The wish list for the 2023 PGA Tour season is almost as long as the holiday gift list. For the WM Phoenix Open alone we’d like to see another ace at 16 like Sam Ryder and for Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen to be paired together and come up with an even better celebration while keeping their clothes on.
We want to see Rickie Fowler return to the winner’s circle, Tom Kim to keep producing incredible feats at such a young age, Adam Scott to win another major with Steve Williams on the bag and Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari to reunite as Moli-wood in Rome at the Ryder Cup.
But we narrowed what we really want to see down to 11 things because 10 just wasn’t enough.
1
Rory wins a major
It would be most dramatic if he ended his major-less drought at the Masters, but let’s not be picky. He hasn’t won one since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
McIlroy returned to world No. 1 in October and seems poised for a monster season in 2023. At age 33, he seems to have a long runway ahead of him to add to his major total of four but this is around the age when Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson began their major droughts.
2
A career Grand Slam
I’m going to keep writing this every year until it happens.
There may be no greater career achievement in the modern era for golf considering that only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have ever done so.
McIlroy (needs the Masters), Jordan Spieth (needs the PGA) and Phil Mickelson (needs the U.S. Open) are three legs down and one to go.
McIlroy seems made for Augusta National but despite finishing a career-best second last year, he never really threatened Scottie Scheffler. Oak Hill, site of the PGA, typically produces winners who are ball strikers and Spieth fits that bill with his iron play. He finished 18th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in 2021-22, his best since he finished fourth in 2014-15 (he was 157th in 2018-19). And what about Phil? He hasn’t been a factor in a U.S. Open since 2013. But no one saw his PGA win at Kiawah in 2021 coming so can’t totally count him out either.
Their places in the history of the game already are secure, but completing the career Grand Slam puts them in rarefied company.
3
Win No. 83 for Tiger
It will be hard for Tiger to ever top winning the 2019 Masters, but if he were to win again on the PGA Tour in 2023, he would break the tie with Sam Snead for most Tour titles in a career. And after everything he’s been through following a single-car crash in February 2021, it would be a remarkable story of perseverance and further enhance Tiger’s legacy as the greatest of all time.
4
U.S. wins the Ryder Cup on foreign soil
It’s been a long time since the U.S. has won a road game at the Ryder Cup. In fact, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas weren’t alive the last time it happened. Yes, it’s been since 1993. The U.S. should have its best chance to end that streak of futility in Rome this year. Despite some losses to LIV, the U.S. team should still be stacked and the heart and soul of the team should be back and on a mission while the Euros are a team in transition. No matter, this should be one of the highlights of the year.
5
PGA Tour vs LIV Golf
Not in the courts but on the course, please. Perhaps these two bitter rivals could play nice long enough to map out a Ryder Cup style event between players from the two circuits. I’m not sure it could be bigger than the Ryder Cup but it might be. Greg Norman as a playing captain? Tiger vs Phil? Rory, Scottie or Rahmbo – whoever is No. 1 at the time – vs Cameron Smith? DJ, P Reed and Poulter representing LIV. It would be fascinating. It probably will never happen, but, please, let it happen.
6
#57Watch
We’re going on seven years since Jim Furyk lowered the bar and shot 58 at the 2016 Travelers Championship. Shooting 59 is still other-worldly but Mr. 58 is in a class by himself. He needs some company, or better yet, it would be insane to see someone shoot 57 in a PGA Tour event. Some PGA Tour courses, such as PGA National, you can forget about it, but there are some where it seems plausible if someone got in the zone and got a lot of luck from lady luck. I wouldn’t count on it, but hey, we can dream, right?
7
A dominant season
Scottie Scheffler had an incredible year, but when it was all said and done, you could still make a pretty strong case for Rory McIlroy or Cameron Smith to be the male golfer of the year. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Tigeresque season of all out dominance. Who could win multiple majors and rip off six to eight wins in a season? It’s going to be that much harder with the best players going head to head more often in the new elevated events but if someone can do it, my money is on Jon Rahm.
8
A new Patrick Reed emerges
Every great story needs a villain, that character we just love to hate. Super Man was nothing without Lex Luthor. Batman would just be a guy in funny tights and cool wheels without The Riddler and The Penguin. For better or worse, Patrick Reed filled that role on the PGA Tour for a variety of reasons.
But now that he and Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka and Sergio Garcia, to a certain extent, have left for richer pastures, the PGA Tour has a hole to fill. You can’t have a bunch of Rickie Fowlers and Jordan Spieths and Max Homas that everyone loves and roots for without having a bunch of “bad guys.” The PGA Tour needs to find a new P Reed in 2023 and it will be fun to see who emerges in the role.
9
Netflix nails it
The folks at Netflix picked quite the year to produce a documentary series, inspired by the popular Formula One show on Netflix, on the PGA Tour. Even Chad Mumm, the chief creative director at Vox Media Studios, couldn’t help hyping what is to come on social media.
“I try to manage expectations in general but having lived through it this year and now having sat through hours of edits and footage I can confidently say this was a good year to make a show about pro golf,” Mumm wrote in October. “There will be memes. I’ll leave it at that.”
Here’s hoping the series, which is due out in early February (rumor has it) delivers some never-before-seen footage and stories and makes a similar impact as it has for Formula One.
10
Mixed-gender tournaments
The Aussies are ahead of the curve on bringing the men and women golfers together. The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour supposedly have been working on their own version but it’s taken way too long. It has been reported that the QBE Shootout, which has had a few co-ed teams over the years, including two this year, will become a co-ed event, but let’s not stop there. That’s a silly season event. Let’s turn one of the non-elevated events into a co-ed event and mix things up. The U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open back-to-back at Pinehurst was a home run in 2014 and nearly a decade later we are still waiting for a repeat.
And while we’re at it, the tours around the world already are forming strategic alliances to ward off LIV Golf. Given that LIV has threatened to form its own women’s circuit, it may be time for the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour to merge. For it to happen in 2023, it would feel a bit like a shotgun wedding but nothing at this point would surprise me anymore.
11
The Match VIII
For starters, the post-Thanksgiving date, which was the mainstay for The Skins Game, should be the date, but let’s take this thing next level and form two teams of five from the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and the world of celebrity golf.
Team Tiger:
- Tiger Woods
- Justin Thomas
- Lexi Thompson
- Fred Couples
- Michael Jordan
Team Rory:
- Rory McIlroy
- Jordan Spieth
- Nelly Korda
- John Daly
- Steph Curry
I could see the format being either 12 or 18 holes and match play, just like in the popular NCAA team championship, which has become must-see-TV. $10 million on the line ($2 million per player). Night golf worked in the last Match for me but even if was played under the sun this time it would be epic.
