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End-of-2023 Monday Scramble: The year the PGA Tour changed forever

Rahm to LIV puts PGA Tour in 'full-blown inferno'
Rex & Lav react to Jon Rahm's decision to officially leave the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, explain if they were surprised by the decision and discuss the fallout from the move.

There was a time, not too long ago, when this was a sleepy part of the golf year.

When the PGA Tour’s fall slate petered out. When the European tour and LPGA wrapped up their seasons. When Tiger Woods played his own holiday exhibition and then hibernated until late January.

But 2023 produced a nonstop content calendar, even deep into the year, chock full of (mostly bad) news that only created more controversy, more anger, more division, more anxiousness.

Which is why it’s hard to say definitively where we sit now, at the end of a long year and with the future still murky.

There seems to be more interest than ever in the business of the Tour, but less about the actual weekly product on-screen.

Is it because fans have been turned off by the incessant talk of money?

Is it because the Tour has become a stale and diluted product with too many members and too many tournaments?

Is it because elite men’s golf has been significantly weakened by the emergence of LIV, splintering a niche sport that isn’t popular enough to sustain two competing tours?

Yes, yes and yes.

The Tour is hoping, of course, that the events of June 6 – and the clandestine deal between the Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund – will create a better and more profitable future. And that certainly seems plausible, with the Strategic Sports Group committing billions and, potentially, the PIF joining in, too. No doubt, there’s the potential here to create a worldwide tour featuring all of the best players at all of the best stops. There’s the potential to reinvent a weekly product that is more competitive, more cutthroat, more compelling. There’s the potential to incorporate some of the attractive elements of team golf without some of LIV’s cheesy gimmicks.

The PGA Tour in 2024 could be its best version yet.

That’s the hope, at least.

But there’s still two years of hostilities to repair and relationships to mend. The Tour-PIF arrangement that rocked the sport wasn’t so much an error in execution as it was in messaging, and the fallout will linger long after the ink dries on the new deal. The events of the past year were a stark reminder that even though the stars might power the Tour, they didn’t actually hold any real power when it came to decision-making or future-shaping. And so there’s continued mistrust among the top players and management. There’s simmering frustration among the marginalized rank-and-file. There’s a frustrated fan base that has largely been neglected by the tone-deaf talk of more money without addressing the flawed model.

With the reworking of the Tour currently underway, there’s enough reasons for optimism. The Tour might soon be great again. But to get there, a few more months of division and rancor are all but guaranteed.

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This was one of the more interesting Player of the Year debates in recent memory.

Jon Rahm won the most events but didn’t add on after the Masters – his fourth win in 13 weeks.

Scottie Scheffler authored the best ball-striking season since Tiger Woods’ prime and yet “only” had two official wins to show for it. (He also took the end-of-season Hero World Challenge, in his first start with putting coach Phil Kenyon, so that’s promising.)

Viktor Hovland is probably the best player in the world at the moment … but not of the year, after he kicked away a chance to win his first major at the PGA. (More on him in a moment.)

They were the three inside-the-ropes headliners in a year that was largely defined by what transpired outside of them.

Rahm almost certainly would have won the Tour’s top prize for the first time had he not become persona non grata after his stunning decision to bolt for LIV Golf. He’s a generational player who has always been well-respected by his peers, and his torrid run earlier this year was a reminder of his prodigious talent that seems to get more refined by the year.

His recent defection for LIV significantly weakens the Tour – he just finished third in the Tour’s own popularity contest! – without providing much of a tangible boost for LIV; the upstart league has resonated with neither audiences nor sponsors despite landing more well-known figures than Rahm in Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.

How the burly Spaniard will follow up the best year of his pro career on a new circuit will be fascinating to watch. The major performances this year of Koepka, DeChambeau and Mickelson helped debunk the popular theory that LIV’s limited schedule and team-first ethos could hamper a player’s competitive prospects in the biggest events. But any dip in form for a mega-talent like Rahm will surely be noted by his critics who believe he sold out for a nine-figure payday.

* * *

Viktor Hovland wins 2023 Tour Championship

(Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

They were three little moments that all pointed to the same theme.

There was Viktor Hovland, warming up in the short-game area at Royal Liverpool, clipping tidy little pitch shots over a pot bunker and dancing around the cup. At one point, after another perfect nipper, he turned around and woofed, “Remember when I couldn’t do that?”

Yeah … like, six months earlier.

