McIlroy Among Notable Stars Skipping PGA Tour’s Trump Doral Return

As the PGA Tour returns to Trump National Doral after a decade-long break from playing at the historic course, some notable big names are missing from this week’s field.

Back-to-back Masters champion Rory McIlroy will be absent, and five of the top 15-ranked players in the Official World Golf Rankings, and three of the top 10, won’t be teeing it up at the Cadillac Championship, which begins Thursday and is one of eight $20 million signature events on the PGA Tour’s 2026 schedule.

Here’s who will be sitting this one out:

• Rory McIlroy (No. 2)
• Matt Fitzpatrick (No. 3)
• Xander Schauffele (No. 9)
• Robert MacIntyre (No. 12)
• Ludvig Aberg (No. 14)

As a signature event, the Cadillac Championship has a limited field of just 72 players, and no 36-hole cut, meaning all players are guaranteed to receive at least some prize money, ranging from $3.6 million for the winner to $36,000 for last place.

This marks the largest absence of top players at a signature event so far this year.

The RBC Heritage earlier this month was missing three of the top 15-ranked players, including McIlroy, Justin Rose, and Hideki Matsuyama. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational each had just one top 15 player missing, but all players inside the top 10.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational in March had the entire top 15.

Crowded Calendar

The contingent of stars sitting out this week is not too surprising, since the Cadillac Championship is the first of a busy, high-stakes three-week stretch on the PGA Tour.

Next week is the Truist Championship in Charlotte—also a signature event—followed by the second major championship of the year, the PGA Championship in Philadelphia starting on May 14.

While McIlroy isn’t in the field this week, he is expected to play next week in Charlotte, where he has won four previous times. However, No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler is expected to skip the Truist Championship as he’s committed to playing the week following the PGA Championship at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas, where he’ll defend his 2025 tournament title.

The Cadillac Championship is a new event this year, taking the spot on the calendar previously held by the Mexico Open.

Trump’s PGA Tour Return

The PGA Tour last played at Doral in 2016, when Trump’s South Florida course hosted the WGC-Cadillac Championship, which was part of a series of the former World Golf Championships that offered elevated purses for elite player fields (the WGCs ceased operations after 2021).