AKRON, OH – Rory McIlroy and Chris Kirk have informed tournament officials that they will not be playing next week’s World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club due to injury.

“Unfortunately, I will not be defending my World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational title,” said McIlroy, who is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in early July. “Best of luck to all the competitors, and I look forward to returning to Firestone in 2016.”

McIlroy, the tournament’s defending champion, will miss the Bridgestone Invitational for the first time since 2009. In his six previous appearances, he has four top-10 finishes, including his win last year.

Four-time PGA Tour winner Kirk broke his right hand prior to The Open Championship while playing with his children and has yet to recover fully.

Several of the game’s top players, however, will highlight the field, including Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Zach Johnson, who have all recorded victories over the last three weeks.

Spieth has moved to No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking thanks to four PGA Tour victories, including two major championship wins this season, and victories at the Hero World Challenge and the Emirates Australian Open to end 2014.

Spieth’s campaign continues to be one of the best in Tour history with 12 top-10 finishes, eight in the top three. With a victory at the Bridgestone Invitational, Spieth could take over the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking at the same event in which McIlroy become No. 1 in the world with a victory last year.

Spieth’s incredible season means and equally incredible lead in the FedExCup standings with 3,763 points – nearly doubling his closest competitor in Bubba Watson (2,043 points). Spieth’s FedExCup performance is so dominant that if Watson won the next three events, he would remain in second place behind the 22-year-old.

Day, whose wife Ellie is from Northeast Ohio, will come to Akron following his fourth victory at the RBC Canadian Open. Playing in the second to the last group, Day drained a birdie putt from 21 feet 10 inches on No. 18 to come from two shots behind third-round leader David Hearn for his RBC Canadian Open victory.

Day is in search of his second career World Golf Championships victory, having won the 2014 Cadillac Match Play. Day will be teeing it up at the Bridgestone Invitational for the fifth time in his career. His career-best finish at the event came in 2011 with a T4.

With the win, Day moved from No. 16 in the FedExCup standings to No. 4 with only five events before the Playoffs. The win also moved Day to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking.  Day (27), McIlroy (26) and Spieth (22) represent three of the top-four players in the world.

Now that the top 50 in the OWGR have qualified, below is a list of the 78 players who are now officially eligible to play. Players can either win at the Quicken Loans National this week or move into the top 50 in the OWGR as of Monday, August 3, to finalize the field. Players have until 5 p.m. ET on Friday, July 31, to officially commit to the Bridgestone Invitational.

Player                              Qualification

An, Byeong Hun            2015 BMW PGA Championship

Bae, Sang-Moon           2014 Frys.com Open

Bjorn, Thomas               2014 Ryder Cup

Bowditch, Steven          2015 AT&T Byron Nelson

Bradley, Keegan           2014 Ryder Cup

Casey, Paul                  2014 KLM Open

*Cullen, Nick                 2014 BetEasy Masters

Day, Jason                   2015 RBC Canadian Open, 2015 Farmers Insurance Open

Dodt, Andrew               2015 True Thailand Classic

Donaldson, Jamie        2014 Ryder Cup

Dubuisson, Victor         2014 Ryder Cup

Every, Matt                   2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Fowler, Rickie               2015 Aberdeen Scottish Open, 2015 THE PLAYERS Championship, 2014 Ryder Cup

Furyk, Jim                     2015 RBC Heritage, 2014 Ryder Cup

Gallacher, Stephen       2014 Ryder Cup

Garcia, Sergio               2014 Ryder Cup

Gomez, Fabian             2015 FedEx St. Jude Classic

Grace, Branden            2015 Dimension Data Pro-Am*, 2015 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters

Haas, Bill                      2015 Humana Challenge

Hahn, James                 2015 Northern Trust Open

Harrington, Padraig       2015 Honda Classic

Henley, Russell             Top 50 OWGR

Hoffman, Charley          Top 50 OWGR

Holmes, J.B.                  2015 Shell Houston Open

Horschel, Billy               2014 TOUR Championship, 2014 BMW Championship

Ilonen, Mikko                 2014 Volvo World Match Play

Jaidee, Thongchai        Top 50 OWGR

Johnson, Dustin            2015 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship

Johnson, Zach              2015 The Open Championship, 2014 Ryder Cup

Kaymer, Martin             2014 Ryder Cup

Kisner, Kevin                Top 50 OWGR

Kjeldsen, Soren            2015 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

Koepka, Brooks            2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open, 2014 Turkish Airlines Open

Kuchar, Matt                 2014 Ryder Cup

Lahiri, Anirban              2015 Maybank Malaysian Open

Larrazabal, Pablo         2015 BMW International Open

Lee, Danny                   2015 Greenbrier Classic

Leishman, Marc           Top 50 OWGR

*Liang, Wen-chong      2015 JGT Championship

Lingmerth, David         2015 the Memorial Tournament

Lipsky, David               2014 Omega European Masters

Lowry, Shane              Top 50 OWGR

Luiten, Joost                2014 ISPS Handa Wales Open

Mahan, Hunter             2014 The Barclays, 2014 Ryder Cup

Martin, Ben                   2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

Matsuyama, Hideki       Top 50 OWGR

McDowell, Graeme       2014 Ryder Cup

Mickelson, Phil            2014 Ryder Cup

Molinari, Francesco     Top 50 OWGR

Moore, Ryan                 2014 CIMB Classic

Na, Kevin                     Top 50 OWGR

Noren, Alexander         2015 Nordea Masters

*Oda, Koumei              2014 Bridgestone Open

Palmer, Ryan               Top 50 OWGR

Oosthuizen, Louis        Top 50 OWGR

Poulter, Ian                  2014 Ryder Cup

Reed, Patrick               2015 Hyundai Tournament of Champions, 2014 Ryder Cup

Rose, Justin                 2015 Zurich Classic, 2014 Ryder Cup

Scott, Adam                 Top 50 OWGR

Schwartzel, Charl       Top 50 OWGR

Siem, Marcel                2014 BMW Masters

Simpson, Webb            2014 Ryder Cup

Snedeker, Brandt         2015 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Spieth, Jordan              2015 John Deere Classic, 2015 U.S. Open, 2015 Masters, 2015 Valspar, 2014 Emirates Australian Open, 2014 Ryder Cup

Stal, Gary                     2015 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship

Stenson, Henrik           2014 DP World  Tour Championship, 2014 Ryder Cup

Streb, Robert               2014 The McGladrey Classic

Todd, Brendon             Top 50 OWGR

Villegas, Camilo           2014 Wyndham Championship

Walker, Jimmy             2015 Valero Texas Open, 2015 Sony Open, 2014 Ryder Cup

Watson, Bubba            2015 Travelers Championship, 2014 WGC-HSBC Champions, 2014 Ryder Cup

Westwood, Lee            2014 Thailand Golf Championship*, 2014 Ryder Cup

Wiesberger, Bernd       2015 Alstom Open de France

Willett, Danny               2015 Omega European Masters, 2014 Nedbank Golf Challenge

Wilson, Oliver               2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Woodland, Gary          Top 50 OWGR

*won event designated by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a qualifying event for the tournament.