The PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoffs begin next week with the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is not a part of it.
The real-life Masters champion was not at St. Jude Field, released by the PGA Tour on Friday. The top 70 FedEx Cup standings after the end of this week’s Wyndham Championship will be 69 next week with McIlroy’s absence to qualify for the event.
McIlroy finished second last year at St. Jude. He previously showed he would not play tournaments this year.
“So this year I was basically the last time I died, and I just went down one place in the playoff rankings,” he told the Telegraph last November.
McIlroy is second in the latest Fedex Cup standings (behind the world’s number one Scotty Schaeffler), so he doesn’t have to play St. Jude to become one of the top 50s who will qualify for the BMW Championship the following week. The playoffs then conclude with the Tour Championship, with the top 30 FedEx standings moving forward.
McIlroy has not played in the Open Championship two weeks ago since T-7.