Rory McIlroy has finally addressed his withdrawal from last month's RBC Heritage, with the Northern Irishman facing a costly £2.4 million sanction.
April was a month to forget for McIlroy, after the four-time major champion missed the 36-hole cut at the Masters after heading into the week as tournament favourite. On the back of his Augusta nightmare, the Northern Irishman's withdrawal from the RBC Heritage was then confirmed just days later.
His decision to pull out was a controversial one, with the week at Harbour Town McIlroy's second missed elevated event of the season, breaking one of the PGA Tour's golden rules.
The punishment was losing a huge chunk of his 2022 Player Impact Programme (PIP) bonus, however the sanction is yet to have been confirmed by McIlroy or the PGA Tour. Amid what it says in the rule book, the Northern Irishman has finally broken his silence and has revealed he understood the consequences when making the withdrawal.
Per the Miami Herald, he said: "I knew the consequences that could come with missing one of those [elevated events]. It was an easy decision. It was worth that for me to get some other things in place. I had my reasons to not play Hilton Head and I've expressed those to Jay [Monahan].
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"Whether he thinks that's enough to warrant – again I understood the consequences of that decision before I did it. So whatever happens, happens." McIlroy has since addressed these reasons at this week's Wells Fargo Championship, citing the importance of his 'mental and emotional well-being'.
He told Golf Channel: "More for my mental and emotional well-being I needed to be at home for those few weeks. I think I'm in a better head space than I was. I needed a break for me. Obviously, after the disappointment of Augusta, and it's been a pretty taxing 12 months mentally, so it was nice to just try to disconnect and get away from it."
"It's nice to come back and feel refreshed," he went on. "You know, that run-up to Augusta is always a stressful enough couple of weeks trying making sure everything's in the right order and making sure your game's in good shape.
"I think for me it was a nice reset because I still had to realise that there's three more majors this year, there's a ton left to play for." McIlroy's week will begim on Thursday, when he kicks off his first round alongside fellow Brit Matt Fitzpatrick and former world No. 1 Jason Day at 12:34pm (BST).
