Rory McIlroy withdraws from the upcoming 2023 RBC Heritage

After a brutal run at the Masters in which he failed to even make the cut, Rory McIlroy has pulled out of the RBC Heritage this year. The world number three golfer won't compete in the upcoming PGA Tour event.

After a tough run, which included a failure to make the cut at the Players Championship, McIlroy is opting out.

McIlroy has been struggling of late as he's plummeted from first to third on the OWGR leaderboard and is now closer to Patrick Cantlay in fourth than he is to Scottie Scheffler (second) and Jon Rahm (first) above him.

Withdrawals don't need to be replaced for the RBC Heritage at this time, so no one will be taking his spot. The field was at 146 to begin with and has now dropped to 143. If it goes below 132, then the tournament will begin taking replacements.

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Rory McIlroy's on-field interviews confused Nick Faldo at the Masters

Before he was below the cut line, Rory McIlroy wasn't playing all that well. A new change to the 2023 Masters meant that there could be mid-round interviews. McIlroy made history as he became the first golfer to be mic'd up during a round at the Masters.

After a rough shot, McIlroy was asked about it via Golf.com:

“I think just in the back of my mind — obviously you don’t want to go long on this pin. I just eased off of it. Probably pitched it five or six yards shorter than I wanted to. So I at least got that putt up the hill, hopefully have a decent look at it. If I don’t hole it, then get it around the hole, you know start the back nine afresh.”

Former professional golfer Nick Faldo couldn't believe McIlroy and others agreed to do the interview. He stated:

“I was quite shocked that Rory and Max put those AirPod things in and did a running commentary. This is the Masters and we’ve been talking so much about how Rory said he was physically and technically in the right place — all it was was mental. I bet [McIlroy’s sports psychologist] Bob Rotella didn’t say ‘Oh, tell the world what you’re doing'."

Rory McIlroy struggled at the Masters

Faldo believes it negatively affected the golfer en route to a cut. He claimed:

“I don’t honestly get that. This golf course, this tournament, is the most wonderful one because it’s just you and your caddie inside the ropes — there’s no still photographers allowed in — so you just do your own thing. And I would have thought for Rory to get off to a better start than he did just do your own thing, get in your own little world and don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Keep it a secret.”

Despite the potential distraction, Rory McIlroy later said the interviews weren't bad. McIlroy said:

“It definitely feels a little less intrusive with the earpiece rather than someone right up next to you with the microphone like they’ve been doing it in Europe for a couple of years. I was wondering what they were going to ask me more so that what I was going to say.”

McIlroy hasn't commented on whether the interviews impacted his overall performance.