Why are some big names skipping this week’s PGA Tour event?

If you’ve kept up with the PGA Tour’s ever-changing schedule changes over the past few years, you’re probably familiar enough to know the Signature Event means big money and plenty of big name players. And you’d be right, but if you look at this week’s Cadillac Championship field, you’ll notice that there are a few notable names missing.

Five of the world’s top 15 players are skipping this week’s tournament at Trump National Doral – the PGA Tour’s first time at the Blue Monster since 2016 – the most number of top players to miss the Signature Event in its short history.

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, No. 3 Matt Fitzpatrick, No. 9 Xander Schauffele, No. 12 Robert MacIntyre and No. 14 Ludvig Aberg are all sitting out this week.

So, what gives? The answer is simple.

After the Masters became the Signature Event at the RBC Heritage, it was followed by the Zurich Classic, this week’s Cadillac Championship and next week’s Truist Championship, which will lead into the PGA Championship at Aronimink outside Philadelphia. That means the first two majors of the year booked three Signature Events in four weeks.

During the last two years, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which is not a Signature Event, was played at this venue. But the Mexico Open, which was played in February two years ago, has fallen off the schedule this season. The Cadillac Championship took its place and was entered here.

“This year is a little different I think,” Adam Scott said Tuesday from Miami. “This is an extra event. This was not going to be the way. … I think we’re going to have to get through this year and hopefully the schedule will look a little more balanced next year.”

With the latest additions, this has been taxing, and weird golf – even for players who are paid millions to do this for a living. But each player has his own unique formula to reach the most important moments. Burnout is their biggest enemy. This part of the schedule forced others to get creative.

McIlroy is out because, well, he won the Masters, and now he’s taking a breather, just like he did last year. But he will probably be back next week where he has been very successful. Fitzpatrick is out after playing three weeks in a row – winning his last two events, the RBC Heritage and last week’s Zurich Classic.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the top seed this week but skips the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

Scheffler said he doesn’t like playing the week before a big game. In addition, he plays the church after the PGA, as he is the defending CJ Cup champion in Texas, where he lives.

“Having our three big events back to back, depending on the time of year, if this was a different time of year, I’d probably play all three,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “But when you have a tournament as big as the last one I think that creates a different kind of cadence to it. The big tournaments are the hardest events. If you look at the courses we play for our Signature Events now – I think it was a couple of years ago we did Jack’s Place (Muirfield Village) and the US Open in a row. I’m like, physically I can’t do this physically and mentally. And I was beaten coming into the US Open. the week before the big game it’s not wise to go out and beat myself up a bit maybe it’s better to stay at home and get ready for the tournament.

Scheffler also discussed the demands of a big week compared to a typical tournament week. He said, understandably, everything is being strengthened for weeks. There is a lot of activity on the site, a lot of followers and a lot of people shouting. Mental digestion is very powerful.

“Doing that day after day, week after week, when you do that many times in a row can be a challenge,” he said. “In order to perform and play at my best I have to have time off. That’s something I’ve learned as my career has progressed how important rest is to me and it’s not always about spending as much time as I can on the golf course preparing. It’s more about doing what I can in the time I’ve been given to prepare and compete at home and prepare to rest so my mind can rest so my body can rest.”

Justin Rose won at Blue Monster in 2012. This week is his first start since the Masters, where he led on the second nine on Sunday and finished in a tie for third.

“I look at this future and I think I have something to give, for sure. For me, it ended up being RBC, especially what happened after Augusta,” Rose said on Tuesday. “I felt like I knew what was coming, I knew there was a big series of events coming, obviously the PGA Championship is behind these three. For me personally, after the Masters, I feel like I needed that extra week to think and recover from this big series of events. So, yeah, when you have to miss big events to prepare for other big events it’s not good.

“It is obvious that this event was added after some time, I think it is the structure of the high event we had,” he continued. “Obviously this is a new program, so it had to fall somewhere. I’m sure there’s a group of players and people, the Competition Committee or whatever it’s called, looking at the best ways forward. So I’m sure there’s been a lot of talk about our program next year, the year after, whatever it is. I’m sure this season will be refined.”

As Rose said, this argument probably won’t last long. Next year’s schedule will correct the mistake — the Tour could favor its top players play Signature Events — and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has big ideas for the tour’s future schedule.

If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that we can’t adapt too much to this system and stay together.

“Like, if you all could go with me every day of the tournament and see what we have to do to play one week, I have to do that four weeks in a row, I wouldn’t be able to do my best,” said Scheffler. “So when I come to a tournament I want to be able to do my best and I have to organize my schedule in a certain way and, you know, the chips fall where they fall.”

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