After Missing the Cut at Masters, Rory McIlroy Withdraws from RBC Heritage

No reason was given as to why the world No. 3 is missing the designated event.

Rory McIlroy was announced Monday as having withdrawn from this week’s RBC Heritage, immediately on the heels of a missed cut at the Masters.

No reason was given by the PGA Tour for McIlroy’s withdrawal from the tournament at Hilton Head, S.C., which is one of the Tour’s designated events this season.

Rory McIlroy is a WD from the RBC Heritage. The field is now 143.

WDs will not be replaced by alternates unless needed to fill the field of 132.

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) April 10, 2023

Designated events were created in response to the threat of LIV Golf and have been successful this season in getting all of the Tour's top players together to compete. Most purses have been boosted to $20 million and players who received Player Impact Program (PIP) money are expected to play in all of them this year with one opt-out permitted for personal reasons.

McIlroy, who finished second in the PIP program in 2022 and was set to collect a $12 million bonus, had already opted out of the first designated event in January, the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. 

Some of the PIP funds are tied to appearing in designated events and missing more than one could mean losing 75% of the bonus, but PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is said to have sole discretion to enforce or waive rules around awarding the money. The opt-out rule will not be in effect next season.

The RBC Heritage is played annually the week after the Masters, and with the high pressure of the season’s first major the field at Harbour Town Golf Links has only a handful of the Tour’s top players. The presence of someone like Rory McIlroy, No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking (No. 3 SI World Golf Rankings) would be of considerable benefit to the sponsor and event.

McIlroy has played the event just twice in his career, in 2009 and ’20.