It’s the 2026 PGA Championship week. The best golfers in the world will be at Aronimink Golf Club to fight for the Wanamaker Trophy. However, some big names will be missing from the field this time around. We are here to talk about five of the most popular golfers who won’t be playing the second major of the season.
Tiger Woods
It’s been over a month since Tiger Woods was involved in an accident in Jupiter. Since then, he has been rehabilitating in Europe, far away from the chaos. During the 2026 PGA Championship, the Big Cat will be thousands of miles away across the ocean in Zurich, Switzerland.
Hence, his absence from the field at Aronimink Golf Club is understandable. But it will be highly disappointing for the fans. Especially since Woods hasn’t played the event for a couple of years now. The last time he featured in the major was in 2024. Even then, he only played half of it as he missed the cut for the weekend. All we can hope for is that the 15-time major winner is back in action as soon as possible. Even if the USGA CEO, Mike Whan, believes it won’t be before the 2026 U.S. Open.
Phil Mickelson
However, Mickelson’s extended absence from the fairway has been ongoing for quite a few months now. Even LIV Golf is facing the drawbacks of it. He has only played LIV Golf South Africa so far and skipped the remaining six events. Lefty has used the same reason for his absence from the league as he did for the second major of the year.
Phil Mickelson will not be playing at next week’s PGA Championship at Aronomink despite being currently listed in the field.
In messages exchanged with Flushing It Golf, Phil said:
“I wish I could. I can’t unfortunately. I’m hoping to play the rest of the year after that but I… pic.twitter.com/hplZWmE5u4
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) May 5, 2026
“I wish I could. I can’t, unfortunately,” Mickelson told Flushing It Golf on May 5, 2026. Things are starting to get worrisome as his date of return is getting pushed back even further.
Sergio Garcia
Mickelson is qualified for the PGA Championship, and so are a few other LIV Golf pros. But the same cannot be said for Sergio Garcia. The Spanish veteran doesn’t meet the criteria to join the field at Aronimink Golf Club this week.
He may be a former Masters Tournament champion. But his eligibility to play in the PGA Championship ran out last year. To reach back into a qualification spot, the Spaniard will need to rise up the OWGR rankings.
His recent second-place finish in LIV Golf Virginia 2026 has helped him jump up from 318 to 184. But that isn’t nearly enough to earn a spot in the major event. Garcia will need to work harder in LIV Golf to get into the top 70 in the world. Only then can he return to the PGA Championship again.
Tony Finau
Like Garcia, Finau hasn’t met the eligibility criteria to earn a ticket to Aronimink Golf Club as well. His form has been consistently dipping over the last couple of seasons. And he has rarely shown glimpses of his former self, who was touted to be a world beater.
Ranked 119th in the world, Finau has yet to grab a top-10 finish in 2026. In fact, he only got one of them in the entire 2025 season. So it’s not a surprise that he has fallen out of the qualification bracket. However, this will be the first time since he started playing the PGA Championship in 2015 that he is going to miss the major event.
Tom Kim
Tom Kim has been slowly trying to find his footing on the PGA Tour once again. Last week, he finished at T6 in the 2026 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to help him get a qualifying spot in the PGA Championship this year.
The world #142 is not in a position to earn a place in the majors. He didn’t play at Augusta National and will be missing the Aronimink Golf Club tournament this week as well. After finishing 71st in the 2025 PGA Championship, he will be disappointed that he is not getting a chance to better that result this year.
