$10 million FedEx Cup bonus ‘doesn’t mean much’ to Rory McIlroy anymore

The $10 million bonus that goes to the winner of the FedEx Cup may tantalize golf fans tuning in to watch Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and the 26 other golfers going at it this week in the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship. But the jackpot that still seems a rather tidy sum to most folks is not what stokes the competitive fires of the guys teeing it up at East Lake.

While Jason Day said he might update his wardrobe should he prevail come Sunday night, McIlroy was underwhelmed by the possibility of padding his bank account.

“Luckily, that amount of money doesn’t sort of mean much to me anymore,” McIlroy told reporters on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s start to the fourth and final FedEx Cup playoff game of the 2015 campaign.

“It will go in the bank and if I want to buy something nice, I will,” said McIlroy, who enters the week at No. 11 in the standings. “I mean like it’s nice to think that you could win $10 million this week, but that’s not what excites me. 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 (resume) and that would be more exciting to do that rather than walk away with a check.”

If McIlroy seemed rather blasé about the financial spoils up for grabs, it’s because he made a reported $200 million from a multi-year endorsement contract he signed with Nike in 2013. Add another $28 million or so that he has earned on the PGA Tour, as well as whatever pocket change he’s picked up on the European Tour, and the 26-year-old former world No. 1 is fixed for life -- and then some.

It was not always that way for the kid from Northern Ireland, who hearkened back to 2007, when he was new to the professional ranks and money had more meaning.

“I remember I wanted this watch,” McIlroy said about the year he turned pro and finished third at the Dunhill Links Championship.

He noticed a healthy balance in his account and went straight to the store and bought the watch.

“It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said McIlroy, who noted how lucky he and his peers were. “We’re playing for over a million dollars every week. We’re in such a fortunate position and I think everyone on tour realizes that.

“The majority of the guys that are out here know that their kids will be okay, their kids can go to college, their kids will probably be okay, as well,” he added. “So to be able to set up the next couple of generations of your family for a nice life, it’s very fortunate and very privileged that we’re able to do that.”

As for Day, the top seed in FedEx Cup points and world rankings who could conceivably win the whole thing by finishing as low as 29th, he really had not given much consideration to how he would spend his new-found wealth.

“I might buy a few more V-necks from Target,” he said. “I don’t really spend money, mate. I have some nice stuff. I might buy some new clothes because I’ve still got clothes in there that are five years old that I still wear today.

“I’m a very simple man,” added Day, who acknowledged the weight of the riches awaiting the winner did occur to him.

“Of course it would pop into my brain. It did in 2011 and I choked,” he said about his T6 finish that year. “But, it’s a good position to be in. It’s good pressure to have.”