Sports
Several marquee names skipping PGA's return to Trump National Doral
Rory McIlroy tees off on the fourth hole during the third round of the 2026 Masters. Credit: Grace Smith-Imagn Images The PGA Tour is making its return to Trump National Doral following a 10-year hiatus this week, but even a signature event’s $20 million purse at the famous “Blue Monster” wasn’t enough to prevent several marquee names from opting out.
The Cadillac Championship is the fifth of eight signature events this season, featuring a $3.6 million winner’s check. The field is limited to only 72 players and without a cut, meaning every competitor is guaranteed at least $36,000.
However, it also comes three weeks after the Masters and two weeks after the fourth signature event at the RBC Heritage. Another signature event is on tap at next week’s Truist Championship, which is followed by the second major of the year at the PGA Championship.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is skipping his second consecutive signature event since repeating at the Masters. No. 3 Matt Fitzpatrick, who played the Masters before winning the RBC Heritage and last week’s Zurich Classic, is also taking the week off.
So, too, are No. 9 Xander Schauffele, No. 12 Robert MacIntyre and No. 14 Ludvig Aberg.
Fifth-ranked Justin Rose will be on hand to tackle the Blue Monster, where he won in 2012. But that only comes after skipping the RBC Heritage following a tie for third at the Masters, where he held the lead on the back nine on Sunday.
Despite the massive purses and elevated FedEx Cup points on the line, the string of three signature events and two majors in a six-week span is forcing players to make some tough scheduling decisions.
“I looked at this period coming up and I think something had to give, for sure,” Rose said. ” … I felt like I knew what was coming, I knew what a big run of events were coming, obviously with PGA Championship being on the back of (these) three.
“When you’re having to miss great events to prepare for other great events, it’s not ideal. Obviously this event was added late in I guess the structure of the sort of elevated event structure that we had. This is obviously a new edition, so it had to fall somewhere.”
The makeup of the 2027 PGA Tour schedule and beyond has been an ongoing topic of discussion. After rumors of a massively revamped schedule began circulating earlier this year, the expectation is now for a first iteration of changes in 2027 followed by more in the following year.
The consensus seems to be that while the elevated purses are attractive — and difficult to walk away from — there are only so many events players can commit to over a short span. Adam Scott, who won the most recent PGA Tour event at Doral in 2016, said this year is stacking up as an exception rather than a new normal for the schedule.
The Cadillac Championship wasn’t announced as an addition to the 2026 schedule until last August.
“Ideally, this wouldn’t be the way,” Scott acknowledged. “It’s one event we’re talking about, so it makes that much of a difference adding one, it makes that much of a difference taking one away. I think we’ve got to get through this year and hopefully the schedule looks a little more balanced next year.”
Rose was asked what he believes the impact will be if a future schedule features fewer events that are all on an equal level.
“What the PGA Tour’s trying to do is create the best possible product and the best possible tournaments in the most appealing time of the year,” Rose said. “The players go, ‘That’s my job, this is the season, this is time to knuckle down and get down to business.’
“If that means that that flow of events suits you, then that’s what you have to commit to, to kind of give your best performance on the best courses or the courses that suit you the best, in order to accumulate the right amount of points to win the Fed(Ex) Cup. That’s the goal.
“Everybody’s going to have a slightly different recipe of how that’s done”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Braves' Spencer Strider set for season debut in finale vs. Rockies
Feb 20, 2026; North Port FL, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (99) poses for a photo during media day at CoolToday Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images It’s been a long road for Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider since his 20-win All-Star season in 2023.
Strider, 27, will be out to prove he’s not a shadow of his former self on Sunday afternoon when he makes his first start of the season as the Braves bid for a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in Denver.
After becoming the fastest pitcher to record 100 strikeouts (61 innings) in a season in modern MLB history in 2023, Strider made just two starts in 2024 before undergoing season-ending UCL surgery.
Last season, the right-hander went 7-14 with a 4.45 ERA across 23 starts in his return from injury.
Strider began this season on the injured list with an oblique strain but is prepared to rejoin the sizzling Braves. They have won both games of the weekend series to expand on the best record (24-10) in the majors. Atlanta remains the only team in the majors that hasn’t lost a series and holds a 7 1/2-game lead on the second-place Miami Marlins in the National League East.
The bad news for the Braves in their most recent win, 9-1 over the Rockies on Saturday, was the first-inning exit of star right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. due to a lower-body injury. He will undergo an MRI on Sunday.
“It didn’t look great, him coming off the field,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I am hoping it’s just some cramping and that type of thing, but he’s getting an MRI. That’s never good when you have to get an MRI.”
Acuna hit a leadoff single in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 23 games.
“You never like to be challenged like this,” Weiss said of the potential impact of losing Acuna. “He’s one of your best players and most talented players. If it happens, we’ll be OK. We’ve got lots of moving parts.”
Strider, meanwhile, has dominated the Rockies in three career appearances (two starts), going 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA. He struck out 16 batters and scattered two hits over eight innings in a 3-0 win over Colorado on Sept. 1, 2022, before fanning 13 Rockies in a six-inning win last June 14.
The Rockies, who have lost four of their past five games, will turn to veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-2, 3.48 ERA) in the series finale. He will make his fifth start of the season.
