MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The drama surrounding top-ranked golfers and their choice to play in tours outside of the PGA has overshadowed the excitement for some golfers in the FedEx st. Jude Championship.
“You can have your cake but you don’t need to eat it too, they got their fair share of a large, large amount of cake go eat it on your own means, you don’t need to bring it onto our tour,” said Justin Thomas.
However, thanks to a court ruling on Tuesday, multiple ranked golfers including top 20 ranked Talor Gooch won’t be eating any cake at TPC Southwind this week, the hosting venue for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“Now that that has happened I think it just lets us focus on the important stuff, which is the golf, and now we can all move forward and not sort of have that side show going on for the next few weeks,” said Rory McIlroy
“I just want to play golf and stop worrying about it,” Thomas added.
Today both McIlroy and Thomas played golf for the Fedex St. Jude Classic Pro-Am.
However, unlike the previous year at TPC Southwind, fan favorites like Phil Mickelson will not be in attendance.
Mickelson is one of 11 golfers that have filed suit against the PGA tour, being banned from future PGA events after joining the LIV tour funded by Saudi Arabia.
A topic Thomas said, despite how well golfers in the PGA tour are playing, they cant avoid talking about.
“I mean you go stand on the putting green and people are talking about it, whether it’s caddies, players, I mean everyone is talking about it,” said Thomas.
However, with the first round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs teeing off Thursday morning, Mcilroy and Thomas are hoping to set their sites on the race to become the next the FedEx Cup Champion.
“This is obviously a different venue for the first week of the playoffs but a venue that we’re all sort of familiar with and I think it’s going to be a really good week,” said McIlroy.