Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
After finishing 2nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, world #3 golfer Rory McIlroy missed back-to-back cuts at the Players Championship and The Masters.
After missing the cut in Augusta, Rory McIlroy made the costly decision to withdraw from the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf LInks in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
It was a costly decision because of the PGA Tour‘s Player Impact Program rules which require golfers to miss 1 or fewer of the PGA Tour’s designated events, which the RBC Heritage was. Rory had already missed the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua so by missing his second designate event, Rory was no longer eligible for his full Player Impact Program bonus.
Rory had already earned $7 of the $10 million but missed out on the additional $3 million by withdrawing at Harbour Town, a decision McIlroy explained on Wednesday. Speaking about his choice to withdraw, Rory McIlroy said:
“I knew the consequences that could come with missing one of those. It was an easy decision. It was worth that for me to get some other things in place. I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I’ve expressed those to Jay. Whether he thinks that’s enough to warrant – again I understood the consequences of that decision before I did it. So whatever happens, happens.”
Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapoport confirmed on Wednesday morning that Rory will not receive the additional $3 million from the PGA Tour, which McIlroy could’ve received if the withdrawal was injury related:
Jay Monahan confirmed Rory McIlroy won't receive the final $3 million of his PIP bonus for his RBC Heritage WD. Did say that's the beauty of the PGA Tour model—that guys can choose to skip an event if they want to. And he's not really being "fined." It's not money he already had.
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) May 3, 2023
Most people can comfortably call a choice to miss out on $3 million an ‘easy decision,’ but Rory McIlroy isn’t ‘most people.’ He ranks 2nd on the PGA Tour’s All-Time Money List with $71.5 million in career earnings, and a total estimated net worth of $170 million.
$3 million is a LOT of money to anyone but it’s not exactly life-changing money to Rory McIlroy who earned $40,456,566 on the PGA Tour last year alone.
Rory McIlroy also spoke about missing the cut at The Masters. He said:
“It sucked. I shouldn’t be thinking about if I’m going to be having a good week or a bad week. I should only be thinking about that first tee shot on Thursday. That’s getting ahead of myself and feeling really good about my game but having those thoughts of, jeez, I’m going to have the best week I’ve ever had at Augusta isn’t the right mindset going into it. You need to be thinking about staying in the present. I feel like at Augusta I didn’t do a good job of that because of how well I was playing. I was almost too – not overconfident – but maybe got ahead of myself.”
Rory added that after withdrawing from the RBC Heritage he didn’t touch a single golf club for two weeks. He said one week was spent in NYC with his wife for their anniversary and that he was ‘desperate’ for a mental break from the game of golf.
McIlroy added that he felt “like it’s totally consumed my life for the last 12 months. There’s other parts of my life that are important as well.” Rory went on to say “It was everything that we’ve all had to deal with in the golf world over the past 12 months and being right in the middle of it and sort of being in that decision-making process that’s what gassed me.”
Fatigue is real. Even when you’re making $40.456 million a year.
The PGA Tour is now three weeks away from the next major, the PGA Championship, with Rory looking to refocus and get back to winning ways.