It was something of a limbo year, as the professional game braces for more changes ahead
The close of 2023 felt a bit like the end of Year 11 in high school. You understand that the year just completed held a heightened sense of importance, and you also know the year ahead will too; but it’s the year after that you’re already thinking ahead to and wondering how life will look. Professional golf currently exists in a vortex as we tiptoe into a period of delicate unknown in 2024 and ponder a 2025 that will surely appear nothing like what we’ve seen before.
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Whichever way the current negotiations between the PGA Tour, the Saudi Public Investment Fund and private-equity firms unfolds, the power struggle risks becoming internecine if any stalemate lingers too long. One side is going to have to concede ground somewhere. Which side and over what will be the most fascinating aspects to watch.
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The impending ball rollback had to happen, but did it need to include average golfers? Probably – but only because the game’s lawmakers were asleep at this particular wheel for 20 or 30 years too long. Maybe 40.
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For club golfers lamenting any in-built loss of distance when the new rules take effect, remember there are other ways to optimise your game – through fitness, instruction and a proper club-fitting.
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Watching Min Woo and Minjee Lee compete in this next decade or so will be an absolute treat. If they were a commodity, you’d empty your life savings to buy shares in the pair. If I had any leftover cash after doing that, it’d be invested in Gabi Ruffels.
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Call them “elevated”, call them “designated”, call them capital-S “Signature”; the PGA Tour’s extra-prizemoney tournaments have only exacerbated the circuit’s two-speed hierarchy. The Korn Ferry Tour is now effectively the third-ranked American circuit – behind PGA Tour tiers 1 and 2.
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Forget the majors, LIV Golf Adelaide was the tournament of the year. A rare electricity enveloped Grange Golf Club, an energy unlike anything ever felt at an Australian golf tournament. So much so that it mattered not how Talor Gooch sucked the life out of the competitive element of the weekend with his sparkling 62-62 start. And to think Greg Norman and co. are insisting the 2024 edition will be even better…
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LIV’s teams component remains its unique selling proposition. There’s room for refinement, but non-golf fans who follow team sports stand to be drawn to Ripper GC, the Crushers and co. in ways that individual golfers alone can’t inspire.
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One reason why golf – and golf courses – finds itself under attack from councils and governments is because our sport has done a poor job of educating the broader community about the benefits of the game and its arenas. The disconnect between those of us inside the golf realm and the people outside it has never been wider. Bridging that gap is the game’s next challenge in Australia.
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The maturation of Jon Rahm – as a golfer and a person – has been one of the true highlights of the past seven or eight years. He’s a gifted golfer with an action built for his physique that is relentlessly effective, yet I like the way he’s retained his innate internal fire without fuming quite as much.
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How to describe the tantalising tightrope golfers walk when playing Augusta National? For Australians, let’s view it through the prism of an AFL forward. Picture a free kick from directly in front, 50 metres out. There are opponents all around you, but they can’t tackle you. This is purely about execution. Kick it through the big sticks and it’s six points. OK, here comes the difference. In this scenario, Augusta is the type of golf course where missing costs you six points. So execute and you get the full reward but mess it up – even only slightly – and you pay full price. Now go and experience that sensation 72 times… That’s partly why players shoot 65s and 80s there in the same week. The margins across that course are far slimmer than a 15-shot spread indicates.
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When Brooks Koepka finds “Beast Mode” at majors, everyone else had better look out. It’s an uncommon, intangible quality to be able to perform at your peak when the most is on the line, and Koepka has it.
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The Michael Block story from the PGA Championship provided the everyman quality that top-level golf needs every once in a while. I’m sure we all looked at Block, his unlikely T-15 finish, thought about the pro at our local golf club and wondered, Could that have been… you?
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Wyndham Clark was a worthy winner of the US Open, although (once again) Rory McIlroy should have left LA with the trophy. Meanwhile, the multifaceted North course at Los Angeles Country Club deserves to host America’s national championship at least once per decade.
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Brian Harman winning the Open Championship despite notching only two previous PGA Tour victories is more a reflection of the inherent ‘openness’ of The Open than it is any slight on the championship. All 156 starters had a legitimate chance to win if they authored the golf week of their lives, which can’t always be said of the other majors. For instance, brawny Oak Hill (site of the 2023 PGA Championship) would never have revealed a winner like Harman, even on his best week. That’s why The Open remains king among the majors.
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That it took so long for women’s golf to take major championships to the game’s best venues is sad, but it also represents an opportunity for the future. There is simply no reason for any of golf’s nine majors to visit even an 8-out-of-10 venue.
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I followed Viktor Hovland for a few holes during the 2018 Australian Open. He was on his way to becoming the top-ranked amateur in the world and it was clear why. One long-iron shot – which soared onto the green of The Lakes’ daunting 11th hole – showed it. Today, I see not just a gifted golfer but one who’s clearly comfortable in his own skin. There’s no statistical metric for that on tour, but it certainly counts for a lot.
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The Ryder Cup is still a phenomenal event, a window into the souls of Europe’s and America’s best golfers that we don’t get to see in the 103 weeks in between. But as a competition, the current ‘home side wins in a landslide’ era is becoming more and more tedious with each lopsided result. The Solheim Cup is crushing the Ryder Cup in terms of being a contest.
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Logistically, this year’s Australian Open was better than the first concurrently held championships in 2022. However, there are still improvements that can be made, mainly in the TV broadcast space. Too many key shots were missed, while the round one and two broadcasts need to begin earlier than midday.
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I believe Jason Day will play in the Australian Open again someday. When, exactly, is anyone’s guess.
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While I understand the counter-argument, count me among the people who thought Tiger Woods handing Justin Thomas a tampon mid-round at Riviera was a harmless joke between friends. Although I do wonder what Woods’ teenage daughter thought…
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The standard of bunker raking by club golfers continues to deteriorate.
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A 12-handicapper is not an A-grade golfer. In reality, an 8 or 9-marker probably isn’t either.
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Quote of the year goes to Charley Hull, who, while firmly in contention and deliberating over whether to lay up or go for the green on the 72nd hole of the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach, opted for the more aggressive play by declaring to her caddie: “Shy kids don’t get sweets.” Hull made a closing par to share second place, yet her intent – and words – were worthy of a trophy.
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Parting thought: Tiger Woods is not yet exempt into the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst No.2, where he’s finished third and second in the two US Opens he’s played there.
Getty images: daniel pockett, harry how, david cannon
