PGA Tour golfer makes honest admission after Rory McIlroy skips another $20m signature event

PGA Tour golfer Michael Kim appeared to indicate he was perhaps a tad jealous of Masters champion Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman opted to sit out another signature event. 

The PGA Tour released the full field for the inaugural Cadillac Championship on Friday evening. 

The $20m signature event - the sixth of the campaign - will see the North American circuit return to Trump National Doral's famed Blue Monster course for the first time in a decade. 

A star-studded 72-man field has been confirmed and will be headlined by world number one Scottie Scheffler. 

But McIlroy was a notable absentee and it is the second consecutive signature event he has decided to skip following last week's RBC Heritage at Hilton Head. 

"I hope to get to a point where I decide to skip a signature event even when healthy," Kim wrote on X on Friday evening when the field was announced. 

It's more than likely Kim's comment was in reference to McIlroy's decision not to play. 

Why McIlroy's absence is making headlines

Rory McIlroy lobbied for the creation of the lucrative events back in 2022 at the height of the PGA Tour's battle with the lucrative LIV Golf League. 

In August 2022, during the BMW Championship, approximately 20 of the top players on the PGA Tour met for a closed-door meeting. 

Tiger Woods, who wasn't playing due to injury, flew in specifically to attend the meeting. 

In an attempt to fight back against the PIF-backed breakaway, the players agreed that their best approach was to play together more often in a series of limited-field, bumper prize purse events. 

Previously labelled elevated events, it was once mandatory for the top players to take part. 

Golfers were able to opt out of one per season but the rules have since been relaxed. 

McIlroy has since skipped multiple of the signature events and his decision to sit out the inaugural Cadillac Championship is just the latest example of the two-time Masters champion attempting to limit his schedule. 

PGA Tour returns to Blue Monster

The Blue Monster at Trump National Doral was previously visited on the PGA Tour for more than five decades. 

The venue previously hosted professional golf for more than five decades, first as the Doral Open from 1962 to 2006, and later as the WGC-Cadillac Championship from 2007 to 2016.

During that era, Tiger Woods dominated at the venue with four victories. 

McIlroy himself has a memorable if chaotic history there. As a 25-year-old in 2015, he famously threw a 3-iron into a lake after a frustrated approach shot during the second round.

Although McIlroy never won at Doral on the PGA Tour, McIlroy did claim the Doral Junior Publix World Under-10 title as a nine-year-old.

McIlroy has repeatedly stated that he intends to reduce his playing schedule moving forwards, in order to prioritise family life with his wife Erica and daughter Poppy, while also carefully managing his build-up to the season’s four majors.

The Cadillac Championship has a total prize purse of $20m, with $3.6m awarded to the winner. 

Other notable PGA Tour stars who aren't playing include Xander Schauffele, the in-form Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg and Robert MacIntyre.