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FedEx trophy motives Rory McIlroy more than $10m

Thursday 24 September 2015 16:40, UK

LAKE FOREST, IL - SEPTEMBER 20: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the fourth tee during the Final Round of the BMW Championship at Conw
Image: Rory McIlroy values winning the FedExCup more than the $10m jackpot

Rory McIlroy has said he does not care about the $10m bonus that could come with victory at the Tour Championship.

The 26-year-old, whose season has been interrupted by injury, just wants to get back to winning and is more motivated by adding the FedExCup to his list of trophies.

"Luckily, that amount of money doesn't sort of mean much to me anymore," said McIlroy on the eve of the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta that caps the FedExCup playoffs and awards the bonus to the points leader.

"It will go in the bank and if I want to buy something nice, I will. I mean, like, it's nice to think that you could win $10m this week, but that's not what excites me.

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Tim Barter is joined by Wayne Riley to look ahead to the 2015 Tour Championship

"It excites me to play well and to try and win. And the FedExCup is... one of the only things that I haven't put on my golf CV and that would be more exciting to do that rather than walk away with a cheque."

The young Northern Irishman has already won financial security for generations of family to come.

LAKE FOREST, IL - SEPTEMBER 20: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland prepares to play his shot from the first tee during the Final Round of the BMW Championsh
Image: McIlroy can pocket the $10m if he wins the Tour Championship and other results go his way

In 2013, McIlroy signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Nike Golf worth a reported $200m, and he's earned more than $28m in his PGA Tour career, not counting tens of millions more from European Tour earnings and more still from other endorsements.

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However, the 26-year-old Northern Irishman regrets the loss of a chunk of his year after he injured his ankle playing football with friends.

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McIlroy said he had learned some lessons from 2015, including that he should avoid putting extra pressure on himself as he believes he did when he was trying to extend his run to three majors in a row at the Masters in April.

"I'll still work as hard as ever in trying to get prepared and trying to get my shape in the best place possible to play those (major) tournaments, but not work at it for the reason of 'I can make history here'.

Rory McIlroy posted an image of his injury on Instagram
Image: Rory McIlroy posted an image of his ankle injury suffered in July on Instagram

"There was just this expectation of and knowing what was at stake, what could happen, instead of just going out and playing and trying not to think about all that stuff."

There is another lesson McIlroy said he learned.

"Don't play football in the middle of the season."

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