Rory McIlroy's withdrawal from tournament days after Masters cost him millions in fines

Callum Vurley
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:51:23 +0000

Rory McIlroy has decided to sit out this week's RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, opting for some well-deserved downtime after his remarkable back-to-back Masters triumph.

The Northern Irishman became just the fourth golfer in history to win consecutive green jackets on Sunday, and it's fair to say he's earned a breather.

It was an exhausting weekend at Augusta National, with McIlroy battling to protect his lead in what turned into a nail-biting finish.

The 36-year-old has historically been selective about playing Harbour Town, having only competed there a handful of times throughout his career.

Back in 2023, skipping this very same tournament proved rather costly for McIlroy.

After missing the cut at that year's Masters, he pulled out of the Heritage to regroup following a difficult spell in Georgia.

"I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I've expressed those to [PGA Tour Commissioner] Jay [Monahan]," McIlroy explained 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."

The decision hit his wallet hard though – a whopping £2.2million fine under the PGA Tour's rules at the time, which required top-20 Player Impact Program players to compete in all but one of 17 signature events.

Things changed in 2024 when the PGA Tour overhauled its regulations to give elite players much more freedom with their schedules.

Rather than forcing the top names to show up, officials took a different approach – they simply made the prize money too good to turn down.

The signature events now boast bumper purses designed to attract the biggest stars without the threat of penalties hanging over them.

Even with these relaxed rules, McIlroy still chose to skip the Heritage last year after finally claiming his first green jacket and completing the career Grand Slam.

He headed straight home to Northern Ireland to celebrate with family and friends.

McIlroy's victory at Augusta saw him finish on 12 under par, holding off Scottie Scheffler by just a single stroke.

It could have gone to a dramatic play-off, but Scheffler missed a crucial birdie putt on the 17th that would have levelled things up – much like the tense showdown McIlroy faced against Justin Rose twelve months earlier.

The Holywood native led from start to finish, though his comfortable six-shot cushion after Friday melted to just one heading into Sunday's final round.

"I can't believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket and I get two in a row," he said afterwards.