Lack of Interest from Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy Is Jeopardizing PGA Tour’s Relationship With Sponsors

As the FedEx Cup Playoffs kicked off, a recurring question kept swirling around the PGA Tour’s Ponte Vedra headquarters. The playoffs bring high-stakes showdowns, a battle of technicality and power, with the $20 million prize purse serving as another crown jewel of golf’s richest victory. Yet, folks question: Is the PGA Tour really just nothing without its headline stars? Maybe not. But, unfortunately, the silent audience racks at Memphis point toward the opposite. Amid Rory McIlroy skipping the tournament (akin to his 2015 and 2018 move) and leaving a PGA Tour Policy Board player director “very concerned”, folks at the 5Clubs Podcast tried peeling back some layers.

One speaker, Johnson Wagner, reflected on his visit to Memphis last year, recalling the lackluster state of the event. “I was on site at Memphis and Atlanta last year and it’s so hot, there’s not even—there’s no buzz. There’s 30 players, they’re playing five-hole practice rounds Tuesday and Wednesday, it’s a ghost town out there,” Wagner remarked. He also openly questioned the playoffs’ relevance, asking if they truly benefit the PGA Tour. “Do they do anything for the fan? Do they drive fan engagement?…And it just doesn’t feel like there’s the buzz that it should for being the playoffs. I would put it right behind the Players Championship as far as PGA Tour properties,” he further commented. It was then that guest Gary Williams touched upon exactly what is hindering the visibility of one of the tour’s most important events.

“I think anything that’s new has a curiosity, but the truth is the series was created primarily for one guy and secondarily because he had a foil—it was Tiger and Phil. They drove the idea that, ‘We can carve out an audience in football season’…And those guys are not part of this anymore,” he said, before adding, “Can the two biggest stars—one who doesn’t care about celebrity and the other one who I think is ambivalent about the series to a degree—they can’t do it by themselves.” With Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy showing little enthusiasm, the PGA Tour’s ability to attract sponsors faces a serious test. “What do you do? Where do you go with all this? Because it’s a ton of money that these various companies are fronting for these purses and these bonus pools. And if you’ve got people who love it as much as you guys, and me too, going, yeah, I don’t know.”

With this, the biggest question is: Would Brian Rolapp succeed in gaining the old traction of the sport, pooling in new sponsors to keep the game alive? That’s an open question, heavily under speculation, especially with the sport’s biggest allies showing no enthusiasm for the tour.

Rory McIlroy’s withdrawal deepens the cracks

PGA Tour’s falling visibility during one of its most important stretches raises many questions, not just to the higher authorities but also to the players who carry the tour on their backs. And Scheffler and McIlroy have been the torchbearers for this new generation of the tour. That was until their lack of interest in the tour started becoming more apparent to pros and fans alike. McIlroy’s controversial decision ahead of the FedEx Cup, however, has brought the murky side of the topline players into stark daylight.

Rory McIlroy’s decision to skip the FedEx St. Jude Championship has sparked fresh controversy. With no realistic chance of catching world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and securely inside the top 30 to advance to the Tour Championship, McIlroy treated the Memphis event as a business decision rather than a competitive priority. His withdrawal not only disappointed fans expecting a full field but also highlighted how the lack of meaningful stakes in early playoff rounds enables star players to pick and choose where they compete.

McIlroy’s choice to sit out the FedEx St. Jude Championship perfectly illustrates the challenges facing the PGA Tour’s new commissioner. With two top stars indifferent to the playoffs, the Tour’s growth and sponsorship efforts are at risk.