Rory McIlroy is going to have to pay for his time off last week on the PGA Tour, according to published reports.
After missing the cut at the Masters and bolting from Augusta National without speaking to the media, McIlroy decided to take some time off, so he withdrew from last week’s RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
It’s going to cost him. And, in a way, it’s exactly what he wanted.
McIlroy will have to forfeit 25 percent of his $12 million bonus from the Player Impact Program – $3 million – because it was his second missed “designated” event, one more than the tour allows without penalty, Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig reported, citing a tour source. (Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard confirmed the anticipated hit to McIlroy’s wallet.) McIlroy also skipped the Sentry Tournament of Champions in early January in Hawaii.
McIlroy and Tiger Woods emerged in recent months as the vocal leaders behind a movement for the PGA Tour to cater more to its stars amid the rise of rival LIV Golf, leading to a dramatic increase in purse sizes for key events this year, with the provision that the top stars would compete in them. One excused absence is allowed among the 12 designated events this season, excluding the four major championships and the Players; two misses comes with a price.
“I feel like Rory was leading the charge on the changes that have been made, and he helped make the rules,” PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen told SI’s Alex Miceli during last week’s RBC Heritage. “He knew what the rules were. So, he knew what was coming. He also has so much money, he doesn't care about $3 million.”
Added Xander Schauffele: “Rules are the rules. So, I mean, for the most part, a lot of what he wanted is what’s happening. And the irony is that he’s not here.”
Matt Fitzpatrick called the situation “messy.”
McIlroy, who is No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking, has not disclosed a reason for his absence from Hilton Head. He missed two cuts in his past three starts, sandwiching a third-place finish at the WGC-Dell Match Play, though he has won four times worldwide in the past 10 months, including the Tour Championship and season-long FedEx Cup points title. READ MORE
The PGA Tour released a seven-tournament fall schedule worth $56.6 million as the tour transitions toward 2024 and its return to a calendar-year schedule. The fall events will afford players who fall outside of the top 50 a shot at improving their priority ranking and qualifying for the big-money designated events next year. READ MORE
After withdrawing from the Masters before the first round, Will Zalatoris has disclosed he will miss the rest of the PGA Tour season after undergoing back surgery. Zalatoris, 26, wrote on Instagram that he underwent a microdiscectomy on April 8, the Saturday of the Masters. Zalatoris stood No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking and was fifth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. READ MORE
Ross Kinnaird, Getty Images
The marathon Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club attracted 16.251 million viewers across all platforms for the 87th Masters, CBS Sports reported.
Despite the absence of fan favorites Tiger Woods (Sunday withdrawal) and Rory McIlroy (missed cut), the final-round telecast on CBS averaged 12.058 million viewers, up 19 percent from last year. It was the most-watched golf telecast on any network in the past five years, since 13.045 million viewers watched Patrick Reed win the 2018 Masters on CBS.
The all-day coverage Sunday featured the conclusion of the rain-delayed third round and the final round, during which Jon Rahm rallied to win the green jacket. It also was the most-streamed round of golf on Paramount+. READ MORE
NBC, its subsidiary Golf Channel and CBS have reported increases in viewership of PGA Tour events this year in the tour’s debut season of “designated” tournaments, Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter reported. READ MORE
A new trial date has been set for LIV Golf’s federal antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
Jury selection in Matt Jones, et al. v. PGA Tour Inc. has been scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. PDT May 17, 2024, in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California’s San Jose Division, according to an order from presiding Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
She had vacated the original trial date of Jan. 8, 2024, after the PGA Tour requested a delay because LIV Golf and its Saudi financiers had opposed tour requests for discovery and depositions.
LIV Golf was denied in its motion to bifurcate its antitrust lawsuit, a federal judge in California ruled. Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who is presiding over Matt Jones et al. v. PGA Tour Inc. in U.S. District Court in Northern California, denied LIV Golf’s attempt to split the case based on the PGA Tour’s counterclaims against LIV Golf and its financial backers, headed by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Sweden’s Linn Grant will be unable to compete in two of the biggest tournaments of the year on the LPGA because she has not been vaccinated against COVID-19, Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols reported.
Grant, who is No. 22 in the Rolex Rankings, will miss this week’s Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major event of the year, and next month’s International Crown, a team event. She has been replaced by No. 117 Caroline Hedwall on Sweden’s four-player team. U.S. health guidelines, which bar foreign nationals from entering the country without vaccination against the virus, expire May 11, so Grant would be eligible for the LPGA Match Play on May 24-28 in Las Vegas. It would be her first appearance in America since December 14, 2020, when she finished T-20 at the rescheduled U.S. Women’s Open.
Grant won four times last year on the Ladies European Tour and was the season champion. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Jack Nicklaus won a legal victory in his defense against a lawsuit brought by Nicklaus Companies LLC, with a New York Supreme Court judge dismissing five of the seven causes of action. READ MORE
The USGA has accepted a record 10,187 entries for the U.S. Open to be played June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course. The previous record of 10,127 was set for the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst (North Carolina) Resort’s No. 2 course. The record number this year includes 1,282 from California and entries from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and 87 foreign countries. Among the 52 exempt players will be defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England. Local qualifying begins today. READ MORE
The Asian Tour will make its first visit to Scotland and hold the St. Andrews Bay Championship on Fairmont St. Andrews’ Torrance Course on August 24-27, the tour announced. READ MORE
Castlerock (Northern Ireland) Golf Club will serve as a co-host of the ISPS Handa World Invitational this summer, the DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour and LPGA announced. Castlerock, a links-style course, will join the parkland layout at Galgorm Castle Golf Club for the first two days of the men’s and women’s events played concurrently on August 17-18 before the 36-hole cut when the tournaments move to Galgorm Castle for the final two rounds on August 19-20. READ MORE
The PGA of America will host 12 PGA Women’s Clinics across the U.S. from May to November, the association announced. The full-day sessions, to be hosted by 27-time LPGA champion Jane Blalock and her event-management company, are for all skill levels and include instruction, on-course lessons, breakfast and lunch. READ MORE
Carson Racich, a junior in the PGA Golf Management University Program at Florida Gulf Coast University, will receive a $5,000 grant as winner of the 2023 Ron Balicki Scholarship, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced. Racich, of Loves Park, Illinois, already has earned a bachelor’s degree at Lamar, where she played for three years on the women’s golf team, before enrolling at FGCU for a second degree in the PGM program for aspiring golf professionals. Ron Balicki, who died at age 65 in 2014 after more than three decades with Golfweek magazine, was a pioneer in covering college and amateur golf. READ MORE
Peyton Manning, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who finished his NFL career in Denver, will serve as the honorary chairman of the U.S. Amateur Championship this summer at Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver, the USGA announced. The tournament dates are August 14-20. READ MORE
The 2023 Women’s Amateur Latin America will be played November 16-19 at Pilar Golf in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the R&A announced. The winner will earn exemptions into three LPGA major championships in 2024: the Chevron Championship, AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship plus the Women’s Amateur Championship. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon