Rory McIlroy has now pulled out of five PGA Tour signature events since the beginning of last year after withdrawing from this week’s Cadillac Championship. Donald Trump remarked following his second Masters victory about his keenness to see the Green Jacket holder compete at Trump National Doral.
McIlroy also withdrew from the Memorial Tournament last year for the first time since 2017. Claiming victory at the event Jack Nicklaus hosts earns players £2.9m, with Scottie Scheffler topping the standings the past two years — McIlroy never has.
The other signature event he skipped last year was the Sentry, which turned out to be its final edition before being scrapped in 2025. Hideki Matsuyama secured the £2.7m prize that McIlroy chose to pass up. That brings the total of potential signature-event winnings he opted against pursuing to £13.7m.
His absences have not gone unnoticed on Tour either. Michael Kim said on Friday: “I hope to get to a point where I decide to skip a signature event even when healthy.” That post on X appeared to acknowledge that the Masters champion had missed yet another event. He made another comment in response to GOLF.com writer Sean Zak describing McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler missing three signature events between the Masters and PGA Championship as “one problem the PGA Tour needs to solve”.
Kim wrote on the social media platform: “It’s OK. Scottie is just skipping Truist to play the two DFW events.” Kim seemingly pointed to Scheffler’s involvement in two Dallas-Fort Worth events as justification for his absence from the forthcoming Truist Championship, which McIlroy is due to attend. The Byron Nelson and the Charles Schwab Challenge are both set to take place in Scheffler’s home state of Texas during the fortnight following the PGA Championship.
Yet McIlroy’s tournament absences should come as little shock. He stated back in January: “I think I need to show up at tournaments with enthusiasm every single time, so, playing in the places that I want to play, playing the tournaments I want to play, not feeling like I’m at a tournament because I’m obligated or have to be there, but because I want to be there.”
Then, at the Masters, he elaborated on his lengthy break before the major by saying: “I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event. I’d rather come up here. Like I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio.”