Golf Year-In-Review 2023: Best Player, Rookie, Shot, Round, Social Media Post And More To Relive Another Batshit Year
Our sport will, eventually, return to homeostasis. It won’t always be so politically charged, so chaotic, so distinctly reminiscent of a soap opera. It wasn’t all that long ago that a round of golf taking 5.5 hours constituted a “controversy” in our game. Those were simpler times. Not necessarily better or worse. Just simpler.
If 2022 kicked off this existential Battle of the Tours, 2023 taught us that no one really has any fucking clue what’s going on, nor what the future looks like. The PGA Tour jacked up prize money with funds they didn’t really have. LIV continued to hemorrhage money they definitely do have. Then the two parties negotiated in the middle of the night, behind bulletproof doors, somehow managed to avoid any leaks, then suddenly appeared on CNBC on a random June Wednesday to announce a merger…no, wait, an agreement to eventually merge…well, technically, it’s with the Public Investment Fund, not LIV Golf…actually it’s really just a “framework agreement…and now? Who the hell knows?
The future remains a total and complete mystery. The last few years have been a dizzying whirlwind, but I’ll be damned if they haven’t been entertaining as hell. With that, let’s take look back at the 2023 in golf through the lens of the Golfies—which, as you may have guessed, are year-end awards, decided by a panel of one. I’m not sure when simply adding “ies” to the end of a word became standard procedure for award-naming, but alas. Nominees are in italics, winners in italics and bold.
Player of the Year
Viktor Hovland
Jon Rahm
Scottie Scheffler
If this were the PGA Tour Player of the Year award I'd likely lean Scheffler. He "only" won twice (thrice if you include the 20-person Hero World Challenge, which I don't but the Official World Golf ranking does) but posted 12 top-three finishes, 17 top 10s, 21 top 25s and didn't miss a single cut in 23 starts. It was, by metrics of consistency, one of the strongest seasons in PGA Tour history. This award going to Rahm, then, feels like a sign of the times and the tour's diminishing stranglehold over professional golf. If these past few years have taught us anything…first, it's that these guys play golf for money. Second, it's that the majors are what truly matters in this sport, and the PGA Tour's inability to get one of the major championships underneath its own umbrella robbed them of precoius leverage in trying to dissuade guys from joining LIV Golf. If they can still play the majors, they can still build a legacy, because it's in those four tournaments that legends are built. Rahm gets the edge thanks mostly to his Masters victory, but there was also a T2 at the Open Championship and a top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. He also won more non-major PGA Tour events (three) than Scheffler did (two). His recent move to LIV Golf added a final, wild chapter to a particularly eventful year for the 29-year-old Spaniard. Hovland finishes a very distant third but might be the finest player on the planet at this very moment. Gun to my head, he's the pick to win this award in 2024.
Rookie of the Year
Ludvig Aberg
Eric Cole
Vincent Normann
No contest here. Aberg catapulted to stardom this summer in a genuinely historic rise. After winning the PGA Tour University program and earning his PGA Tour card immediately—a side note: every time I talk to a pro older than, say, 28, there's always a version of why the hell didn't this program exist when i was in college?—the big Swede quickly showed there would be no acclimation process necessary. Since turning professional, in just 14 events, he's won both on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour and posted 11 top-25 finishes. He became the first player ever to feature in a Ryder Cup before playing his first major championship and won two points for Luke Donald's side. And it's not just what he's accomplished, it's how he's doing it: with generationally good ball striking. He is, still less than a year into his pro career, one of the two or three best drivers of the ball in the world. That's a formula that travels. Could he be the first player to win in his first Masters start since 1979?
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Breakthrough Player of the Year
Wyndham Clark
Talor Gooch
Brian Harman
Min Woo Lee
Sepp Straka
This award requires a bit of explanation as to how it's different from the rookie award. To be eligible, you've had to be a professional for at least a few years and then elevate your play to a new level. Clark perfectly personifies this career arc. He's always had the talent and the belief that he should be up there with the Rorys and Rahms. But should is a funny word in sport, and Clark knew he needed to make a change to unlock his very-evident physical potential. Significant work with a sports psychologist produced a new mantra of "playing big." It can veer toward cockiness at times but stops just short, and thjs newfound boldness keyed a truly breakout season. Clark went from a fringe FedEx playoffs, hope-to-keep-the-card guy to a major champion and Ryder Cupper. He dominated a world-class field to win the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow then played spoiler to the Rory-Rickie battle at LACC. He certainly took his time celebrating that U.S. Open victory and has not played particularly well in the months since, but 2023 will always be the year that Clark became one of the guys.
Comeback Player of the Year
Jason Day
Rickie Fowler
Lucas Glover
Justin Rose
It felt like some different player was breaking a five-plus year winless streak every week this year on the PGA Tour. Day returned to the winner's circle in Dallas; Fowler in Detroit; a very-sweaty Glover in Greensboro, and then again the next week in Memphis; Rose at Pebble Beach, which he parlayed into a Ryder Cup spot, which he parlayed into an epic elder-statesman performance in Rome. Fowler also played his way to Marco Simone and now sits inside the top 25 of the (much-maligned) world rankings after dipping as low as No. 185. His chase for that breakthrough major championship—which looked so attainable at LACC before a clunker on Sunday—begun once again in earnest in 2023.
