Jack Nicklaus has admitted he was surprised that Rory McIlroy decided to skip his Memorial Tournament for the first time since 2017.
The recent Masters champion admitted late last year that he would be cutting his schedule down in 2025, and one of the events to fall is Nicklaus' event at Muirfield Village in Ohio.
It is the third big $20m Signature Event skipped by McIlroy this year after he also missed The Sentry and RBC Heritage.
Nicklaus, who is on hosting duties this week in Dublin, on the outskirts of Columbus, was asked about McIlroy's surprise omission ahead of the event beginning on Thursday. He was surprised but very respectful of the World No.2's decision.
"I didn't have a conversation with him, no," the golfing legend said, before saying it surprised him "a little bit."
"I was sort of aware of it about the middle of last week," Nicklaus continued.
"Yeah, it surprised me. But, you know, guys have got schedules and got things they do. And, you know, I haven't talked to him for him to tell me why or why not.
"It's just his call. I made a lot of calls that I had to make when I played to play or not play, and sometimes it wasn't as popular as people thought it was.
"But, you know, sometimes you have to make those calls. I don't hold anything against Rory for that. He did what he likes to play. I know he likes to play so many in a row. He likes to play the week before a US Open.
"And so he, that's what he's doing. So, you know, I really don't have a comment on it.
" It's very difficult, very difficult. I mean, I'm a big Rory fan, I always have been. I'm sure that I will remain that way.
"I just, I was a little surprised, yes."
'I don't think anybody's won by having four double bogeys'
Nicklaus predicted a McIlroy Masters win last month after hitting his ceremonial honorary tee shot at Augusta, and he gave a hint of what letter he wrote to the Northern Irishman after he finally slipped on the Green Jacket.
"After the Masters, I dropped him a note, and I told him, 'I don't think anybody's won by having four double bogeys.' And I said, 'But that just showed me how much talent you have to overcome that to win and how you played some unbelievably spectacular shots', such as the iron at 7 that he hit over the tree that actually hit the tree," he said.
"The phenomenal iron he hit at 15, the shot he hit at 17. Then, of course, to miss that little short putt at 18 on a pitch-out on his second shot with a wedge, which was not very good.
"But he played some bad shots. The shot he hit at 13, I can't believe. But anyway, you know, I was very happy for him.
"It was a great win, and it got the monkey off his back. And to me, the monkey was not the Grand Slam.
"The monkey was the Masters. Now, the Grand Slam was a product of winning the Masters. If you ask him which was more important, I think he would have to say the Masters. That's because it was."
It's a 30-year tradition of Nicklaus to write letters to Major Championship winners after legends like Bobby Jones wrote letters congratulating him on some of his big wins during his career.
"I don't know how long I've done it, but I've written every Major Championship winner for as long as I can remember," he revealed.
"I sit down and did a handwritten note to every one of them, ever since I can remember.
"I got quite a few letters when I won tournaments from Bobby Jones and people like that. And I just thought that I appreciated it, and I thought that they might appreciate it.
"I just saw Scottie in the locker room, I said, 'Have you gotten my letter yet?' He says, 'No, I haven't been home, but I'll get it.'
"I wrote Rory after, I said, right after the Masters the same thing. But I don't think I've, I don't think I missed anybody for 30 years anyway. I can't remember how long I've been doing it."
