The Masters champion has opted not to compete in the event, which is annually hosted by Jack Nicklaus at Muirfield Village in Ohio, and has thus far not given a reason why he is not playing. This is the first time since 2017 that McIlroy has not included the Memorial as part of his schedule but continues a trend this year of not being a regular fixture in the PGA Tour’s elevated tournaments. The World No.2 also opted to skip the season-opening Sentry in January as well as April’s RBC Heritage, the latter of which was more understandable given it came a week after his emotional victory at Augusta. It is worth pointing out that McIlroy has not only played in four other signature events this year but won one, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, while he was also the champion at the PGA Tour’s flagship event, The Players Championship, in March. But despite not playing in three of the seven signature events thus far this season, and with his attendance at next month’s Travelers Championship still up for debate, Monahan has come out in defence of McIlroy when speaking from Ohio. “You look at the beauty of our model is that our players have the ability to select their schedule,” Monahan told a group of reporters at Muirfield Village. “Rory McIlroy I think has played this tournament every year since 2017 and you look at the tournaments he has supported… I don’t have any concern because you look at this, on balance, over time, his support of our tournaments and our partners is extraordinary. “Look at the season that Rory has had. He’s had a life-altering season. He’s won the Players Championship, you win the Masters Tournament, you win the (career) Grand Slam and you win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.” The PGA Tour’s eight signature events were created in 2022 as a response to the growing threat of LIV Golf, with the likes of McIlroy and Tiger Woods pushing the format of reduced 72-player fields, with each tournament possessing a prize fund of $20million and five of them carrying no 36-hole cut. Initially players were only allowed to skip one signature event they qualified for as a way of ensuring the top players all participated, although that requirement was dropped last year after McIlroy was essentially fined part of his Player Impact Bonus for skipping two events in 2023. Rather than play at the Memorial, the Holywood man will instead tee it up at next week’s RBC Canadian Open, an event he has won twice, as his final preparation for the U.S. Open at Oakmont, which begins on June 12. Although McIlroy decided to skip his tournament, host Nicklaus said on Tuesday that he held nothing against the Northern Irishman for doing so, commenting: “It surprised me. But guys have got schedules and got things they do. I haven’t talked to him for him to tell me why or why not. It’s just his call. “I made a lot of calls that I had to make when I played to play or not play and sometimes it wasn’t as popular as people thought it was. But sometimes you have to make those calls. 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 he… that’s what he’s doing. So I really don’t have a comment on it. “It’s very difficult. I’m a big Rory fan, I always have been. I’m sure that I will remain that way. I just, I was a little surprised, yes.”