The Cadillac Championship brings the PGA Tour back to Doral, but several stars are skipping the Signature Event before the PGA Championship.
The PGA Tour wanted the 2026 Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral to feel like a modern World Golf Championship. Instead, its return to the Blue Monster is highlighting a growing schedule problem, per Patrick McDonald with CBSSports.
Doral is back as a $20 million Signature Event, bringing a limited-field, no-cut format to a course once known for regularly hosting the best players in golf.
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But this week’s field won’t have everyone. Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Åberg and Robert MacIntyre all skipped the event, while Patrick Cantlay withdrew because of illness.
The reason is simple ... the PGA Championship is coming, and players are choosing rest and preparation over another elite payday.
Scottie Scheffler is playing Doral, but he won’t play next week’s Truist Championship at Quail Hollow, where the PGA Championship follows. The world No. 1 said he learned from past scheduling mistakes.
“Having three of our biggest events in a row is, depending upon the time of year, if this was a different time of year, maybe I would play all three,” Scheffler said. “But when you have a major championship as the last one, I think that creates a different kind of cadence.”
Scheffler said the grind can be both physical and mental, pointing to how drained he felt after winning the Memorial before the U.S. Open.
Justin Rose echoed the same concern. He skipped the RBC Heritage after the Masters because he needed time to recover before another packed stretch.
“When you’re having to miss great events to prepare for other great events, it’s not ideal,” Rose said.
That’s the issue for the PGA Tour. Signature Events were created to put the biggest names together more often. But when too many premium tournaments are packed around majors, players are forced to choose.
McIlroy won’t be at Doral. Scheffler won’t be at Quail Hollow. Other stars are also picking their spots.
For one year, maybe the Tour can live with that. Long term, it undercuts the entire point of the elevated-event model.
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Rose expects changes are coming.
“I’m sure that this period of time will be refined,” he said.
It probably has to be. The PGA Tour built Signature Events to showcase its stars. Now it needs a calendar that doesn’t make them disappear.
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