Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we now know what we're watching on one December night.
Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.
Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.
Scottie Scheffler’s FedEx Cup title should lock up PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, despite Xander Schauffele winning two majors.
Bob Harig: FACT. It’s rare for a two-major year to go unrewarded but you simply can’t ignore the year-long domination of Scheffler. He’s won a major. He won the Players. He won the Olympics. He won tournaments in March, April, June, July and August. He’s won more tournaments than any player in 17 years. It’s a yearlong award.
Jeff Ritter: FACT. Xander’s major wins were a sweet breakthrough and part of an epic year, but Scheffler just polished off a Tiger-in-his-prime kind of year. Scottie is POY, case closed.
John Schwarb: FACT. Players respect consistency, so in a peer vote that’s gonna carry Scottie even over someone who won half the year's majors. Or if you think, um, the Tour has its finger on the scale in this ballot (of which the complete tally is never made public), Scottie also owns the Tour’s biggest hardware in the Players and FedEx Cup. Case closed.
Sahith Theegala took the honorable route Saturday in calling a penalty on himself for what he suspected was a slight movement of sand during his backswing in a bunker. But he had a point in wondering if the two-shot penalty is too harsh in the Rules of Golf.
Bob Harig: FACT. The rule is there to prevent a player from creating a better position from which to hit the ball. He hardly did that. Rules are rules, of course, but there is an overly harsh assessment of the rule.
Jeff Ritter: FACT. Here’s what I don’t understand: how could Theegala have not moved that sand during his backswing? Of course we need a rule that penalizes players for improving their lies, but to me a one-shot infraction for Theegala’s situation would be plenty.
John Schwarb: FICTION. Improving one’s lie is one of the cardinal sins in the rules and therefore comes with one of its biggest penalties shy of disqualification. Of course what Theegala did—or thought he might have done—didn’t improve his shot but there’s no gray area built into this rule. But the bottom line from this incident is that the player chose honor and that’s great to see with so much money at stake now.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan mentioned “fans” more than 50 times in his Tour Championship press conference, where he also said there’s no deadline in the Tour’s negotiations with LIV Golf’s backer. The 2024 PGA Tour season was a good one for fans.
Bob Harig: NEUTRAL. This can be argued in many ways. Did fans appreciate the TV product? There seems to be anecdotal evidence every week of something that fans are upset about when it comes to the various broadcasts and streaming options. As for the events themselves, certainly there were some very good ones. Having Hideki, Clark, Scottie and Rory winning them certainly doesn’t hurt.
Jeff Ritter: FICTION. The season had some epic moments, but the FedEx playoffs were sort of a dud and let’s be honest: the Tour is starting to miss Bryson, Rahm, Brooks and others on that LIV tour. No-name winners and Cinderella stories are nice, but the Tour would see its ratings spike if they can find a way to reunite the game.
John Schwarb: FACT. Though the Tour shouldn’t be so quick to pat itself on the back. As Bob said, the cream rose to the top in many weeks led by Scheffler’s historic season, there was a stunning amateur winner in Nick Dunlap (who then backed that up with a win as a pro) and the majors largely delivered (which had nothing to do with the Tour but the tournaments are folded into the schedule and many fans don’t know the difference). But unity atop the game is still nonexistent and a number of fans tuned out, as evidenced by declining ratings.
The day before the Tour Championship, the Tour hosted its new “Creator Classic” competition, featuring YouTube golf personalities. This is an idea worth keeping and repeating multiple times during the 2025 season.
Bob Harig: FACT. There are more scheduled for 2025 and the Tour should absolutely lean into this segment of the golf audience. The trick is to translate it into their own product. Can the Tour somehow integrate some of this? Can it offer a YouTube product that boils down its own tournaments with player interaction and highlights? There is a lot of room to grow here.
Jeff Ritter: FACT. There is some innovative, creative and wildly entertaining content happening in social media these days (some of it right here at SI Golf!), from an engaging and expanding group of influencers. The Tour is smart to embrace it.
John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. Nice to see the Tour acknowledge YouTubers and their popularity, but more “Creator Classics” in the same format will get stale quickly. How about alternate-shot matches pairing YouTubers and pros? Or getting the Korn Ferry Tour and/or PGA Tour Champions involved? Creativity isn’t always the Tour’s strong suit so I’m skeptical.
U.S. Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk went straight down the points list for his at-large picks, the right move for the matches later this month at Royal Melbourne.
Bob Harig: NEUTRAL. As one who believes there is way too much angst over these things, it is far more about how guys like Scheffler, Schauffele, Morikawa and Cantlay play. You need the best players to be strong, and at the Ryder Cup last year, that was not the case. If I were to quibble, you could argue that Harman could have easily been passed over. Henley has never played in one of these. Homa’s form has been off. All fair points. But is anyone outside of the group—such as Justin Thomas—an egregious omission? Doesn’t seem so.
Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Is working straight from the points list defensible? Of course. Does it potentially reduce criticism from players who were left out? Perhaps. Here’s the only question that matters: does picking straight from the points list give you the best possible roster to compete? And for that, I’m skeptical. A captain should get more creative and think about team dynamics and possible pairings when rounding out the roster.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fact or Fiction: The 2024 PGA Tour Season Was a Worthwhile One for Fans.
