High-profile absences continue to plague the 2025 PGA Tour season, and the upcoming Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge shows no exception. While signature events like this $20 million tournament typically draw the game’s biggest stars, several notable players won’t be teeing it up this week. Tournament organizers finalized the 70-player field on February 28, featuring 80% of the world’s top 50 players but leaving some fan favorites and former champions on the sidelines.
As the first signature event of the Florida swing gets underway, golf fans will notice some conspicuously empty spots in the field. With only 70 coveted positions available, tournament organizers had to make tough decisions about sponsor exemptions, leaving some big names watching from home. Let’s dive into the five biggest names who won’t compete for a slice of Bay Hill’s massive $20 million purse this year.
Jordan Spieth
Jordan Spieth’s exclusion from the Arnold Palmer Invitational field might be the most shocking of all. Currently ranked 70th in the Official World Golf Rankings, the three-time major champion has hit a rough patch in his career. After undergoing wrist surgery in late 2024, Spieth has struggled to regain his form, with the stats painting a bleak picture—he’s ranked 169th in driving accuracy (54.97%) and 170th in putting (30.04 putts per round).
Spieth’s absence is noteworthy because he was denied a sponsor exemption despite receiving them for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational earlier this year. The tournament committee apparently decided to give spots to rising talents like Rafael Campos (OWGR #112) in a move that aligns with Arnold Palmer’s “grow the game” philosophy. With 4.2 million social media followers and a starring role in Netflix’s golf docuseries, Spieth’s absence will definitely be felt in the viewership numbers—his featured group rounds at last year’s API drew 18% higher viewership than average.
Rickie Fowler
Rickie Fowler, once a perennial contender at Bay Hill with 11 previous appearances, including a T3 finish in 2017, finds himself on the outside looking in this year. The fan favorite has plummeted to 95th in the world rankings, and his 2025 form hasn’t done him any favors. Fowler currently ranks a dismal 189th in Strokes Gained: Approach (-0.83), sits 102nd in the FedEx Cup standings, and has had lackluster results recently—a T53 at Pebble Beach followed by a missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open.
The field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard will be finalized following the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Players can still become eligible through the Aon Next 10, Aon Swing 5 and Top 30 OWGR.
Field for the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented… pic.twitter.com/Jp7jXromNU
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 28, 2025
Like Spieth, Fowler has already burned through two sponsor exemptions this season (Genesis Invitational and AT&T Pebble Beach), and the API committee simply wasn’t willing to extend him a third, citing his poor competitive momentum. Despite his iconic 2015 duel with Henrik Stenson at Bay Hill and his embodiment of Arnold Palmer’s fan-first ethos, Fowler’s current metrics—30.1 putts per round (171st) and 58.2% scrambling (152nd)—made him a tough sell for a merit-based field. His absence highlights the Tour’s sometimes brutal emphasis on current form over player popularity.
Gary Woodland
Gary Woodland’s journey since his brain surgery in September 2023 has been nothing short of inspirational, but it hasn’t been easy on the golf course. The 2019 U.S. Open champion, currently ranked 137th in the world, continues to battle physical and mental recovery issues that have dramatically impacted his game. His stats tell the story: 54.3% driving accuracy (172nd), 1.78 putts per GIR (167th), and just $312,450 in 2025 earnings (184th).
Woodland’s 137th place in the FedEx Cup standings puts him well below the top-125 cutoff typically required for signature events. Despite his gritty persona once resonating strongly at Bay Hill (T3 in 2019), his omission from the field reinforces the Tour’s unrelenting focus on current form over legacy.
Harris English
Harris English, despite his respectable 34th world ranking, will be missing the Arnold Palmer Invitational for a very different reason than our previous entries. The American is in recovery mode following hip surgery in late 2024, which has limited his starts in 2025 and clearly impacted his performance when he has played. His stats show the struggle—he’s 131st in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (-0.42) and has managed just one top-25 finish in eight events this year.
Golf – The 2020 Ryder Cup – Whistling Straits, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, U.S. – September 25, 2021 Team USA’s Harris English reacts after a missed putt on the 6th green during the Four-balls REUTERS/Mike Segar
English has opted to prioritize his rehabilitation over risking further injury at Bay Hill’s demanding 7,466-yard layout. His strategic absence highlights the increasingly difficult choices players face in managing their bodies through the grueling Tour calendar.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion currently ranked 37th in the world, is skipping the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a clear strategy in mind—securing his Ryder Cup eligibility. After serving as Europe’s vice captain in 2023, the 44-year-old has his sights set on making a sixth Ryder Cup appearance as a player, which means prioritizing DP World Tour events like the BMW PGA Championship to accumulate necessary qualification points.
Age and schedule management are also factors in Rose’s decision. He’s reduced his PGA Tour starts to just 18 events in 2025, focusing primarily on majors and courses that suit his game. The statistics suggest this might be a wise approach—he ranks 148th in driving distance (292.1 yards) and 98th in Strokes Gained: Approach (-0.19).
While the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational field remains stacked with talent, including nine of the world’s top 10 players, the absence of these five notable names highlights the tournament’s evolving identity. As Bay Hill balances competitive integrity with star power, the question remains: Will the event’s Signature status be enough to draw viewers without some of golf’s most popular personalities? Let us know in the comments who you’ll be rooting for at Bay Hill this year!
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