In a season lid-lifter edition, we applaud the PGA Tour Player of the Year award voting, the Maui mindset and a break in the war of words in the Tour-LIV Golf divide.
Made Cut
Scottie Do. Voting for the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year award, which went to Scottie Scheffler over Jon Rahm, provided an interesting spin on what players value. With Rahm, the Tour membership was voting on a four-time winner - including the Masters for his second major title - who had 10 top-10s in 18 starts. While Scheffler was a two-time winner, including The Players, with 17 top-10 showings in 23 starts and no missed cuts. Neither man won after April.
Some membership vote might have been swayed by Rahm’s jump to LIV Golf on Dec. 7 (the vote ran from Dec. 1 to Dec. 15), and the Spaniard’s selection as the Golf Writers Association of America Male Player of the Year is a testament to what he did both on and off the Tour, including his brilliant performance at the Ryder Cup.
But more than an indictment on Rahm’s choice to join the breakaway league, the decision to award Scheffler a second consecutive Jack Nicklaus Trophy was a glimpse into what top players most value - consistent great play.
Golf’s Home Run derby. This might not be a popular or timely take given the USGA’s and R&A’s decision to dial back distance, but this week’s Sentry is a reason to celebrate the long ball.
The season-opener at Kapalua is always one of the year’s most entertaining driving weeks thanks to generous fairways, wild elevation changes and strong winds. Eight of last season’s 10 longest drives came in Maui, including Luke List’s year’s-best 459-yard blast on the Plantation course’s seventh hole during the third round. This year looks to be more of the same with 69 drives of 400 yards or more on Day 1.
Whether the governing bodies needed to step in to save the game from increasing driving distances is a debate for another day. What’s not up for debate is how entertaining the product can be when the world’s best players are left to their own devices.
Made Cut-Did Not Finish (MDF)
What he said. With the extension of the negotiations between the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, optimism on both sides of the divide is growing and prompted some of the game’s hardliners to soften.
“I think, at this point, I was maybe a little judgmental of the guys who went to LIV Golf at the start, and I think it was a bit of a mistake on my part because I now realize that not everyone is in my position or in Tiger Woods’ position,” Rory McIlroy said this week on the Stick to Football podcast.
McIlroy has been particularly critical of LIV Golf since its inception and the players who joined the league. His recent comments prompted Phil Mickelson, who, sine joining LIV Golf, has traded barbs with the Northern Irishman on social media, to offer his own olive branch.
“This quote and the many others made today by Rory probably weren’t easy to say,” Mickelson wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday. “Let’s not use this as an opportunity to pile on. Rather, it’s time for me and others to let go of our hostilities and work toward a positive future.”
While civility from both sides is welcome, it still sounds a lot like an intervention where everyone is saying the right thing, but no one really believes it.
Playing opportunities. As part of the Tour’s transition to a calendar-year schedule highlighted by limited-field signature events, there will be a squeeze on playing opportunities.
Consider that the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship will all feature reduced fields (70-80 players) this year, which means players with conditional status will likely have about 10 percent fewer playing opportunities.
To counter that, the Tour plans to expand the fields for just this year at the Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open, Valero Texas Open (156 players) and Charles Schwab Challenge (132 players).
While this will help ease the squeeze for players getting starts, considering available daylight and pace of play issues, it also likely means a good number of rounds this year will be suspended because of darkness.
Missed Cut
Rookie mistake. While the outcome of the Player of Year award voting may have been a surprise to some, the real issue should have been the results of the Tour Rookie of the Year award balloting.
Eric Cole won the Arnold Palmer Award and is an inspiring story, having spent his adult life chasing the Tour dream. At 35, he becomes the second oldest to claim the Rookie of the Year award. Cole posted two runner-up showings and 14 top-25 finishes in 27 starts and he was also the only rookie to advance to the BMW Championship.
Where this feel-good story gets off the rails is when you consider that Cole beat Ludvig Åberg for the award. Åberg turned pro after a stellar college career in June and was brilliant in the fall with a victory at the RSM Classic, where he outdueled Cole on Sunday, and a runner-up finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship. In just 13 global starts, he also played his way into the top 30 in the world ranking and was a captain’s pick for the European Ryder Cup team.
As evidenced by the Player of the Year voting, there are multiple factors members consider when voting for a postseason award and this takes nothing away from Cole’s inspiring journey, but the outcome of the Rookie of the Year voting suggests most members weren’t paying attention during the fall.
