Rory McIlroy has decided to bypass the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs

Rory McIlroy has decided to bypass the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next week by declining participation in the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind. 

The update was first confirmed by Rob Bolton, who is the Fantasy Insider on the PGA Tour. 

The FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis is supposed to feature the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings after this week's Wyndham Championship. 

But the field will now consist of just 69 players following McIlroy's decision to bypass it.

McIlroy, at this stage, is the only player to refuse entry when eligible to compete in the FedEx St Jude Championship. 

Scottie Scheffler will now start the FedEx St Jude Championship as a red-hot tournament favourite following the omission of McIlroy. 

McIlroy's decision is a shock to some, especially given he has played in every FedEx St Jude event at TPC Southwind since 2019. 

The reason for McIlroy's absence from the FedEx St Jude is unknown at this stage.

Although McIlroy, 36, did make it clear at the start of the season that he was going to be limiting his playing schedule in 2025. 

He has not been afraid to miss some notable big events on the PGA Tour this season.

McIlroy decided to skip three of the eight Signature Events on the PGA Tour in 2025 at The Sentry, RBC Heritage and the Memorial Tournament, the latter of which "surprised" golf legend, tournament host and record 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus.

McIlroy is comfortably through to the BMW Championship, the second Playoffs event, in two weeks' time at Caves Valley in Maryland. 

He will then compete in the Tour Championship the following week, which will determine the fate of the FedEx Cup. 

The PGA Tour has binned its adjusted handicap start to level out the playing field at the Tour Championship, just like the good ol' days. 

In McIlroy's last three starts on Tour he has finished tied sixth at the Travelers Championship, tied second at the Genesis Scottish Open and tied seventh at The Open, which took place on his home turf of Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. 

The Ulsterman has won three times on the PGA Tour this season, highlighted by becoming the sixth player to complete the career grand slam with victory at The Masters in April.

McIlroy also won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title for the first time in his career and he also won a second Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

As a result, he currently looks on from the second rung of the FedEx Cup ladder behind runaway World No.1 Scheffler, who captured his first Open, fourth win of the season and a fourth career major title in his last appearance.

It could prove something of a smart move for McIlroy to bypass the FedEx St Jude given he is unlikely to lose much ground in the FedEx Cup race, if any ground at all. 

He will then rock up the BMW Championship and Tour Championship fresh as a daisy you would think after having taken three weeks off to spend some much-needed time at home with his wife Erica and daughter Poppy. 

On top of the final two legs of the Playoffs this month, McIlroy will then be competing at the BMW PGA on the DP World Tour in September.

That tournament takes place at his new family home at Wentworth in Surrey, England. 

Two weeks later, he will then compete in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. 

The European Ryder Cup hero is therefore going to want to preserve the batteries as much as possible before the biennial dust-up against the United States. 

After the Ryder Cup, McIlroy will then be competing in the Dunhill Links alongside his father Gerry before taking a trip over to India for the first time.

McIlroy will also be playing in the season-ending DP World Tour Playoffs in Abu Dhabi and Dhabi in November, before rounding out his season with a return trip to the Australian Open in early December. 

McIlroy has endured a mixed set of results at TPC Southwind through the years. 

The FedEx St Jude Championship only became part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in 2022. 

McIlroy finished a lowly T68 at the FedEx St Jude Championship last season, but performed much better the season before with a T3, which marked his best finish to date at TPC Southwind. 

He missed the cut in 2022.

The FedEx St Jude Championship replaced The Northern Trust as the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in 2022. 

Prior to 2022, this tournament took place at TPC Southwind as a WGC Invitational event from 2019 to 2021. 

McIlroy finished T12 in 2021, T47 in 2020 and T4 in 2019. 

McIlroy's decision to miss out on the 2025 FedEx St Jude Championship will also be something of a blow to the lead tournament sponsor, especially given the amount of money they pump into the PGA Tour. 

FedEx is also the sponsor for the season-long FedEx Cup, which ends at the Tour Championship at East Lake in three weeks.

McIlroy is a record three-time winner of the FedEx Cup (2016, 2019 and 2022). 

The five-time major champion will no doubt be looking to keep the trend going of winning the FedEx Cup every three years. 

Scheffler is the defending champion of the FedEx Cup. 

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama is the defending champion of the FedEx St Jude Invitational following his two-shot victory over Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland. 

The full 69-player field for the 2025 FedEx St Jude Championship will be confirmed after the conclusion of play at the Wyndham Championship this Sunday, which is the final regular event of the season.