Rory McIlroy plays tennis after a round of 16 match at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Rory McIlroy started his journey to the FedEx Cup Playoffs with a 6-under 68 at TPC Southwind, but his day didn’t end on the golf course. After his round, McIlroy went to a nearby tennis center where he was photographed with Wiley Barron, son of Champions Tour major winner Doug Barron. Moment…
Rory McIlroy began his run to the FedExCup Playoffs with a solid 2-under 68 at TPC Southwind, but his day didn’t end on the golf course. After finishing his round, McIlroy headed to a nearby tennis center where he was photographed with Wiley Barron, the son of Champions Tour major winner Doug Barron. At that moment, it was shared by a PGA tour champion on social media channels.
In the opening round at Fedex Sent Jude Championship, Makiroy showed his skills in a round with Eagle and two bogey. He finished strongly with two birdies in the final three holes, four shots behind leader Chris Kirk’s 64. McIlroy, who entered the week ranked third in the FedExCup standings, is behind only Scotty Scheffler and Xander Schauffele and is chasing a record fourth FedExCup title. McIlroy already has three FedEx Cup titles (2016, 2019, 2022) but a win at TPC Southwind just eluded him — he came close last year after finishing tied for third in Memphis after missing the cut in the same event the year before. Despite trailing Scheffler by six strokes at the start of the 2022 Tour Championship, McIlroy rallied to win the FedEx Cup title. He faced similar issues in 2023, entering the Tour Championship three strokes behind and finishing fourth in the FedEx Cup standings. Perhaps McIlroy’s friendly tennis play will be an added boost in his quest for his fourth PGA Tour title of the season. Earlier this month, while representing Ireland at the Olympic men’s golf tournament in Paris, McIlroy took time out to take in the tennis event and watch the doubles match between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal against Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek. The experience may have left a lasting impression on him.
As McIlroy turns his attention back to golf, he will look to climb the leaderboard in Friday’s second round at TPC Southwind and make a strong push in the FedExCup standings. This season he had already won two events on the tour and ended as a finalist at the US Open, but when he was asked to evaluate the 2024 season, Makiroy explained him as “very good.” I did.
However, Mcilroy has decided to raise the “pretty good” season in the next three weeks, as in the playoffs. By looking back on his approach, Makiroy says: It is a part of the factors that have played well with the motivation factor and the playoffs for the past three years.