Rory McIlroy misses £2.6m chance after brutally snubbing Donald Trump | Golf | Sport
Rory McIlroy has chosen not to compete at the Cadillac Championship. The PGA Tour Signature Event is set to take place at Donald Trump’s Miami course, and the US president had expressed his desire to see the Northern Irishman participate.
Earlier this month, McIlroy made history by becoming only the fourth golfer to claim consecutive Masters titles. He fended off all rivals to defend his crown at Augusta National and pocket £3.3million. As he did 12 months ago, the 36-year-old has opted for a short break following his victory, giving the RBC Heritage last weekend and the Zurich Classic a miss. The Cadillac at Trump National Doral is next on the calendar, with the victor at this Florida event standing to collect £2.7m from the £15m prize fund.
However, McIlroy will not be challenging for that reward, having decided to bypass the tournament entirely. President Trump is unlikely to be pleased, having previously voiced his hopes of seeing McIlroy take on the Blue Monster course.
Following McIlroy’s successive Masters triumph, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to send a message to the golf star. He wrote: “Congratulations to Rory McIlroy on another Great Championship, The Masters!
“He performed tremendously under intense pressure, something which few people would be able to even think about doing. With each year, Rory is becoming more and more a LEGEND! I look forward to watching him compete in two weeks at Doral.”
However, McIlroy will not be teeing up at Doral, one of 16 golf venues owned by the president, with a further five set to be added to his portfolio shortly. The Cadillac Championship is one of the PGA Tour’s Signature Events, and this marks the second consecutive tournament of this calibre that McIlroy has chosen to sit out.
Having also skipped the RBC Heritage the previous week, the Tour previously imposed fines on players for missing such events, though McIlroy will face no such punishment on this occasion. McIlroy opted out of several of these events throughout 2025 and explained his thinking to The Guardian. He said: “You look at what Justin Rose has done.
“He is still competitive at 45 and I would like to think if I do the right things, pace myself and play the schedule that suits, not playing a ton of golf to stop me being burnt out every year, that I can get to that point as well. It’s a little bit more relaxed. I feel like I have done a really good job over the last five or six years of not living and dying by every shot or round.
“I don’t want to say the tour stuff is ‘less important’. But at the same time if I have 10 years left and I really want to prioritise the majors then the other tournaments are great to play in, you want to win them. It is just that every time I play in a PGA Tour event I have one eye on what I need to do for the next few weeks, leading into majors.”
