7 Notable Past Winners Missing The 2025 PGA Championship

There are many notable perks of winning the PGA Championship, and arguably the most attractive is the lifetime exemption to the Major awarded to every player who lifts the Wanamaker Trophy.

Like The Masters, which also offers a lifetime slot for anyone who wins the title, that’s why each year some well-known names more closely associated with earlier eras are seen teeing it up in the tournament.

For example, in 2025, among the former champions who wouldn’t otherwise have made the field are Shaun Micheel, who won the event 22 years ago, and 2008 winner Padraig Harrington.

However, just because a former champion is technically able to play in the event, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will, whether because of retirement, injury or something else, and that’s the case for the Quail Hollow edition of the Major.

Here are some of the notable former winners of the PGA Championship who we won’t be seeing in 2025.

Tiger Woods

Without doubt, the biggest name on the list is Tiger Woods. The four-time winner of the tournament hasn’t lifted the Wanamaker Trophy since 2007, but, injuries permitting, he won’t be giving up his chance of a fifth title without a fight – although it won’t be in 2025.

A prime example of Woods’ will to succeed against the odds came just a month after his comeback from a devastating leg injury, when he played in the 2022 tournament at Southern Hills.

Woods made the cut before playing through the pain barrier in the third round, and was visibly limping by the time he had to admit defeat and withdraw. He couldn’t play in the 2023 tournament as he was recovering from ankle surgery, while he missed the cut in 2024.

There had been hopes he would play a full Major season this year, but that was thrown into doubt when he ruptured his left Achilles while training at home in March. Sure enough, not only did he miss The Masters, but the PGA Championship also arrived too soon for his return.

Rich Beem

Rich Beem’s Major record is generally underwhelming, but there was one glorious standout moment, when, in 2002, he beat Tiger Woods at Hazeltine. With Woods back in the clubhouse at nine-under, Beem had the luxury of three shots to win the title on the 18^th before winning by one.

Beem played in the 2024 tournament at Valhalla, but it didn’t go well as he missed the cut after rounds of 79 and 83. Per AP News’ Doug Ferguson, that persuaded Beem, who works for Sky Sports at big events, to skip Quail Hollow, saying: “I got my (butt) handed to me last year. Even though I had success at Bethpage (2019), you lose 10 yards, you might as well lose 100."

YE Yang

Another player who got the better of Woods at Hazeltine was YE Yang, whose one Major win came in the 2009 PGA Championship, when he beat his final round playing partner despite beginning the day two shots back of the leader.

In the end, it was relatively comfortable for Yang, as he won by three when Woods, who lost a Major for the first time when he had led after 54 holes, found his putter run cold.

It never got better than that for Yang at the tournament, although he had been a regular in the years since, with the exception of 2020 when he was one of several former champions to withdraw from a tournament at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A year later, he was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard following his second round, while he missed the cut in the three most recent editions.

In 2025, he is not there at all, with the 53-year-old instead opting to play in the first Major of the PGA Tour Champions season, the Regions Tradition.

Davis Love III

Davis Love III came close to winning all four Majors at various points, but he only took the title in one, the 1997 PGA Championship, when he cruised to victory by five over Justin Leonard at Winged Foot.

Love III was a regular for many more years following that win, and had further top-10 finishes in 1998, 2000 and 2005, but he hasn’t appeared as often more recently, with a missed cut in 2020 the last time he took part.

Whether or not he would have opted to play in 2025 is unclear, but the decision was taken out of his hands after he underwent open heart surgery in January.

Vijay Singh

Singh won the PGA Championship twice, in 1998 at Sahalee and 2004 at Whistling Straits, but for the seventh year in a row, he won’t be appearing. His run of skipping the event had looked like coming to an end when he was named in the field for Quail Hollow, but just four days before the tournament, he withdrew, opting to play in the Regions Tradition instead.

While Singh doesn’t tend to play in the PGA Championship very often nowadays, it’s the second Major in succession where he was eligible to play that he misses after he also withdrew from April’s Masters because of injury.

John Daly

The PGA Championship will be without one of the game’s biggest characters in 2025. Like Yang and Singh, 1991 winner Daly will tee it up in the Regions Tradition instead.

Daly, who won the title in 1991, made an appearance at last year’s tournament, but he withdrew after the first round with a thumb injury, and even though he had been looking forward to competing again in 2025, he is heading to Alabama instead.

He questioned the decision to schedule both events in the same week, telling Doug Ferguson of AP News: “I can go there (PGA Championship) and miss the cut and get $6,000. (Instead) I’m playing Birmingham (Alabama).

"I love Regions. They’re a great sponsor, (but) why are they scheduling Regions the same week as the PGA Championship, where I can see Brooks (Koepka) and all the guys?”

David Toms

Another on the list of PGA Champions heading to Alabama is David Toms. He beat Phil Mickelson by one to ensure his slot at the PGA Championship for life back in 2001, but he hasn’t taken up that option since missing the cut in 2016.

Therefore, it’s perhaps unsurprising that he has opted to play in the senior Major this week, particularly considering that, since his most recent PGA Championship appearance, he has 10 top-10 placings in the over-50s events, including victory in the 2018 US Senior Open.