Though the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin next week in Memphis, Tennessee, the No. 2 golfer in the world will not be part of the field. Rory McIlroy's name was absent Friday from the 69-man list of competitors for the 2025 St. Jude Championship released by the PGA Tour.

Seventy men qualify for the first round of the playoffs, but McIlroy is ranked so high that he can easily slide into the second round of the playoffs without competing. Though he will be leaving a potentially sizable payday on the table -- the winner at TPC Southwind will bring home $3.6 million -- he can pick right up the following week, joining the rest of the top 50 for the BMW Championship just an hour outside Washington, D.C.

McIlroy will almost assuredly qualify for the Tour Championship as one of the top 30 players remai

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