Rory McIlroy was hot and tired when he finished the FedEx St. Jude Championship last year. He was No. 3 in the FedEx Cup. He beat only one player at the TPC Southwind and tied for 68th, finishing 26 shots behind. He dropped all the way to No. 5.
“I'm not even sure why I'm playing,” McIlroy said with a chuckle.
So it comes as no surprise that McIlroy has decided to sit out the start of the PGA Tour postseason, a move he has telegraphed for a year.
It adds to a peculiar season of scheduling for McIlroy, who was intent on cutting back.
He already missed two signature events at Hilton Head and Memorial (he also missed The Sentry at Kapalua, which he has played only once because he starts his year on the European Tour). But he added the RBC Canadian Open a week after the Memorial and the week before the U.S. Open. He also chose to defend his title with Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic.
Not much should be read into McIlroy — he's No. 2 behind Scottie Scheffler — sitting out the FedEx Cup playoffs opener for only the third time.
Tiger Woods skipped the opener in 2007 and went on to win the FedEx Cup. Woods played The Barclays in 2009, only to realize during the pro-am that Wednesday that even if he had won all three playoff events, he still was not assured winning the FedEx Cup (he won, anyway).
But given the heat in Memphis in early August, it would not be surprising if more top players chose to sit this one out. There is a $5 million bonus for whoever is leading the FedEx Cup after the second playoff event at the BMW Championship.
Then again, McIlroy already is playing tournaments overseas in the fall in India and Australia. In these times, $5 million isn't much of a carrot.
Masters hospitality
Augusta National already has the state-of-the-art Berckmans Place right off the fifth fairway for high-end Masters patrons. It also as “Map and Flag," another hospitality option across from Washington Road.
Sports Business Journal reviewed a brochure for the “Official Masters Hospitality” program that takes it to a level unlike any other.
According to the brochure, the program offers a “host home” from $45,000 to more than $100,000 for the week. It also offers private transportation up to $15,000, which includes a weekly driver and either an SUV or a sprinter van.
SBJ also reports a “Full Scale, Private Home Program” as a sample that runs $219,600 for the week. It's for eight guests and three waves of packages to the golf course.
The amenities include two homes (a host home for $60,000 and a sleeper home for $38,000), which includes daily cleaning and fresh linens, transportation ($29,000), pantry stocking ($6,000), a full-time staff member ($13,000), catering ($23,500), tee times at area golf courses ($13,500) and a 20% service fee ($36,600).
Nelly toppled
Nelly Korda headed to the Paris Olympics last summer at No. 1 in the world. Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand was at No. 15, two players seemingly headed in different directions.
A year later, Thitikul is back to No. 1 in the world, largely because of Korda failing to win this year and having nine finishes out of the top 10.
Dating to the Olympics, Thitikul won three times, was runner-up four times and had 16 top 20s in 23 tournaments worldwide.
Korda won The Annika in Florida toward the end of last season. She had three runner-up finishes — two of them at majors — but she finished in the top 10 in only nine of her 18 starts. She had one stretch where she finished out of the top 10 in seven out of nine tournaments.
Korda had been at No. 1 for 71 weeks, the fourth-longest streak since the women's world ranking began in 2006.
Thitikul was previously No. 1 for all of two weeks in the fall of 2022. Thitikul and Ai Miyazato are the only women at No. 1 to have never won a major.
On the bubble
Xander Schauffele is assured of making his 70th consecutive cut in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the start of the PGA Tour postseason which has no 36-hole cut.
But there's another streak on the line.
Schauffele has been slow to hit his stride since missing two months at the start of the year with a rib injury. He goes into the postseason at No. 42 in the FedEx Cup. Schauffele has reached the Tour Championship eight consecutive years dating to his rookie season in 2017.
That's tied with Tony Finau for the longest active streak getting to East Lake. Finau has an even greater sense of urgency. He starts the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 62. Only the top 50 advance to the BMW Championship, and the top 30 reach the Tour Championship.
LPGA major award
Minjee Lee is a winner for the second time of the Rolex Annika Major Award, given to the major champion who has the best record among the LPGA's five majors.
Points are awarded only to top 10s, so Lee effectively won by one position. She won the KPMG Women's PGA and tied for third in the Evian Championship. Mao Saigo won the Chevron Championship and tied for fourth in the U.S. Women's Open.
Miyu Yamashita won the AIG Women's British Open and tied for sixth in the Women's PGA.
Lee and Yamashita were the only major champions to make the cut in every major. By combined score, Lee was at 19-under par, while Yamashita was at 8 under.
Yani is back
Yani Tseng delivered perhaps the biggest surprise of the major championship season with her tie for 63rd in the Women's British Open. It was her first time making the cut in a major since 2017, and her first time playing the weekend at any LPGA-sanctioned event since 2018.
The former No. 1 player in women's golf and five-time major champion has been in a slump so severe, mostly because of the yips, that making the cut at Royal Porthcawl was a big deal. She also was slowed by hip surgery.
“It's been a while,” Tseng said after making the cut. “I’m fighting really hard to be here. I’m proud of myself that I didn’t give up. I gave myself a chance to come back here, and play the links course like this, it’s always a dream.”
Key to her turnaround around coach Brady Riggs was when he suggested she start putting lefthanded. Tseng said she tried it and “I'm not afraid anymore.”
She is entered in the Standard Portland Classic next week.
Divots
The LPGA Tour now has gone 20 tournaments without any player winning more than once, the longest streak to start a season in its 75-year history. The last 14 majors have been won by 14 different players. ... Blades Brown made it through Monday qualifying and the 18-year-old tied for seventh in the Utah Championship, giving him special temporary membership for the remainder of the Korn Ferry Tour season. He is 68th on the points list. The top 20 earn PGA Tour cards for 2026. ... Cameron Young at the Wyndham Championship became the 12th first-time winner on the PGA Tour this season.
Stat of the week
Ten years ago, the LPGA Tour had nine players make at least $1 million. There are 24 players who have at least $1 million in earnings this year with 12 tournaments still on the schedule.
Final word
“He's just adding his name to the list of many guys that are hard for us to say no to.” — Webb Simpson, a Ryder Cup assistant captain, on Cameron Young.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press
