2026 Cadillac Championship Preview | Trump National Doral Course Guide, Field Analysis, Player Profiles

The Course

After a decade, the PGA Tour will return to the Blue Monster Course at Trump National Doral in Miami for a new Signature Event on the PGA schedule, the Cadillac Championship.

The Blue Monster previously played host to the Doral Open up until 2006, which then became the WGC-Cadillac Championship up until 2016, marking the last time the PGA Tour stopped off at Doral.

Stretching out beyond 7,700 yards, the Blue Monster is long, exposed, and demanding from tee to green. Water is in play on a huge number of holes, and unlike some courses where it sits to the side, here it's often directly in your line.

Off the tee, this is one of the more demanding driving tests players will see. Players with length off the tee will have an advantage but will not get a complete free pass. Fairways are generous in places, but the angles will matter, with water and thick rough coming into play quickly on some holes.

Approach play is equally testing, with well-protected greens that place a premium on distance control. With water protecting many of the key pin positions, players are constantly forced into a decision around either attacking and risking big numbers, or playing it safe and taking their medicine.

The final hole does sum up the Blue Monster challenge quite well, as players are met with a long par 4 that has water running all the way down the left, demanding two committed swings under pressure. It's a hole that very likely could be a decider come Sunday.

Course Name: Trump National Doral (Blue Monster)
Location: Miami, Florida
Designer: Dick Wilson, Gil Hanse (Redesign)
Opened: 1962
Par: 72
Length: 7,739 Yards
Bunkers: 110
Water Holes: 10
Fairway: Bermuda
Greens: Bermuda

The Field

Feels like this is already a big talking point after the field for the Cadillac Championship was named last week, where we found out that we would be going into another Signature Event that will be missing Rory McIlroy, with Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Bobby MacIntyre and Ludvig Aberg all missing as well.

There are a few ways to look at this. On one side, you have the PGA Tour side of things, and this is probably a tough look — a week after a number of layoffs, you have 5 of the top 15 players in the world skipping one of the elevated prize pool events you created to avoid this very thing from happening. You still have Scottie, but I have a hard time believing the PGA Tour is thrilled about the talking points of the last week and a half.

On the other side, from the players' point of view, I completely understand it, and this makes sense to me for a couple of these guys here. I spoke about last week how I felt like the Zurich was put in a spot on the schedule where it will just never genuinely succeed in terms of generating a strong field. While any Signature Event will have enough pulling power, I don't get why this has been slated in here.

If we look at the lead-up to the PGA Championship, it will read: Masters, Signature, Zurich, Signature, Signature. It doesn't make sense to me — it feels like too much, and I think next week we will have a similar talking point with guys in the top 10–15 who are playing this week saying, "I think I will skip out on Quail Hollow and put my entire focus on the PGA." I'm not saying don't have events, but why do we need three $20 million events in between the Masters and the PGA?

The Signature Event space feels like it could potentially be in line for a review given the murky situation with LIV and its viability going into next season. Not sure what the appetite will be for another 7–8 of these things if we have top guys skipping like this.

Either way, we have Scottie, and there is always the chance that it makes zero difference who is going against him when he gets in a mood.

Course Success

Simple approach this week, with the length of this course forcing my hand on what type of players I want to target. Ball striking will be the most important one for me. Doral has length, danger, and wind all going for it, so I really want that to be my focus point. The key stats for me this week are:

SG: Ball Striking
Driving Distance
Good Drive %
Approach 200+
Par 5 Scoring

Essentially, I am looking for guys who drive the ball long and well and can use their long irons. The last two professional events here were LIV events where the winners shot -6 and -11, so it's not likely to be a free-for-all scoring fest. Guys will need to score on the par 5s and pick up ground on the par 3s with the makeup of some of these par 4 holes.

Player Profiles

I'll take a similar approach to what I did at the Heritage. I will be reserved in who I play before Thursday and probably look to bet Scottie if I get an angle and price I like after the first two rounds. I can't stomach him at the price he is at the moment in order to bet, but I also won't be looking to take him on aggressively.

Chris Gotterup

First guy is someone I took at the Heritage, who didn't really fire until the final round. That play was largely based around his price, and it was just simply too big in the end. I have no regrets with that, despite him being out of it for most of the week and even with him completely whiffing on a shot. It happens!

This is a great spot for Gotterup, someone who does have all of the shots in the trick bag. I think this is the kind of week where we see that really come into play with lower and tougher scoring conditions. With longer holes and wind in play, give me a guy who works the ball both ways, changes his trajectory, and executes well. Let's have a look at the numbers for Gotterup — in the last 12 months, in what is defined as difficult scoring conditions, he has the following ranks:

SG: Off The Tee - 6th
SG: Ball Striking - 11th
SG: Par 5 - 1st
Driving Distance - 2nd
Approach 200+ - 8th
Eagles % - 2nd

In his last three starts, he has gained 4.9, 2.7, and 4.7 strokes on ball striking, with two of those being on tough courses. He completely fits the Doral layout here, and with my approach this week being fairly similar to how I approached the Heritage, it feels like a Scottie week. I don't want a number of guys around the top of the betting market — I'll take Gotterup as my guy, as he simply ticks too many boxes this week for how we have seen this track play. Outside of this week, Gotterup is a guy I am circling for the PGA Championship in a couple of weeks. Excited to see where his game is at after a week off.

Sepp Straka

This one is a price thing for me. The last month hasn't been a beautiful watch for Sepp — the Valero was brutal, and both The Masters and Heritage were mostly uninspiring. In saying that, I am looking at the approach numbers since the Genesis, and I think there is some value in Straka at this spot in the market. Driver numbers for the last month are probably not as bad as they look, with the weekend at Augusta and the Valero making that look worse than it really is. Over the last 8 rounds, Straka is 23rd in Driving Accuracy % and 12th in Good Drive %. If he can keep it in that direction, the approach numbers are good enough for this layout.

Over the last 16 rounds, here is a look at some of his ranks around approach play:

SG: Approach - 14th
Overall Proximity - 8th
Approach 150-200 - 6th
Approach 200+ - 5th
Approach 250+ - 5th

A lot of good stuff for a guy who's also 16th for Eagles %, 6th for Bogey Avoidance %, and 13th in strokes gained putting over the same round range. There is more than enough there to get me interested in this price for a guy who won a Signature Event last season. Hope the driver is on and enjoy the ride.

Corey Conners

Another one that is largely price-based. My approach is one at the top end of the market and then some value guys, and when you look at the comp courses for Doral, Conners screams value at the price he is at right now. We know Conners is one of those guys who struggles with the flat stick, but from pure ball striking metrics is one of the better players on tour. When you dive into the putting numbers, you can kind of see why he does better on some of these comp courses — he won't outgain guys, but he won't three-putt. With the big greens of Doral, this should help someone like Conners in what could be a lower-scoring event.

Using comp courses as a guide, over the last two years, here are some of the ranks for Conners heading into this week:

Drive Accuracy % - 2nd
Good Drive % - 4th
SG: Approach - 5th
Overall Proximity - 10th
Greens in Regulation % - 10th
Approach 200+ - 2nd
Eagles % - 11th

Plenty to like there for a guy who has proven success on some of these comp courses. I am more than happy to take a shot at this price range and look at top finishes as well.

Torrey Pines South, Bay Hill, Augusta National, TPC Southwind, Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Quail Hollow, Concession and PGA National are the comp courses used here.