stuff in the works (about a rule change) and I’ll leave it at that.” But three other players skipped the event and glided easily without any repercussions.
Back in 2019, Tiger Woods was placed 14th on the OWGR, made headlines with his decision to skip. The golfer, with his usual ritual of skipping events before the major, skipped the St. Jude Championship amid the PGA Championship. Even with the same aim, Rickie Fowler chose to skip the event. Though both golfers failed to perform well at the major, their action of skipping was still not considered the same way as McIlroy’s
Along with the two, Shane Lowry also made the same choice, but for him, the celebration was a priority. The Open Championship winner was seen celebrating with the native people and chose to skip the event in 2019.
With many players skipping the event over the past few years, Rory McIlroy’s pre-planned move has backfired. What are your thoughts on it? As a fan, are you okay with players skipping events? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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