Rory McIlroy snubbed from prestigious New Year Honors list in ‘most surprising omission’

Rory McIlroy couldn’t win them all this year.

The Irish golf star was “the most surprising omission” on Britain’s New Year Honors list after an intervention by tax officials, according to The Daily Telegraph.

There were no other details about why McIlroy — who took home the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2025 award after completing his career Grand Slam with a Masters win in April — was snubbed, with the outlet saying the exact nature of the dispute is unclear.

A spokesman for McIlroy did not respond to The Telegraph’s requests for comment.

The Cabinet Office and HMRC (the department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes), which oversees the nomination and voting process, both declined to comment to The Telegraph.

HMRC will vet nominees to determine if there are any “red flags” or reasons an individual should not be honored, according to The Telegraph, which added that the final list is sent to the Prime Minister for approval before the award is presented by the King Charles.

The list honors well-known personalities, as well as regular citizens, who have served their community.

Several members of England’s women’s national soccer team were honored after winning back-to-back UEFA Women’s Championships.

Actor Idris Elba received knighthood as part of this year’s honors, as did 1984 gold-medal winning ice skaters Jayne Torvill (damehood) and Christopher Dean.

In 2015, HMRC launched an investigation into whether investments made by McIlroy and 183 others had unfairly avoided tax by exploiting the Business Premises Renovation Allowance program, under which investors could claim up to 100 percent tax relief on expenditure.

McIlroy had invested in a plan to regenerate parts of Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield.

HMRC found no illegal activity.

McIlroy has yet to publicly address his omission from the New Years Honors list — which includes 1,157 people.

In 2025, he won the Irish Open for a second time, as well as the Players Championship and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

McIlroy completed a career Grand Slam with his fifth career major at Augusta National with his wife, Erica Stoll, and daughter, Poppy, 5, in attendance.

The 36-year-old Northern Irishman defeated Justin Rose in an up-and-down playoff after they both finished at 11-under through 72 holes.

McIlroy is only the sixth golfer to win all four golf majors, and the first since Tiger Woods accomplished the feat in 2000.

In September, he helped Team Europe to a 15-13 victory over Team USA in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, where he and his wife were mercilessly taunted by the rowdy crowd.

Stoll was struck by a beverage thrown by an American fan on Saturday of the competition as the Europeans held a huge lead.