Jack Nicklaus surprised he did not hear from Rory McIlroy about missing Memorial

Rory McIlroy has decided not to play in the Memorial Tournament this weekend for the first time in eight years, and the 18-time major champion who runs the event is unsure why.

Jack Nicklaus launched the Memorial Tournament in 1976, which makes this year the 50th edition of the event at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. McIlroy has played in the tournament 13 times and every year since 2017, but he has decided to skip the $20 million PGA Tour signature event this year.

When asked on Tuesday about McIlroy not being a part of the field at his event this year, Nicklaus admitted he was surprised. He also said McIlroy did not give him an explanation.

“Guys have got schedules and got things they do. And I haven’t talked to him for him to tell me why or why not. It’s just his call” Nicklaus said, via Dave Shedloski of Golf Digest. “I don’t hold anything against Rory for that. He did what he likes to play. I know he likes to play so many in a row. He likes to play the week before a U.S. Open. And so that’s what he’s doing. So, I really don’t have a comment on it. It’s very difficult, very difficult. I mean, I’m a big Rory fan, I always have been. I’m sure that I will remain that way.”

McIlroy will play in the RBC Canadian Open next week, and the U.S. Open at Oakmont is the week after that. Nicklaus theorized that Rory wanted to play the week before the U.S. Open but did not want to string together so many events in a row.

“I’m not going to throw Rory under the bus. I like Rory too much,” Nicklaus said. “He’s a good kid. He’s played some great golf. He’s had a lot of situations that have happened to him. He’s got to make his own calls on things. Could he have done ’em differently? Probably. But that’s all right. I probably could have done some of mine differently too. So I’m not complaining about Rory.”

McIlroy has five top-10 finishes at the Memorial, so he has played well at the event over the years. He also seemingly has a good relationship with Nicklaus, who met with McIlroy prior to Rory’s thrilling win at the Masters last month.

It is unlikely that Rory’s decision to skip the Memorial had anything to do with Nicklaus personally, but it seems safe to conclude that Jack wishes he had at least gotten a phone call.