This week the PGA Tour returns to the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral. Doral, which was last seen hosting a World Golf Championship (WGC) event a decade ago, regularly featured the world’s best players in limited-field, no-cut events.
Sound familiar?
The 2026 Cadillac Championship is being touted as a signature event (basically the modern-day equivalent of the WGC, but with a few differences). However, not all of the best players on the PGA Tour will be in attendance. In fact, five of the top 15 players in the Official World Golf Ranking chose not to tee up, citing busy schedules at this time of year. Patrick Cantlay also missed the game due to illness.
Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludwig Oberg and Robert McIntyre were not among the candidates when the list was released last Friday. Instead, they will head to the second major championship of the season, the PGA Championship. another The signature event, the Turist Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
Will there be one player who won’t participate? Scottie Scheffler, the man who won the Wanamaker Trophy on that golf course a season ago, beating out the rest of the golf world. The world No. 1 learned from his past experiences with hectic schedules and realized that his chances of winning a marquee event were tiny compared to proper preparation for a major.
“Having three of our biggest events in a row means it depends on the time of year, but if this was a different time of year, I’d probably be performing at all three,” Scheffler said. “But when it comes to the last major championship, I think it creates a different kind of, a different rhythm.
“Major championships are just the hardest events. If you look at the courses we’re playing in our signature events now, I think a few years ago, for example, we did Jack’s Place and the U.S. Open back to back. Physically and mentally, to do that two weeks in a row. I don’t think it’s possible. I won the Memorial, and I was whipped to go to the U.S. Open. So, that’s how I’ve adjusted my schedule. …Mentally, it’s a lot more comfortable, just the amount of people that are there. ”
Just as McIlroy won’t be in Miami this week, Scheffler won’t be in Charlotte either. A few weeks ago, Scheffler was in Hilton Head, South Carolina, but again without McIlroy. Instead, the six-time major champion took a week off after successfully defending his title at Augusta National.
Who could blame him?
This leaves the PGA Tour in a strange predicament caused entirely by its own actions. By canceling play at Sentry at the beginning of the year (although the golf course was playable, it was a convenient excuse for the PGA Tour) and adding another marquee event where the Mexico Open (now the fall event) was once held, the organization watered down the essence of its original signature event format, which pitted the PGA Tour’s best players against each other in the same tournament.
“Seeing this time coming up, I think we certainly had to give up something,” Justin Rose said. “For me, it felt like I ultimately knew what happened after RBC (Heritage), especially Augusta. Obviously the PGA Championship was behind those three events, and I knew what was going to happen and what big events were going to happen. Personally, I feel like I needed that extra week after the Masters to recover for this big event.”
“If you have to miss out on a great event in preparation for another great event, it’s not ideal. I think obviously this event was a late addition to the advanced event structure that we had. This is obviously a new edition, so it had to fit somewhere.”
This problem is probably this year’s problem. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolup and the Future Competitions Committee are allocating this section of the calendar knowing that the most prominent players are actively choosing to sit out the most important events for major tournaments that the PGA Tour does not own or operate.
You don’t have to be a gastroenterologist to know that doesn’t sit well in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
“I’m sure there will be a group of athletes and people, called a competition committee, that will look at best practices going forward,” Rose continued. “So I think there’s been a lot of talk about the schedule for next year, the year after, whatever it is. I’m sure this period will be refined.”
