Despite historic achievements in 2025, Rory McIlroy is absent from the New Year’s Honours List. A HMRC review is reportedly blocking his knighthood.
Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy was considered a favorite for a knighthood by King Charles III alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, also from England. However, all three golfers were left out this year. In 2025, McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam by winning the Masters, becoming the first European ever to do so. At the 2025 Ryder Cup, the 36-year-old also shone with Team Europe, securing the team’s first away victory since 2012 at Bethpage State Park near New York City.
Despite these achievements, McIlroy’s name did not appear among the 1,157 honorees on the New Year’s Honours List. The list is first reviewed by the Cabinet Office and then by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, before being submitted to the Prime Minister and the monarch. According to a report by the British newspaper The Telegraph, HMRC intervened, similar to when footballer David Beckham had to wait years for his knighthood due to tax issues.
Did Rory McIlroy Deliberately Avoid Tax Payments?
McIlroy, recently named Sportsman of the Year by the BBC, was involved in urban renewal projects in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Sheffield in 2013, which were considered legal tax reliefs by authorities. Later, HMRC determined these projects to be cases of tax avoidance and is currently investigating whether the program called the ‘Business Premises Renovation Allowance’ was exploited to deliberately evade tax payments. However, there is currently no evidence that McIlroy had any intention to avoid taxes deliberately.
Since HMRC has a say in knighthood decisions, such an investigation or suspicion can lead to refusal of the honor. Neither McIlroy nor the UK government have commented on the matter so far.