Rory McIlroy unmotivated by FedEx millions

• Rory McIlroy unmotivated by the $11.48m on offer at East Lake
• The four-time major winner just wants to win to add to his CV
• Reveals he hasn’t cared about money earned for a while now

Ranked No.12 in Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paid athletes, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy doesn’t really care about the $11.48m on offer at the Tour Championship this week.

Instead, the 26-year-old is focusing solely on winning the tournament and getting somewhere back towards his best after highlighting a ‘disappointing’ season which, despite winning three times, has been overshadowed by the exceptional performances of both Jordan Spieth and Jason Day in 2015.

“That’s not what excites me” – Rory McIlroy

“Luckily, that amount of money doesn’t sort of mean much to me anymore,” said Rory McIlroy, whose FedEx Cup chances aren’t in his own hands due to be ranked No.11 heading into East Lake. “It’s nice to think that you could win $10m this week, but that’s not what excites me.

“It excites me to play well and to try and win. The FedEx Cup is something I haven’t put on my golf CV and that would be more exciting to do that rather than walk away with a cheque.”

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But when did McIlroy, who has more than $28m in career earnings on the PGA Tour, stop caring about the money? Well, the last time was certainly January 2013 when, as a two-time major winner, he signed his $250m ten-year deal with Nike.

“I could say January 2013, for obvious reasons, but probably before that,” he said. “We’re playing for over a million dollars every week. We’re in such a fortunate position and I think everyone on Tour realises that.

“I remember I wanted this watch. After the Dunhill Links in 2007, which is one of the bigger prize funds on the European Tour, I went to get money out of the ATM the week after and the cheque had obviously been put in and I wanted to check my balance and it was like £220,000.

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“It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I had just been a pro three or four weeks, I was 18 and most of my friends were just trying to scrape together what they could to go for a night out in university or whatever it was. I just saw this amount of money and I was like, yes, I’m going to get this watch.”

Rory McIlroy tees off alongside Justin Rose at 1.10pm local time .

How Rory can win the FedEx Cup:

• MUST win the Tour Championship then…
• Jason Day must finish T6 or worse;
• Jordan Spieth must finish T4 or worse,
• Rickie Fowler must finish T3 or worse,
• Henrik Stenson must finish in a three-way tie for second or worse,
• Bubba Watson must finish T2 or worse.

Rory McIlroy :: Can he win the FedEx Cup?

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