Rory McIlroy missed out on playing in Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament way back in 2015.
Interestingly, Rory McIlroy missed out on the Memorial in 2025 as well, and he didn’t even contact Jack Nicklaus to let him know he wouldn’t be playing at Muirfield Village.
McIlroy has played the Memorial Tournament 13 times, making 11 cuts in the process.
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However, the Northern Irishman has never won at Muirfield Village, and only has two top-5 finishes to his name in Nicklaus’ event.
The golf course may not be the perfect fit for McIlroy’s game, but the Memorial is one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour.
However, that hasn’t stopped the five-time major champion from withdrawing from the event on multiple occasions.
Nicklaus’ response when McIlroy told him ‘he was in a pickle’ before the Memorial
In the lead-up to the Memorial in 2015, McIlroy missed back-to-back cuts and clearly needed a break from the game.
Nicklaus spoke to reporters ahead of the Memorial tournament 11 years ago and responded when asked whether he was disappointed that McIlroy chose to skip his event.
“Most of the guys who aren’t here this week have come to me and said ‘Jack I’ve got this problem,’” Nicklaus told a pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
“I said ‘Hey wait a minute, don’t worry about us, you’ve got to do what’s right for you’. I ended up having to make those choices at times, what was right for me. I respect what the guys have to do and how they are pulled from so many directions, and for the most part the guys have been here.”
“He came to me and talked to me and said he was in a pickle,” Nicklaus added. “I said ‘Rory, don’t worry about it. You and I are very close, we have no issues. If you have stuff you gotta do in Ireland, you got to do what’s right for you. You gotta get yourself ready for the US Open’.
“And that’s fine with me. And from the way I handled it, I don’t think you will see Rory miss here very often.”
McIlroy revealed how Nicklaus reacted to his withdrawal from the Memorial
McIlroy spoke to reporters about withdrawing from the Memorial and explained why he sent Nicklaus a letter rather than just tell him over the phone.
He said: “The first thing he said to me was that he’d received my letter and I said to him that I wanted to write to you rather than phone or just advise the (PGA) Tour.
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“So he seemed pretty taken aback to get my letter and that made me also feel good.
“I have played the Memorial every year since coming over here so he was happy and I told him I’m already looking forward to the event next year.“
Nicklaus was clearly very pleased with how McIlroy handled his withdrawal from the Memorial back in 2015.
And that makes the fact that McIlroy didn’t even inform Nicklaus that he wouldn’t be playing at Muirfield Village in 2025 all the more bizarre.