The shortest shots always caused the biggest problems for Hovland. He was a standout amateur but never won as much as he believed he could have because of his glaring deficiency. It was exceedingly rare to see a top player with such a massive hole in his game. When he won his first Tour event, in 2020, despite a few flubbed shots off the grainy turf, he laughed, “I just suck at chipping.” And he wasn’t lying – Hovland was, quite literally, one of the worst short-game players on Tour, ranking outside the top 200 around the greens. But his chipping failures weren’t from a lack of effort; he simply didn’t have the proper technique to master the myriad shots an elite Tour pro needed.

Enter Joe Mayo, the former “TrackMan Maestro” who immediately clicked into Hovland’s inquisitive approach. Sure, they shored up Hovland’s ball-striking and tightened his dispersion and returned his go-to bullet fade. But more importantly, Mayo gave Hovland the tools he needed around the greens. In the span of one season, Hovland went from 191st on Tour to 86th. Dig even deeper, and per stats guru Justin Ray, he was 20th on Tour across the last four months of the season.

There’s a large enough sample size now that we can safely say: His short game is not a weakness anymore, but rather a strength. He can win anywhere. And given enough cracks at it, he probably will.

44th Ryder Cup - Day Three - Marco Simone Golf and Country Club

Team Europe’s Rory McIlroy lifts the Ryder Cup Trophy after Europe regained the Ryder Cup following victory over the USA on day three of the 44th Ryder Cup at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy. Picture date: Sunday October 1, 2023. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

PA Images via Getty Images

There was Rory McIlroy, in the waning moments of the Ryder Cup, letting the achievement wash over him. He’d already done his part. Two years after playing so poorly that he got benched for the first time in his storied Ryder Cup career and cried on national television, he had just polished off his best cup to date, a 4-1 mark that was the best for any player. He was wearing designer sunglasses, custom Nikes, a well-earned smile.

Over the past two years, with golf ripping apart at the seams, McIlroy had morphed from one of the game’s most beloved players to a polarizing figure. Tour loyalists admired the way he carried an entire circuit while also playing some of the best golf of his career. His many detractors, fueled by his anti-LIV stance, highlighted his public inconsistencies and celebrated his on-course failures – none more so than his missed cut at the Masters or his agonizing close call at the U.S. Open that extended his major-less drought to a decade.

With the major season over, and having begrudgingly accepted that he was powerless in golf’s civil war, McIlroy poured himself into his European Ryder Cup team. He didn’t want to feel like he did that day at Whistling Straits – that he’d disappointed not just himself by failing to play up to his standards, but his teammates too. It helped that this time he was playing better, but Rory’s old swagger returned. On the course, he stared down flags and poured in putts. Away from it, he dove headlong into team-building and galvanized his roster after a memorable parking-lot dustup.

It was literally all one man could do in a job well done. Lead in the locker room. Take the heat off his teammates. Earn four points.

Little wonder he squatted down in the final fairway, hung his head and let tears of joy and relief streak down his face.

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And there was Brian Harman, closing in on his greatest athletic feat, when a spectator at The Open squared him up and tried to rattle him:

“Harman, you don’t have the stones for this!”

A few years earlier, Harman was probably wondering if he did, too.

Few juniors over the past 15 years have been as can’t-miss as the sweet-swinging southpaw from Savannah. He swung without inhibition, his freedom born from the overriding belief that even if he made a mistake, he was so good that he could quickly get it back. Oftentimes, he was right. He won his first start as a college freshman. He played on a Walker Cup team. He’d challenge anyone, at any time.

But over the years, that competitive arrogance began to get chipped away. It took a little longer than expected to get on Tour. The skills that made him a one-time prodigy were no longer emphasized at the highest level. He blew his first and seemingly only chance to claim a major title that many believed was his destiny.

Just when it seemed like he’d come to grips with his pro reality – a solid but unspectacular Tour pro, appreciated if not celebrated – Harman apparently refused to settle. He played near-flawless golf at Royal Liverpool, the links that had previously burnished the legacies of some of the game’s most prominent figures. Hagen. Jones. Woods. McIlroy. And now, um, Harman?

The boorish fan clearly didn’t think he belonged.

But in a strange way, his barb may have reignited an old flame.

“It helped snap me back into, ‘I’m good enough to do this. I’m going to do this,’” Harman would say later.

At 36, he became the boldfaced major champ he always knew he could. That it took so long only made it sweeter.

* * *

2023 Ryder Cup - Morning Foursomes Matches

ROME, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 29: Viktor Hovland of Norway and The European Team embraces his partner Ludwig Aberg on the 15th green after they won their match by 4&3 against Max Homa and Brian Harman during the Friday morning foursomes matches of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club on September 29, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Breakout star: Ludvig Åberg. The Swedish standout was exactly what the Tour had in mind when it devised the PGA Tour University program, a pipeline created to help get young studs on the big circuit as fast as possible. By the time Åberg graduated from Texas Tech, he was poised, polished, accomplished – and ready. He learned how to win after a few disappointing Sundays, caught the attention of European captain Luke Donald, starred in Rome and then became a first-time Tour winner at the end of the fall slate. Now, he’s on the doorstep of the world’s top 30 without having even played in a major championship. Meteoric.