Freeland, 32, will appear in his second outing since being activated from the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation. On Tuesday, he surrendered four runs on five hits across five innings in a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
“I thought (Freeland) was really good,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I considered taking him out after the fourth, but had him go back out for one more and he was good. He competed, kept us right in the ballgame.”
Freeland, the all-time leader in franchise history in starts (235), is 1-5 with a 5.93 ERA in 10 career starts against the Braves.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Boston Celtics Title Window Could Be Closed After First-Round Exit
The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off the upset of the playoffs, knocking off the heavily favored Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the first round 109-100. Boston blew a 3-1 lead in this series and that became another brutal end to a Celtics season.
This core was able to win a finals in 2024, but outside of that important win, Boston has had a lot of disastrous playoff losses that seemingly go under the radar. The Celtics have owned the 76ers over the Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown era, and that makes this loss so much worse.
Of course, Tatum was absent from game seven due to injury, but Joel Embiid was missing for the entire first half of this series, so that feels like a bit of a wash. Not only that, but the Celtics were the two seed with Tatum missing most of the season anyways.
In recent years, the Celtics have now lost to the eight seed Miami Heat in the Conference Finals, got destroyed by the New York Knicks in the Conference Semis last year, had horrible playoff performances in the final two years of the Brad Stevens era to start the 2020s. They were able to win a Finals in a very down year across the board in the NBA, but this team has had let down spots all over the place in the playoffs.
Currently, it feels like the media has put a spotlight on the Cleveland Cavaliers first round struggles against the Toronto Raptors, but at least those struggles are coming in a 4 vs 5 first round matchup. Boston was completely outplayed by the 7-seed Sixers, who were missing their best player most of the series.
Of course VJ Edgecomb and Paul George having great runs as role players helps, and Tyrese Maxey is a full blown super star; however, this series feels like it’s being swept under the rug by the media. Boston got their ring, but I’m starting to think the window from that core is quietly closing. I’m also interested to see how much grace Boston fans will give to head coach Joe Mazulla.
Boston shot themselves out of this series. This is a team that lives and dies by the three, but at some point you need to make an adjustment when shots simply aren’t falling. Not only that, but the Sixers simply just felt like the better team in this series. I don’t think it’s just bad shooting that won Philly this series. They controlled this series and were able to do whatever they wanted against the Celtics.
The Sixers now head to New York to take on the Knicks, where they are far less of an underdog at only +198 to advance. I think this is a bit of a market overcorrection, and I wouldn’t bet on the Sixers to win this series. Boston might’ve just been a bit of an overrated team, that over performed without Tatum.
Sports
Carlos Prates Strengthens Title Case After Dominant Showing at UFC Perth
The Fighting Nerds have been one of the most notable and popular things about the world of MMA in the last few years. That team has made its name thanks to the success of a number of its fighters in the UFC.
Of the bunch, perhaps the most successful and notable of the Fighting Nerds team so far is Carlos Prates. And Prates put an exclamation mark on that claim with a major win this weekend at UFC Perth, stopping Jack Della Maddalena.
It was a beating. Prates pressured JDM early, and then landed 41 significant strikes on the former champion. Prates also battered Della Maddalena’s leg with kicks, scoring knockdowns of JDM in the second and third rounds. That second knockdown would lead to Prates landing follow-up shots and scoring the TKO.
This now marks two consecutive bouts where Prates has defeated a former UFC welterweight champion. This past November at UFC 322, he put a beating on Leon Edwards, knocking him out cold in the second round.
But let’s just take a look at the picture of Prates’ overall UFC tenure thus far – and just see how much he’s accomplished.
Prates earned a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023, finishing a then-undefeated Mitch Ramirez.
Prates then fought four times in 2024, competing against Trevin Giles, Charles Radtke, Li Jingliang, and Neil Magny. Four wins, four finishes (all KO/TKOs), four post-fight bonuses. That is a first-year stretch that practically screams Rookie of the Year.
Prates’ sole blemish in the UFC came at UFC Kansas City in April 2025, when he took on Ian Machado Garry in a title eliminator. Prates did not seem like himself, unable to figure Garry out. Prates put a beating on Garry in the fifth, but he was unable to get a comeback finish in time.
It was a disappointing loss for Prates and the people that follow him. He’d need a big-time rebound performance next time out to ensure he’s still in the title picture.
So what does he do? Land a spinning back elbow on Geoff Neal at UFC 319 – one of the top knockouts of 2025. And now he’s followed that up with wins over a pair of former welterweight champions.
Prates has now won seven UFC bouts since 2024. He’s earned finishes in all of those fights. He’s earned performance bonuses in all of those fights. The win over JDM is the only time a fight he’s won has gone past round two.
And the only guy he’s lost to in the Octagon? That man won another title eliminator against Belal Muhammad this past November. Now, Garry is being targeted to challenge Islam Makhachev for the welterweight title in the main event of UFC 330 this coming August in Philadelphia.
That’s far from a terrible loss.
Prates may not get the next immediate welterweight title shot. But if he takes on another former champion or rising star in the welterweight ranks – for example, respectively, Muhammad or Michael Morales – and he gets another highlight finish (let alone another win) – then Prates can’t be denied a title shot any further.
Braves' Spencer Strider set for season debut in finale vs. Rockies
Boston Celtics Title Window Could Be Closed After First-Round Exit
