The play -offs from Rory McIlroy Skip is no problem that should be solved

The play -offs of the FedEx Cup start this week, and, as you may have heard, the biggest star of the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy, chose not to spend a week in Memphis at the St. Jude Fedex championship at the beginning of August.

McIlroy telegraphed this decision last fall in an interview with De Telegraaf. He has won three times this season, including the Masters, and is number 2 in the Fedex Cup classification, so his place on the Tour Championship is almost certain. In short, McIlroy, who has earned enough money for different lifespan -including only $ 70 million in career income in the FedEx Cup -Play -Ooffs -deserved not to play this week. Tiger Woods did the same in 2007.

But as is normally the case with McIlroy, his decision has caused a commotion.

In one interview with Golf week Man SchupakPeter Malnati hinted that the PGA Tour could come up with a way to close the Maas in the law with which players such as McIlroy Play -off events with little consequence can skip. He didn’t go out, but the idea of a “Rory Rule” is at least kicked.

Malnati, that should be noted, is also not in Memphis because he was not eligible, speaks from the perspective of a PGA Tour member and a player of the PGA Tour Policy Board. The aim of Malnati is to help the Tour to strengthen the legitimacy of the FedEx Cup play-offs as a meaningful event, and to please FedEx, which not only sponsor this week’s event, but also the entire Playoff race and the seasonal hose. If you want to keep the sponsors happy, it is probably beneficial if the biggest active star of the sport does not ignore their tournament.

But the biggest problem of the PGA Tour is not with McIlroy that Memphis passes on. It is that the PlayOFF system, which has been constantly adjusted and changed, still misses no meaning outside the dollars that were added to bank accounts at the end of August. Can they adjust the format further, so that the points are reset and everyone starts the play -offs at zero, forcing participation? They can try, but if they do that, they run the risk of losing someone like McIlroy, who completed T68 in Memphis last year, for the remaining two play -off events if he has a bad week. Not all the best players at East Lake seems to be a goal that is worth avoiding. You also come across the sticky area to force players who are supposed to be independent contractors to play certain events, and we saw how that went during the first year of the characteristic events model (if you remember, McIlroy skipped more of those events than he hears).

I would claim that what could “lose” the tour by letting McIlroy pass a sweaty journey to Memphis, much less than what he has given the Tour this year and what he will probably bring in the future. He skipped Memorial and the RBC heritage, where, just like Memphis, all other top players showed up. But he shot it up in Houston, in New Orleans at the Zurich Classic and at the RBC Canadian Open. The advantage that he entails, appears in eyeballs, TV reviews, purchased tickets, etc. All in all, it is a blessing that is difficult to quantify.

If you also look at the larger image of Golf outside the PGA Tour, the remaining schedule of McIlroy will include the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, the India Championship, the DP World Tour Championship and the Australian Open, along with the Ryder Cup.

As my colleague Sean Zak wrote, McIlroy spoke about being a ‘worldwide’ player and delivered these promises by building a global schedule. McIlroy skip Memphis but play in markets-zowel on the PGA Tour as all over the world who normally witnesses of stars of his caliber, is a good assessment for the sport as a whole.

Ultimately, McIlroy’s decision does not require a rule. This is not a Maas in the law that must be closed to prevent the entire play -off Charade from crumbling in itself. In the end it is just the loot of an elite player with restrictive priorities outside of money.

McIlroy is one of the rare players – because of his status and career performance – who has the opportunity to skip an event with a wallet of $ 20 million and not to do bad. Note how all other Top 70 players are in Memphis, including Scottie Scheffler. The stars are not all skip. McIlroy has not opened Pandora’s box that should shoot the Tour. He earned the right, through his game over the past six months and 16 years, to skip the event. It is no different than a day for top seeds in other sports.

Rory Mcilroy plays through a different series of rules because of who he is and what he brings to the table. He created the “Maas in law” by being Rory McIlroy. That will be a difficult for 99.9% of the Tour to try to exploit, and it does not require a rule to close it.