Shot of the Year
Clark's pin-rattling approach into 18 on Saturday of U.S. Open
Fleetwood's drive to clinch the Ryder Cup
Michael Block ace on Sunday of PGA Championship
Hovland's chip-in to begin the Ryder Cup
Min Woo Lee's breathtaking approach from the pine straw in Australia
McIlroy's stinger approach into 18 at Scottish Open
(Putts are ineligible, as always.) It was an immediate harbinger of danger for the Americans. Viktor Hovland, fresh off winning the FedEx Cup and sporting a dramatically improved short game, was playing in the second foursomes match on Friday morning with his Scandinavian brethren Ludvig Aberg. He missed the green just long and right, setting up a tricky up-and-down to a back-left pin. Hovland immediately reached for his wedge, a tell-tale sign of just how confident he was feeling. There's no stage in golf quite like the Ryder Cup, and a cheek-clenching chip, off a barren lie, in chilly weather is the stuff of nightmares when you're feeling the nerves on the first hole. He nipped it absolutely perfectly and it trickled over the front lip. The Europeans were off and running, and Hovland was in full flight as the finest golfer on the planet. His short-game coach, Joe Mayo, deserves major credit for turning Hovland's lone weakness into a bonafide strength.
Round of the Year
DeChambeau's 58 to win LIV Greenbrier
Fowler/Schauffele shoot first 62s in U.S. Open history
Hovland's 61 to win the BMW Championship
Rahm's 65 after doubling the first on Thursday at Augusta
Scheffler's 65 on Saturday at TPC Sawgrass
No human being has any business shooting 61 at Olympia Fields. I know it played way softer than it did in 2020 or in prior major championships. I don't care. That's a preposterous number, and he did it with a back-nine 28 to leapfrog two major champions in Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick. He was a machine that day, and in that moment I promised not to let myself think there was a better round of golf played all year no matter what happens. I'm holding true to that promise.
Best Finish of the Year (non-major division)
Fitzpatrick beats Spieth with another walk-off 9 iron at Harbour Town
Chris Kirk defeats Eric Cole in compelling Honda Classic
McIlroy denies MacIntyre a home win at the Scottish Open
Rahm edges Homa in emotional battle at Riviera
Nick Taylor cans a 72-foot eagle to win the Canadian Open
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National Opens are some of golf's best assets—old, proud tournaments with rich histories, that mean something to the people from that country. A Canadian hadn't won the Canadian Open since 1954. Moe Norman never got it done. Neither did Mike Weir or Stephen Ames. Corey Conners hasn't been able to. Enter Nick Taylor, a 35-year-old from Winnipeg who became a national hero when he sank a 72-foot eagle putt on the first. CBS did a great job buildling the drama of the moment by showing Taylors fellow Canadians—they all hang out, play practice rounds together on tour, their families are close etc.—watching along, slugging beers as they cheered on their compatriot. Tommy Fleetwood was the villain in this situation which is funny because Tommy Fleetwood is the furthest thing from a villain, and there were plenty watching on TV who wanted Fleetwood to finally get that first PGA Tour victory. But on the ground at Oakdale Golf Club there were no conflicted feelings, and Taylor's putt sent the place into a frenzy. Adam Hadwin ran onto the green only to get leveled by a security guard, which only added to the magic of the moment. It was the longest made putt of Taylor's PGA Tour career. How can you not be romantic about national opens?
Performance of the Year
Harman holds steady at Hoylake
Koepka gets major No. 5 at the PGA Championship
Rahm wins marathon Masters in rain
Scheffler dominates the Players
We couldn't not show Harman some love. He won his hist major championship at 36 years old in hostile territory, and he did it by six. And yes, we said hostile territory in reference to the English fans at Royal Liverpool, who are usually a decorous bunch but might've been a bit cranky with how cold and rainy and windy it was all week. They simply did not want a dip-chewing, deer-hunting, Georgia-Bulldog-loving American to suck the life out of their tournament. But that's exactly what he did. Harman's always been a fierce competitor who plays with a chip on his shoulder. He's not as big, not as naturally gifted, doesn't hit it as far as the guys he plays against every week. But he's a solid-as-hell player with one of the world's best short games, and he turned the ribbing from fans into motivation. He specifically cited one exchange in which a fan told him he "didn't have the stones" to close out the tournament. He absolutely did, though.
