Rory McIlroy Reveals Interesting Plans That Cost Him $3M Last Season

Rory McIlroy may be setting a precedent with his 2025 schedule that will not make the PGA Tour happy. 

The three-time FedEx Cup champion discussed the list of tournaments that he likely won’t be competing in next year in an effort to lighten his schedule after playing in 27 events in 2024. 

Among them, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which is the first round of the three-leg FedEx Cup Playoffs. 

McIlroy said in an interview with the Telegraph out of England:

“I’ll probably not play the first playoff event in Memphis. I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings.”

McIlroy hinting that the playoff events aren’t must-play for all of the PGA Tour’s top players is likely to bring some angst to the tour’s leaders, who are already looking at events where all of the world’s best (or most popular) players aren’t competing against each other except for in the four majors.

The Northern Irishman is also closing in on his sixth season championship on the DP World Tour. He’s playing this week in Abu Dhabi, where he’s debuting a new swing.

Rory McIlroy says he’s spent 3 weeks working on swing changes.

He didn’t allow himself to see ball flights.

Do you notice anything different? pic.twitter.com/71sn6OIkIa

— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) November 6, 2024

McIlroy also said he will likely be dropping The Cognizant Classic (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida), Valero Texas Open (San Antonio), and RBC Heritage (Hilton Head, South Carolina) from his schedule.

By dropping the RBC Heritage and skipping the season-opening Sentry like he usually does, McIlroy will not be playing in three Signature Events if he decides to skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Overall, he said he hopes to play around 20 events next year.

Cover Image via Golf Digest