Rory McIlroy opts out of BMW PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy will miss the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this month in a further blow to the European Tour’s “flagship” event.

McIlroy is defending his title in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow this week and will then contest the Players Championship and Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, an event hosted by his own foundation.

That means the BMW PGA Championship, which he won in 2014, would have been a fourth tournament in a row and the world number three had previously indicated he was not keen on such a schedule following the ankle injury he suffered in 2015.

McIlroy’s agent confirmed today that Wentworth was not on the four-time major winner’s schedule but that he would play in the Memorial Tournament the following week in preparation for the US Open at Oakmont.

Speaking ahead of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said he wanted to see the BMW PGA Championship offering more prize money than its current ”unacceptable” €5million euros.

”A lot of people talk about Wentworth as being a flagship event,“ Pelley said. ”Wentworth is 5.1million euros. The other event in the US that week is 6.1. That’s unacceptable. Wentworth needs to be eight to 10million dollars.

”The important thing for me at Wentworth is what they do to the West Course. From everything that I have heard, there is significant investment. We are continuing at Wentworth until at least 2018 and if the West Course becomes exactly what they believe it will, and we can increase the prize purse, then perhaps it can be a flagship event going forward.

”Our flagship event right here is the DP World Tour Championship, which is eight million dollars plus a bonus prize.”