Rules Dispute of the Year
Fitzpatrick reports Morikawa's caddie for writing in his green book
Brooks Koepka flashes the 'FIVE' at the Masters
Korn Ferry Tour players receive penalty for riding an unauthorized golf-cart shuttle
Patrick Reed claims he can 100% identify his ball in a tree, despite video seemingly showing it went in a different tree
This was quite a year for the ol' rulebook, and these are four strong candidates. Still, we were this close to a guy winning the Masters after a significant rules controversy, and that's always going to be the dominant rules story of the year. (See: Tiger Woods, 2013 Masters). The greencoats of Augusta National must've breathed a sigh of relief when Rahm overtook Koepka on Masters Sunday, for they would've had a genuine situation on their hands had Koepka held on. This was on the 15th hole on Thursday as Koepka was en route to shooting a seven-under 65. A camera showed Koepka's caddie, Ricky Elliott, mouthing the word "five." That could've been a rules violation if he was passing information to a fellow player or caddie, but he could also easily have been mouthing the number to a camera operator or on-course reporter to aid the broadcast. But then a different angle seemed to show Koepka opening his hand to demonstrate the number five just as Gary Woodland's caddie was looking right back at him. Koepka maintained that he wasn't doing anything untoward, and his reputation as a cold-blooded killer in competition aided in his defense. Brooks doesn't seem like the kind of guy to give his opponent help in battle. Still, many were unconvinced. Legendary golf writer Michael Bamberger wrote an article with the tagline "Masters officials dropped the ball by not assessing a penalty after an exchange between the caddies for Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland." Now just imagine if he'd won…
Social Media Post of the Year
Max Homa correctly predicts (already knew?) Jon Rahm's jacket choice in LIV press conference
"I don't take divots."
Phil Mickelson vs. Alan Shipnuck
Rory McIlroy returns to Twitter, roasts Henrik Stenson
A runaway winner. This might be the funniest video in the history of the Golf Internet. The world's top-ranked player asks the world's greatest-ever player why he is not taking divots, as every professional golfer does. The GOAT lies through his teeth, and the world No. 1. is dumfounded. But he doesn't feel comfortable challenging the GOAT, so he leaves it to the rest of the internet to find definitive proof that Woods does, indeed, take divots. There are full compilations of Tiger carving full compilations, by the way, if you're into that sort of thing. Yeah, just one of the best pieces of content we've seen in a while. Scheffler has zero idea what to say or how to react. It's golden. TaylorMade followed up on this with Tiger and he justified it by saying when he was younger his swing was "wide and zeroed," continuing his habit of adding new words to the golf lexicon. It also didn't explain why he said to Scheffler, less than a year ago, that he does not take divots. Then our guys Trent and Frankie reinvented the video to keep the content train moving.
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"No divots" gift that keeps on giving.
Feel-Good Story of the Year
Wyndham Clark wins U.S. Open, immediately thinks of mother
Erik Van Rooyen wins for Jon Trasamar
Hayden Springer gets PGA Tour card one month after death of his daughter
Camillo Villegas wins for first time after passing of daughter Mia
All certified tear-jerkers and there are, as the award's name would suggest, no losers in this category. Van Rooyen's victory was part of a compelling stretch of the fall season; one of the guys he beat to win in Mexico was Villegas, who then won the following event. Van Rooyen played truly inspired golf down the stretch, shooting a closing 28 on the back-nine for his second PGA Tour victory. He then dedicated the win to his Univeristy of Minnesota golf teammate Jon Trasamar, who had just a few weeks left to live as he battled melanoma. Van Rooyen broke into tears while collecting the trophy. He then brought it back to Minnesota to visit Trasmar on last time. Eleven days later, he was gone.
What the fuck is going on? Moment of the Year
Official World Golf Ranking denies LIV Golf application for points
Phil Mickelson finishes second at the Masters out of absolutely nowhere
Patrick Reed tosses 4 Aces tee at Rory McIlroy in Dubai
PGA Tour, Saudi Public Investment Fund reach "Framework Agreement"
Ryder Cup awakens from slumber thanks to Patrick Cantlay and HatGate
Last year, Jay Monahan went on national television to essentially tie golfers who went to LIV Golf to 9/11. Speaking slowly and solemnly, with his organization under existential threat, he went on CBS to ask players if they've ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour. He banned those players from playing in his events. He told players, publicly and privately, that the Saudis were horrible people who were trying to buy the game of golf. Next thing you know he's sitting right next to Yasir al-Rumayyan on CNBC, looking like he hasn't slept in days, saying how happy he is to have a "world-class investor" on board with the PGA Tour. It's impossible to overstate just how stunning that June. 6 announcement was. Forget the whole swearing-enemies-then-doing-the-exact-opposite move from Jay Monahan; just pulling off a negotiation of that magnitude without having it leak is incredible. The announcement brought with it heaps of questions that we still don't know the answers to: What is the future of LIV? Will it be incorporated into the PGA Tour? What's the reintegration process for LIV players to get back on the PGA Tour? How will the guys who stayed on the PGA Tour be rewarded for their loyalty? What happens to Norman? Monahan? Here's the thing, though: all those questions are predicated on their actually being a deal. Now, we don't know whether there will even be a deal. That's 2023 in Golf for you.
Can't wait for 2024…
—Dan