Biggest disappointment: Justin Thomas and Lydia Ko. Let’s start with JT, who even during a quiet past few years had still picked off massive titles at The Players and PGA. But it all came crashing down in 2023, when his new diet backfired, when his characteristically sublime ball-striking sputtered and when he couldn’t shake himself out of a funk in time to make the Tour playoffs or qualify for the Ryder Cup team on his own. In need of some confidence, he at least ended the year with a handful of encouraging performances. The same can’t be said for Ko, who swept the postseason awards in 2022 but couldn’t even make it back for the season finale after finishing 100th in points. Now married and 26, Ko’s future all of a sudden seems uncertain – to the point that it wouldn’t surprise longtime observers if she walked away after the Olympics, or if she won twice to qualify for the Hall of Fame and then retired. Life comes at you fast.

The Blown Out of Proportion Award: Ball rollback. It won’t take effect at the pro level for four more years, and by then the biggest hitters will likely have made up any loss in distance with speed training, swing optimization and fitness. The impact for folks like you and me will be virtually nonexistent – there ain’t much of a difference between a well-struck drive that goes 257 instead of 260. What deserves a closer look, of course, is the driver head, especially after ominous comments like this. The USGA’s new slogan should be: Make Center Strikes Great Again.

The 151st Open - Day One

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND - JULY 20: Brooks Koepka of the United States looks on during Day One of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 20, 2023 in Hoylake, England. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

R&A via Getty Images

Comeback Player of the Year: Brooks Koepka. With his career in doubt because of mounting injuries, Koepka took the guaranteed money of LIV Golf in summer 2022. That much, we now know, is indisputable. What has happened since, however, is a testament to Koepka’s grit and determination. He reunited with swing coach Claude Harmon III, rebuilt his body and then remembered how to seal the deal when it mattered most. A month after he “choked” away the Masters, he bludgeoned Oak Hill on his way to his fifth major championship and staked his claim as the best major performer of the post-Tiger era. Even if he failed to sustain that level throughout the summer, it was a macho moment for the game’s preeminent big-game hunter.

Comeback Player of the Year, Honorable Mention: Tiger Woods. The category might as well be renamed for him, for he’s the Big Cat who truly has nine lives. His short-term future seemed bleak after a painful withdrawal from the Masters and ankle fusion surgery, but his two auspicious starts in December – when his labored gait appeared much improved – made it seem feasible for him to play as many as six events in 2024. There’s a glimmer of hope still for win No. 83.

DP World Tour Championship - Day Three

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - NOVEMBER 18: Jon Rahm of Spain looks on across the first hole during Day Three of the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 18, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

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Prediction Sure to Go Wrong: Jon Rahm will go major-less in 2024. From Dustin Johnson to Joaquin Niemann, we’ve seen high-caliber players who have needed some time to adjust to LIV’s global nature as it relates to peaking for the majors. Neither handled that task particularly well this past year. Rahm played eight times ahead of his Masters victory; LIV has only five tournaments before the year’s first major, and two of those require extensive travel (Jeddah and Hong Kong). A trip to Singapore precedes the PGA. It’ll be fascinating to see if Rahmbo is as sharp as usual.

Event of the year: Ryder Cup. This edition might be remembered by Wikipedia as another home blowout, but it was as freighted with drama as any we can remember. It was truly a gift from the content gods: The qualification process and LIV hopefuls. The controversial wildcard picks. The course setup. The pairings. The historic American meltdown to start. The half-hour window during Sunday singles when there somehow was a path to an improbable American comeback. And, of course, HatGate, spurred by a Sky Sports report about U.S. infighting and play-for-pay concerns, and then taken to another level with an explosive scene on the 18th green and in the parking lot. We’re already looking forward to Bethpage.

What To Watch For: 2024 Masters and Presidents Cup. The year’s first major will be even more anticipated, for a number of reasons: The Champions Dinner could be spicy; the reception for the defending champion could be icy; and the field could be short, increasing the probability of a star-studded showdown. As for the other biennial competition, well, the International team should feel more confident than usual, after it held its own at Quail Hollow despite being decimated by LIV defectors, and with a young crop like Min Woo Lee and Tom Kim ready to rumble in front of the home crowd. It should be close in Montreal, which is more than we can usually say.