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Jack Nicklaus won’t be seeing Rory McIlroy at Muirfield Village Golf Club this year, and though the Masters champion’s decision took him by surprise, he doesn’t begrudge him for taking the week off.

McIlroy elected to sit out the Memorial Tournament this year and is in the field for next week’s RBC Canadian Open instead.

The Northern Irishman prefers to play the week before a major championship, and the Memorial and Canadian flipped places on the calendar this year, so that the former could be right on the heels of Memorial Day as it used to be and the latter can lead directly into the U.S. Open.

Nicklaus, speaking with reporters Tuesday in Dublin, Ohio, said he didn’t have a conversation with McIlroy about his choice to skip the Memorial and he found out in the middle of last week.

“Yeah, it surprised me. But, you know, guys have got schedules and got things they do,” said Nicklaus, 85. “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 U.S. 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.”

McIlroy was the toast of the golfing world when he completed the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters last month. He earned his first green jacket and fifth career major in dramatic fashion, overcoming two double bogeys in the first round and two more on Sunday before beating Englishman Justin Rose in a playoff.

“After the Masters, I dropped him a note, and I told him, ‘I don’t think anybody’s won by having four double bogeys,'” Nicklaus cracked. “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. 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 (leading to a double bogey), I can’t believe.”

Nicklaus said he was very happy to see McIlroy get “the monkey off his back” and win his first major since 2014.

Nicklaus, of course, holds more major titles than any player in history with 18. And the letter he wrote to McIlroy was not a one-off decision, but part of an ongoing tradition.

“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,” Nicklaus said. “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.”

Nicklaus was also asked about the larger relationship dynamics between professional golfers and the media who cover them. Most recently, McIlroy did not speak to reporters after any round of the PGA Championship, where he tied for 47th.

“I’m not going to talk for Rory or anybody else, I’ll talk for myself,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve always felt that you guys have a job to do — and gals — and for you to do your job, you need to talk to me. And whether I played well or whether I played poorly, if you still want to talk to me, I’ll talk to you. And I always have.”

–Field Level Media