Dublin, Ohio — Jack Nicklaus said Tuesday that he was surprised that Rory McIlroy decided to skip the anniversary for the first time since 2017.
Nicklaus lacked answers at McIlroy and didn’t want to do much to his absence in the tournament celebrating his 50th year.
“I really don’t know why Rory didn’t talk to me,” Nicklaus said. “I can’t answer that question. There’s nothing I can answer. He knows that he has to make a schedule of working for him and what he has to do, and I understand because I had to do the same thing.
“It wasn’t included this year.”
McIlroy will be playing the RBC Canada Open before the US Open next week. He has been performing the memorial and the Canadian Open every year since 2021.
In addition to surprises, there was their relationship. McIlroy is a member of Nicklaus’s home course The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida, and asked about how to play Augusta National in search of Nicklaus before the Masters.
Nicklaus has not spoken to him since then, but as he is for all major champions, he wrote a congratulatory letter.
If the PGA Tour icon is a tournament host, players with a history of playing the event will often call ahead if they decide to skip. Ricky Fowler once went to Orlando, Florida, where he had lunch with Arnold Palmer, explaining why he couldn’t play Bayhill.
When McIlroy was asked if it was a protocol to call him, Nicklaus raised his hand.
“I’m not throwing a Rory under the bus,” he said. “I like Rory. He’s a good kid. He played great golf. He’s had a lot of things that happened to him. He has to make his own appeal to things. Maybe he did something different?
“I’m not complaining about Rory.”
McIlroy has not spoken publicly since the eve of the PGA Championship. He rejected the media request after all four rounds at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy won the Canadian Open in 2019. It was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and won again when McIlroy returned in 2022.
“I wasn’t talking to him. Why he’s why, or why not? It’s just his call,” Nicklaus said. “We made a lot of calls that we had to play, or not play, and sometimes it wasn’t as popular as people thought it would, but sometimes you have to make those calls.
“I’m a huge Rory fan. I’ve always been. I’m sure I’ll stay that way,” he said. “I’m just… I was a little surprised, yes.”