Will Rory McIlroy play the 2025 St. Jude Championship? Why he might skip FedExCup event
The 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship is set for Aug. 7-10 at TPC Southwind. The 70-man field won't be set until a week before that.
Will that field include 2025 Masters champion Rory McIlroy? Though McIlroy is the No. 2-ranked golfer in the world and is beloved by fans, there's a chance he won't be involved in the first leg of the FedExCup playoffs.
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There are a few reasons to believe McIlroy might not play in the Memphis event, and it starts with what he said last year.
"I'll probably not play the first playoff event in Memphis," McIlroy told The Telegraph last November. "I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year (tied for 68th in a 70-man field) and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings.'
Then there was the announcement last week from the PGA Tour that the stroke advantage in the FedExCup playoffs would be going away. Instead of giving golfers with the most points an advantage in the Tour Championship, all golfers will start from par. In the past, the stroke advantage had made the first two FedExCup events more important because it determined who got which stroke advantages.
And then there's the fact that McIlroy has said he plans to play less in 2025 and made headlines last weekend when he decided to skip the Memorial Tournament, a PGA Tour signature event.
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McIlroy is expected to play in this weekend's Canadian Open.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is the first leg of the FedExCup playoffs. The top 70 golfers in the standings make it to Memphis, while the top 50 advance to the next week and the top 30 make it to the Tour Championship.
Rory McIlroy's history at FedEx St. Jude Championship
McIlroy has been up and down at TPC Southwind in the past few years. He finished tied for 68th in 2024 but was tied for third in 2023. He missed the cut in 2022.
Hideki Matsuyama won last year's FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on X @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why Rory McIlroy might skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship in 2025
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