Rory McIlroy played the weekend at last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. But that’s only because the limited-field event didn’t feature a cut.
The five-time major champion struggled through four rough rounds at TPC Southwind, eventually finishing third-to-last among the players who didn’t withdraw from the event.
Then, when the bogeys were finally done for the week, McIlroy met with reporters and made a surprising admission: he didn’t really practice ahead of the first FedEx Cup playoff event.
While McIlroy has experienced many high points this season, none higher than his second straight Masters win in April, the World No. 2 didn’t look like the World No. 2 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The fact that he was playing at all was a surprise. One year ago, McIlroy chose to skip the FedEx St. Jude and only play the final two playoff events: the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.
This year, he’s distanced himself from the decision-making process over the Tour’s schedule overhaul for 2028. And before the St. Jude, he’d only played in 11 PGA Tour events all season, including the four majors.
But in his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, McIlroy implied recent conversations with PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp influenced his decision not to skip the playoff opener this year.
Then on Thursday, McIlroy looked rusty from the start in sweltering Memphis, shooting a four-over 74 to drop toward the bottom of the leaderboard. He went 70-72-72 the rest of the way to finish at eight over par. Only two players finished worse.
The rust was somewhat understandable considering McIlroy hadn’t played a tournament since the 2026 Open Championship, which concluded roughly four weeks ago on July 19.
“Obviously didn’t come in here with a ton of reps,” McIlroy told reporters Sunday evening at the St. Jude, “almost felt like the more the week went on, the more I felt lost with my golf swing a little bit.”
Then McIlroy admitted that during his lengthy time off, he didn’t do much preparation for the Tour’s playoffs.
“I figured it out a little bit the last few holes today, I think. Yeah, I just sort of — yeah, swing wasn’t in sync and obviously didn’t do a ton of practice coming in here,” he revealed.
But it sounds like his days of not practicing are over, though his comments on the matter might not provide comfort to his fans (and anyone betting on him to win) heading into the BMW Championship.
“I guess nice to shake the rust off a little bit, but I’m going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week,” McIlroy said.
The good news for McIlroy is that his poor performance at the St. Jude didn’t cost him much. Heading into last week’s tournament, he was ranked 12th in the FedEx Cup standings. With two events to go, he’s now ranked 13th.
The post ‘Didn’t do a ton’: Rory McIlroy makes surprising admission after ugly playoff start appeared first on Golf.
