After 10 years away, PGA Tour makes happy return to Doral
The PGA Tour is back at Doral this week, bringing elite men’s golf to one of South Florida’s most recognizable courses for the first time in a decade.
The Cadillac Championship begins Thursday at Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster, bringing the PGA back to the property after its long run there ended in 2016. The new event is one of the PGA’s eight Signature Events and features a 72-player field.
For tournament organizers, the reintroduction was not simply a matter of putting Doral back on the schedule. It meant building a modern PGA event in a short window while trying to make it feel connected to the course’s history and the broader South Florida market.
“We only had about six months to pull this off,” Dave Mack, executive director of the Cadillac Championship, said. “It was a collective and collaborative effort.”
Mack said organizers were working from “a blank canvas,” balancing the challenge of getting the course up to PGA Tour standards while also lining up sponsors, hospitality buyers, food-and-beverage vendors and even local influencers to help promote the event.
That quick turnaround helps explain why this week feels significant beyond the field itself. Mack said Miami was “starved for professional golf” and described the city as a major market the PGA wanted to re-enter. Tevent also comes with Cadillac back as title sponsor, reconnecting the tournament with a familiar name from Doral’s earlier PGA TOUR era.
Part of that return involved months of work on the course itself. The PGA’s senior vice president of agronomy, Paul Vermeulen said tournament preparation is both science and experience, with the science rooted in building an agronomic plan months in advance and the experience taking over once weather and tournament-week conditions begin to shift. For Doral, he said the PGA was engaged about seven months out and worked with the club’s staff and grounds crew on an almost monthly basis.
South Florida’s climate gives that work a head start. Vermeulen said Bermuda grass can be grown in Doral nearly year-round, allowing the course to be prepared over a much longer stretch than venues in colder climates. When asked what he most wants to hear from players when they arrive, Vermeulen said that all he wants them to feel is that the course is “ready for competition.”
From the player’s perspective, the Blue Monster is expected to offer a test that can shift quickly depending on the weather, especially the wind. Justin Rose, who won at Doral in 2012, said the course was playing well Tuesday and described the rough as “in the fair department,” but added that the challenge rises as conditions toughen. “Incrementally this course gets harder and harder,” Rose said, pointing to gusty wind as a major factor.
No hole drew more attention Tuesday than the par-4 18th, widely regarded as one of the course’s toughest tests. Rose said it is a hole that requires players to manage risk from tee to green and, in its toughest wind, “stand up and make two great swings.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler offered a similar read, noting that the hole changes dramatically depending on wind direction. Into the wind, he said, the landing area narrows sharply, and the approach can jump from wedge to 4-iron. “Any way you want to look at it, it’s pretty hard.”
Jason Day offered a slightly different blueprint for the closing stretch. He described Doral as a “very Florida-type golf course where there’s always water lurking somewhere,” and pointed to Nos. 15 and 16 as places where players might be able to make a birdie before having to “hold on tight” through 17 and 18.
The return also hits differently for veterans who remember what Doral used to be on the PGA calendar. The old World Golf Championships event left after 2016, when Cadillac exited as title sponsor and the tournament moved to Mexico City, a shift that also unfolded as Trump’s presidential campaign made the property a more politically charged setting.
Adam Scott, who won the last Cadillac Championship played at Doral in 2016, is one of the players who can feel both sides of that gap. Back then, Scott was 35 and still in what he described as his prime. Now 45, Scott said the game has become more demanding, in part because of how many more younger players can contend. “Maybe the good vibes here from 10 years ago will help me this week,” Scott said. “It’s definitely getting tougher out there.”
The setting offers reminders of how different this week looks from the last time the PGA played here. About a week before the tournament, a large gold statue of President Donald Trump with his right fist raised was installed near the course promenade. During the last two days, many visitors have stopped to take photos and pose beside it.
Organizers are also trying to make the week feel like more than a tournament inside the ropes. Mack said they wanted “something for everybody,” from families and golf fans to people who simply enjoy major events in Miami. Among the on-site features are free admission for children 15 and under with an accompanying adult, a kids zone with activities, a kids autograph area and a University of Miami themed viewing bleacher.
They also wanted the property to feel tied to the surrounding community. Mack said the tournament leaned into South Florida by bringing in recognizable Miami brands, including Miami Slice, Sergio’s Cuban American Kitchen, Latin Fixins and Regatta Grove. He also pointed to Doral’s large Venezuelan population and said organizers hoped the community would rally around Jhonattan Vegas, the lone Venezuelan in the field.
That effort extends to the fan shop, where local businesses are part of the retail mix, as well. Carey Jones, vice president of sales for Marie Birdie, a female-owned golf activewear brand designed for tweens, teens and women, called the event “an exciting opportunity,” adding that the company’s local base, Colombian design roots and Venezuelan staff make the tournament a natural fit.
Jones said the brand’s foundation is to support girls and women in the game. “It is to support the girls because if they feel confident in what they’re wearing, they usually perform better out on the course,” she said. “That’s our whole foundation.”
This week is trying to do several things at once: reintroduce Doral as a PGA venue, stage a Signature Event with a strong field and present an experience that feels unmistakably tied to South Florida.
By Thursday morning, the planning, preparation and promotion will give way to competition. What remains to be seen is how much the Blue Monster shapes the week and who leaves Doral with the winner’s share of the $20 million purse. The opening group of Patrick Rodgers and Matt Wallace is scheduled to tee off at 8:40 a.m., while the marquee group of Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young is set for 10:15 a.m. on ESPN+.
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 2:50 PM.