Rory McIlroy has skipped the RBC Heritage two years after paying a hefty fine for withdrawing from the tournament. The Masters champion is taking some deserved time off following his Augusta heroics.
McIlroy will not play at the RBC Heritage but, unlike in 2023, he will not be punished for doing so. Back then, the PGA fined players if they missed two signature events during a single season. Having missed the cut at the Masters the week before, McIlroy decided to accept a mammoth £2.2million fine as it was the second signature event he had missed. That rule is no longer in place.
“I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I’ve expressed those to Jay [Monahan],” McIlroy said at the time. “It was an easy decision, but I felt like if that fine or whatever is to happen was worth that for me in order to get some things in place.”
McIlroy has decided to skip the RBC Heritage for much happier reasons this year. He returned to Northern Ireland to celebrate completing the Career Slam with his family.
The 35-year-old finally banished his Augusta National demons by winning the Masters, defeating Justin Rose in a play-off.
McIlroy had already suggested he would skip the RBC Heritage event this year. It is part of a plan to reduce the number of tournaments he plays.
“There’s a few tournaments that I played this year that I don’t usually play and that I might not play next year,” McIlroy told the Daily Telegraph last November. “I played the Cognizant [Classic] in Palm Beach Gardens, [the Texas Open in] San Antonio and the [RBC Heritage in] Hilton Head.
“And I’ll probably not play the first play-off event in Memphis. I mean, I finished basically dead last there this year, and only moved down one spot in the play-off standings.
“Well, at this point in my career… Hey, I’m 35 and have been out here for 17, 18 years, so I’m just going to go to the places that I enjoy and where I play well. Look I’ve done the hard slog, I’ve done that sort of 25 to 30 events a year. And I’m not getting any younger.”
