The withdrawal syndrome has again hit the PGA Tour, that too with the advent of the Masters. The 2025 season has been filled with surprises be it a viewership drop due to slow play or sudden player withdrawals. Earlier at the Farmers Insurance Open, around a dozen players made sudden withdrawals. Now with the Valspar Championship, the same scenario seems to be at play.

With all hopes, fans were eager to witness the last leg of the PGA Tour Florida swing with the Valspar Championship. But the unexpected turn of top names backing off has left fans worried again. Initially, the PGA Tour Communications account on X had announced that Akshay Bhatia (who finished T3 at The PLAYERS), Daniel Berger, Aaron Rai, and Erik van Rooyen were WD. However, these were written off as some securing their spots in upcoming Signature events or taking a strategic break before the Masters.

But that wasn’t only the update. After the initial list of notable WDs, a spree of player withdrawals started, which included Carson Young, and even Rooyen’s replacement Bronson Burgoon.

Along with that, Paul Waring also joined the withdrawal list just before the first round started. Additionally, mid-way into the first round, Patton Kizzire withdrew due to a back injury. These last-minute withdrawals left the 156-player field with only 154. This sudden spree of withdrawals is leaving everyone confused as to what might be brewing.

Well, surprisingly, it has left Michael Kim confused too. He posted on the withdrawal thread writing, “Even I’m confused… haha.” However, he later clarified with another reply regarding the PGA Tour policy of field size changes.  This might shed light on the reason why most withdrawals were not given any replacements. However, it still does not justify the reason for such large amounts of last-minute withdrawals.

One possible reason: golfers might be looking for a better prize event, which is the upcoming Houston Open. The event will offer a prize pot of around $9.7 million. Even following that, the Valero Texas Open is another $9.5 million prize event. Considering, two continuous weeks of participation before the Masters starts can be the reason behind the mysterious withdrawal.

However, this isn’t the first time such a large amount of WDs has happened in the same season. Let’s understand what happened at the Farmers Insurance Open to get better clarity.

Unexpected withdrawal at the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open

The 2025 Farmers Insurance Open was the first instance of a high number of players withdrawing suddenly. A total of 18 players withdrew from the event, with the list including a familiar name – Akshay Bhatia. The rest of the list had certain notable names such as Max Homa, Xander Schauffele, Will Zlatoris, and Collin Morikawa. Now that is quite a lot of prominent names to not participate.

Well, Xander Schauffele’s withdrawal was justified as he was still recovering from his injury and his timeline of recovery was not apparent. However, for the rest of the players, the PGA Tour’s schedule might be a reason for WD. It was speculated that the WDs might have been because of the Genesis Invitational which was scheduled right after the Farmers. The Genesis being a signature event, a lot of players planned to rest up before the big event. This trend can be also similarly found in the current Valspar Championship with the upcoming Masters as well as two high prize money tournaments right after.

The PGA Tour’s schedule has been under major scrutiny for some time now, which might be forcing players to carefully strategize their calendars to play more efficiently. However, last-minute withdrawals are highly unlikely in such a scenario prioritizing some events over others would mean they would WD much before.

So, the mystery continues. What do you think might be some possible reasons? Let us know below!