Rory McIlroy has opted out of the Memorial Tournament this year, and while that decision has ruffled some feathers in the golf world, tournament host Jack Nicklaus remembers when he had to make decisions about where and when to play.
And it appears the 18-time major champion isn't too riled up about it, even if it caught him off guard.
“It surprised me,” Nicklaus said of Rory's decision during his annual press conference at Muirfield Village. “But, you know, guys have got schedules and got things they do. And, you know, I haven't talked to him for him to tell me why or why not.”
“Sometimes you have to make those calls,” he added. “I don't hold anything against Rory for that.”
Nicklaus noted that McIlroy likes to play the week before the U.S. Open, which is why the newest member of the career Grand Slam club is teeing up at next week's RBC Canadian Open.
So had he played the Memorial, that would be four weeks in a row, as he's already scheduled to play the week after the U.S. Open at the Travelers Championship, the final Signature Event on the 2025 PGA Tour schedule.
Most professional golfers are loath to play an important tournament that third week because it gets to be mentally strenuous. And the U.S. Open can unquestionably be an excess of mental strain. And Oakmont, where the U.S. Open will be contested this year, is severe mental strain. Church Pews. The Turnpike. A 290-yard par-3. Long, long, long rough.
Nevertheless, Nicklaus did watch McIlroy win The Masters last month and sent him a congratulatory note on the accomplishment.
“I told him, I don't think anybody's won by having four double bogeys,” Nicklaus said. “But that just showed me how much talent you have to overcome that to win and how you played some unbelievably spectacular shots.”
Nicklaus was amazed by “the iron at 7, that he hit over the tree, that actually hit the tree,” and by “the phenomenal iron he hit at 15, (and) the shot he hit at 17.”
He also noted a bad shot or two especially the approach at the 13th on Sunday.
“The shot he hit at 13, I can't believe,” he said.
The upshot, according to Nicklaus, is that McIlroy got “the monkey off his back,” and he believes that the monkey, in this case a 900-pound gorilla, was winning The Masters, not getting the Grand Slam.
“Now, the Grand Slam was a product of winning The Masters. If you ask him which was more important, I think he would have to say The Masters. That's because it was,” Nicklaus insisted.
For certain, the Golden Bear, who won a record six green jackets, would know, as he used to place an extreme amount of importance on winning the tournament.
“After I won the Masters in '63, '4, and '6 -- or '63, '5, and '6, I sort of felt like I should win it every year. I felt like if I didn't win it, my year was a failure,” he admitted. “I went through three or four years of that before I realized that, hey, you're not going to win this tournament every year, and the year, it has got a lot of other golf tournaments in it and a lot more majors to play in, and you can't let one tournament ruin your year.”
One thing is for certain. The Memorial won't be ruining Rory's year. But despite McIlroy's absence, Jack will still welcome an elite field of players to Muirfield Village this week.