On Wednesday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed that Rory McIlroy will be fined (or forfeit) $3 million after withdrawing from last month’s RBC Heritage.
It was the second designated event McIlroy had skipped. (He also missed the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January.)
Players are permitted to skip just one of the new designated events in 2023.
Last season, McIlroy was awarded a $12 million bonus for finishing second to Tiger Woods in the Player Impact Program (PIP), which measures a player’s popularity. McIlroy had already been paid $9 million and was set to collect the remaining $3 million at the end of the season but will now forfeit that money for a no-show in Hilton Head.
On Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship, during a press scum, McIlroy told reporters that he needed time to “mentally recharge” after missing the cut, and failing for the ninth consecutive time to complete the career grand slam with a victory at the Masters.
He also said his “mind wouldn’t have been there” if he’d teed it up in the RBC Heritage.
Monahan was having none of McIlroy’s sneaky attempt to spin his need to “mentally recharge” as a medical excuse.
“When we made the commitment to this schedule with the Player Impact Program, we adjusted for one opt-out,” said Monahan.
“Then for any second opt-out, you forfeit the twenty-five-percent, unless there was a medical issue. Based on that criteria, it’s actually fairly cut-and-dry.”
Next season, the PGA Tour will eliminate the rule mandating players compete in designated events. Instead, they will try to incentivize the tour’s stars by introducing no-cuts and reduced field sizes to go along with $20 million purses.
“When we announce the schedule itself and you look at the cadence, you look at the consequence in terms of FedEx Cup points, you look at what the purse sizes are going to be, you look at the concentration of top players and them having the ability to compete against each other in those field sizes, my confidence is high,” said Monahan.