GOLF
Why isn’t Rory McIlroy playing at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge?
Between tournament victories, filing for divorce and relationship speculation, McIlroy has had a busy time of things in recent weeks.
The 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge on the PGA Tour gets underway at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday (23 May) but there will be no sign of man-of-the-moment Rory McIlory.
Rory McIlory: tournament wins, divorce and relationship rumours
The Northern Irishman has been in the news of late for different reasons, both on and off the course.
Prior to last week’s PGA Championship, in which he tied for 12th, McIlory won on each of his two previous starts, with his victory alongside Shane Lowry in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event followed by a fourth triumph at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte two weeks later.
It was after that most recent win that the four-time major winner’s private life also came into focus. Following his win on the Sunday, it was revealed 24 hours later that he had filed for divorce from wife Erica Stoll, which came out of the blue to most.
After McIlory’s split from tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, he and former PGA employee Stoll married in April 2017 and have one daughter together, Poppy Kennedy McIlory.
Since then, there has been increasing - and unconfirmed - speculation that CBS golf reporter Amanda Balionis had something to do with McIlory and Stoll’s split.
The evidence so far? News of the Irish star’s impending divorce came hours after an interview full of “good vibes” between he and Balionis at Quail Hollow. Viewers later noticed the journalist wasn’t wearing her wedding ring while working at the PGA Championship the following week.
A case of putting two and two together and getting five? Or could there be something in it?
The reason McIlroy isn’t playing the Charles Schwab Challenge
Either way, the storm isn’t the reason for McIlory’s absence from the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge, with timing instead the main factor.
With the tournament coming just after the second major - and one of the most draining weeks - of the season, the 35-year-old is one of a number of big-name players who has decided to skip the event to keep himself fresh for “bigger” upcoming tournaments.
Signature events the Memorial Tournament (starts 9 June) and the Travellers Championship (23 June) take place either side of the 2024 US Open (16 June), three of the biggest and most lucrative events on tour.
On top of that, McIlory has traditionally skipped the Charles Schwab Challenge since joining the PGA Tour, playing the event only once (tied for 32 in 2020).
Although newly crowned PGA champion Xander Schauffele, McIlory, Wyndham Clark, Viktor Holvand and Ludwig Aberg (worlds number two to six) aren’t taking part, Scottie Scheffler, despite his arrest at Valhalla, will be teeing it up at Colonial Country Club, as will fellow major winners Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose, along with the likes of Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler and Max Homa.