Rory McIlroy is taking an expensive vacation this week. 

The Northern Irishman will lose $3 million from the PGA Tour for skipping out on the RBC Heritage tournament, which began Thursday in Hilton Head Island, S.C. 

The Tour is docking one-quarter of McIlroy’s annual payout from their Player Impact Program for his withdrawal since the RBC Heritage is one of the tour’s new “designated events.” 

McIlroy already skipped the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first designated event of the year, and players are only allowed to withdraw from one unless they have a medical reason. 

The RBC Heritage is in an awkward spot on the PGA Tour schedule, one week after the Masters, the most prestigious tournament in golf.

Traditionally, many of the top players have skipped the RBC to recharge after the Masters. 

McIlroy had a particularly tough Masters, missing the cut at 4-over.The future World Golf Hall of Famer has won all three of the other majors, only needing a win at Augusta National to complete the career Grand Slam.

McIlroy certainly appeared to be feeling the pressure on Thursday and Friday of the Masters, and he missed the cut for just the third time in 15 attempts. 

Perhaps he felt he needed a mental health break. 

It’s also fair to say that McIlroy, ranked No. 3 in the world and one of the most famous athletes in general, doesn’t need the money. 

Still, he has been one of the major advocates for increasing purse sizes at PGA Tour events amid the LIV Golf schism, and the increased number of elevated events, for which purse sizes are all around $20 million, are a direct result of that. 

Including the majors and the playoff events at the end of the season, the RBC Heritage is the eighth designated event on the PGA schedule out of 17 total. 

One would imagine McIlroy won’t be skipping any more of them.