5 big names missing from the Valspar Championship 2025 field ft. Rory McIlroy

The next stop for the PGA Tour players is the Valspar Championship. The tournament is scheduled to start with its first round on March 20 and will have its final on Sunday, March 23.

It's a regular PGA Tour event featuring a full-size field, including Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry, and Tommy Fleetwood. However, the field is missing some big names, such as Rory McIlroy, who has recently won The Players Championship.

Below are the five big names missing from the field of The Players 2025:

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5 big names missing from the Valspar Championship 2025 field

#1 Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy (Image Source: Getty

After claiming his second PGA Tour title of the season, Rory McIlroy will take a break and not tee off this week at the Valspar Championship. In his last outing at The Players Championship, the 36-year-old defeated JJ Spaun in a playoff to win the event. He had previously won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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#2 Scottie Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler (Image Source: Getty)

Scottie Scheffler will also miss the 2025 Valspar Championship this week. This season, he has played in five tournaments, with his last being The Players, but he will also take a break this week.

The World No. 1, however, struggled with his game at The Players and settled in the T20 position. His best of the season was recorded at The Genesis Invitational, where he settled in T3 place.

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#3 Ludvig Aberg

Ludvig Aberg (Image Source: Imagn)

Ludvig Åberg missed the cut at The Players 2025. However, he will not return to play at the Valspar Championship.

The Swedish golfer has played in six tournaments on the 2025 PGA Tour season, winning one and recording two top-10 finishes.

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#4 JJ Spaun

JJ Spaun (Image Source: Imagn)

JJ Spaun was phenomenal at The Players and just missed the title. He lost to McIlroy in the playoff, and following the heartbreaking loss, he will take a break and not tee off this week.

The American golfer has had some amazing performances this season on the PGA Tour and recorded two runner-up finishes, including at the Cognizant Classic and The Players Championship.

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#5 Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki Matsuyama (Image Source: Imagn)

Hideki Matsuyama will also miss the Valspar Championship. He had a tough time on the greens in his last outing at The Players, where he missed the cut, but before that, he was impressive this season on the PGA Tour. He started the season with a win at The Sentry and then recorded other decent finishes, including T13 at the Genesis Invitational and T16 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. However, he will not be playing at the Valspar Championship.