Rory McIlroy has made a decision which it has been suggested the PGA Tour will not be happy with

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Rory McIlroy is in second place in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Playoffs after a hugely successful season on the PGA Tour.

However, the PGA Tour hierarchy may not be too happy with McIlroy right now, as the FedEx Cup Playoffs kick into gear.

The 36-year-old Northern Irishman won three huge tournaments during the first few months of the season including The Masters, when he completed the Grand Slam in the process.

However, things went south for him immediately after his Masters success. McIlroy’s driver was deemed to be non-conforming just before the PGA Championship.

He then embarked on a media blackout that lasted for six major championship rounds.

After he broke his silence, McIlroy admitted that he felt hard done by because the press had leaked his name in relation to the driver testing controversy, while keeping other players’ names anonymous.

However, the five-time major champion seemed much more like his old self at The Scottish Open and The Open Championship last month.

That said, he may well have just embroiled himself in yet more controversy.

PGA Tour won’t be happy with Rory McIlroy decision

McIlroy has decided to skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week, due to the fact that he’s certain to be in the Tour Championship field at East Lake in two weeks’ time.

The change in format at the Tour Championship means that everyone in the field will start at even-par, so there is no difference in being ranked first or 30th in the FedEx Cup points list heading into the PGA Tour’s showpiece event.

Todd Lewis was a guest on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex and Lav, and he suggested that the PGA Tour will not be happy with McIlroy’s decision to skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

He said: “I am surprised that right now it’s just Rory McIlroy who is not playing. I think if you pull out of that tournament given that it is the FedEx Cup and FedEx is the sponsor of that championship and you are playing in FedEx’s home town. The PGA Tour is obviously not very happy if you step away from that tournament.

“But we will see, we will see how many people are going to tee it up. I hope 69 players will, but we shall see.“

However, Rex Hoggard suggested that he is surprised that more players haven’t decided to skip the event in Memphis.

He said: “Rory made the point earlier this year that last year he didn’t play well at all in Memphis and I think he only dropped one spot. If it’s pointless, why am I doing this? Especially now they have gotten rid of the starting strokes at East Lake. I was actually kind of surprised, I would have thought more players might have skipped given the opportunity to get a week of rest and not go through the heat and everything we know about Memphis.“

The way that the Tour Championship will work this year means that there is actually no incentive for players inside the top 10 or 20 in the FedEx Cup standings to compete in the first two play-off events.

And that is something the PGA Tour need to address moving forward.

Rory McIlroy has a change of heart on the PGA Tour vs LIV debate

McIlroy was one of the fiercest critics of LIV when the Saudi-backed golf league emerged onto the scene in 2022.

However, the Northern Irishman’s stance on the matter has definitely softened.

McIlroy actually gave LIV Golf some credit, when speaking about the tour last week.

He said: “I think tapping into a different demographic. You talk about being a golf purist and a traditionalist, and I think that the PGA Tour appeals to that type of golf fan, where LIV appeals to a completely different demographic.”

“The average age of a golfer here in the United States is over 60 years old. So how can you tap into this younger demographic where hopefully they’re going to watch golf for the remainder of their life? So being a little more forward thinking and having a little more vision is I think something that LIV has done pretty well. 54 holes, shotgun starts, the team element, there’s a few things to me that they haven’t quite got right, but I don’t know if that’s completely their fault. They had to launch at some point and they launched with a product that wasn’t fully thought out but they had to go with it. And they’ve gained a little traction. I wouldn’t say they’ve gained a lot of traction, but they’ve definitely been a disrupter in the game of golf. And sometimes things need a shake up and if anything, it was a bit of a wake-up call for the PGA Tour to maybe focus a little bit more on the future.

“There’s so many in-built advantages that the PGA Tour has over LIV in terms of the commercial contracts and media rights deals. There’s so many things that they have that LIV don’t, but at the end of the day, all of that stuff goes away, the sponsorship deals, the media rights, if people aren’t willing to watch and engage with the product that you’re putting out there.”

Interestingly, McIlroy skipping the FedEx St. Jude Championship has lent further credence to LIV’s model whereby their players compete in every single tournament.

It will be interesting to see whether the PGA Tour make any changes to their model going forward.