Patrick Cantlay withdrew from the Cadillac Championship on Tuesday, just hours before the $20 million tournament was due to begin at Trump National Doral. The PGA Tour gave no reason for the move.
Tour official communication accounts posted: “Patrick Cantlay WD, Michael Thorbjornsen- IN.” Thorbjornsen replaced Cantlay in the field as the event got set to start.
The withdrawal came after Cantlay had put together a strong run this season, finishing tied for seventh at the Valspar, tied for 12th at the Masters and tied for eighth at the RBC Heritage. He had also previously missed significant time early in his career because of a chronic back issue, and he sat out a PGA Tour event earlier this season with an undisclosed disc problem.
Cantlay had declined to comment when asked about the RBC Heritage schedule, saying, “I’m not sure where we’re going to end up on all that. I’m not going to comment on it at this time,” and he had not posted publicly on Tuesday. The absence adds another notable name to a week already thinned by opt-outs from Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele and Ludwig Aberg before play began.
The timing also lands in the middle of a crowded run on the schedule, with players vocal about the grueling six-week stretch between the Masters and the PGA Championship and a slate that stacks the RBC Heritage, Zurich Classic, Cadillac Championship and Truist Championship back-to-back with little recovery time. Cantlay, a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, leaves the event as that debate over workload and scheduling keeps growing louder.
