Covering the 2023 professional golf season, finding out who wins and who loses the biggest tournaments in Full Swing season 2 isn't going to be surprising. But what has proven to be the best thing about Full Swing is how it frames its storylines and offers never-before-seen footage of the golfers off the course. In that case, Full Swing season 2 episode 1 had a great premise showing the diverging situations of Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka.
Even if you didn't watch Full Swing season 1, the Netflix sports docuseries' catches you up with the biggest headline in the opening moments of season 2: the budding rivalry between the PGA Tour, the established premier golf league in the world, and LIV Golf, the controversial, Saudi-funded newcomer that offered nine-figure contracts and a less demanding schedule to attract some of the biggest names in the game. At the start of the 2023 golf season, LIV was entering its first full year and the question on many people's minds was what would happen next?
Even as Full Swing season 2 episode 1 covers the first two majors of the year, there's a feeling of dread throughout the episode that this is the calm before the storm.
Rory's crusade
Despite pulling big names like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka (among others), Full Swing recounts that LIV wasn't exactly a powerhouse at the start of 2023. It had no substantial TV contact in the US, while the LIV guys were thought to be just taking the money and wouldn't be able to compete with the PGA Tour's best when they met up at majors.
Helping to lead that charge was Rory McIlroy, who became the defacto players' spokesperson for the PGA Tour, with fellow PGA Tour star Collin Morikawa going as far as calling him a "hero." But while Rory said that he wanted to "stand up" for what he believes the professional game should be and probably has the closest relationship among his peers with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, the role was not one he actively sought out and acknowledged it raised some challenges for his pursuits on the course.
Chief among those was winning his first major tournament (The Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and then Open Championship) since 2014.
The Masters
The first major of the year is always the Masters, always taking place Augusta National Golf Course, one of the most historic locations in golf. It's also the only major that Rory hasn't won in his career. If he does, he'd join a select club of players to win all four majors. This pursuit was one of the biggest storylines heading into the 2023 tournament, as was the curiosity of how LIV players in the field would perform, including Brooks Koepka.
Koepka was one of the main subjects of Full Swing season 1, where it showed that after various injuries he was struggling in his career, but was still one of the big names to join LIV. Returning to a field with PGA Tour players, Koepka believed he was as healthy as he'd been in a long time and ready to remind people he is one of the more dominant players in majors in recent years.
It would be a very different tournament for McIlroy and Koepka. McIlroy struggled in the first two rounds and wound up missing the cut (in a nice change from season 1, Full Swing doesn't feel the need to over explain what the cut is). Koepka, meanwhile, surged to the top of the leaderboard, eventually holding the outright lead heading into the final round. However, Kopeka stumbled and lost the lead and eventually the tournament to Jon Rahm, still a PGA Tour player at the time, though since the end of last season he joined LIV. But with Koepka's second-place finish and strong showings from other LIV golfers, the narrative changed and the idea that these guys were no longer among the best in the world was destroyed.
As one golf pundit put it, the question was no longer if a LIV player could win a major, it was when.
The PGA Championship
Rory and Koepka were again the big points of focus for the next major of the year, the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in New York. Defending PGA champ Justin Thomas commented before the tournament that there was a chippy relationship between the PGA and LIV guys, many of whom were present at a past PGA champions dinner before the tournament tees off.
But once again, LIV players played well, including Koepka, who after the third round was once again at the top of the leaderboard. Rory made the cut this time and was within striking distance, but he never got things rolling to be a legitimate threat to win, instead finishing in the top 10. Koepka, though, avoided a late collapse like he had at the Masters and ended up winning the tournament, his fifth major and the first major win by a LIV golfer since they left the PGA Tour. In a meta moment, a clip from the PGA Championship broadcast featured commentator Jim Nantz referencing Koepka's appearance in Full Swing season 1 as he walked up the final hole with the tournament secure.
Rory was candid that he isn't thrilled that another golfer of his era now had more majors than he does. In the locker room after his final round he talked with his coaches about needing a complete reboot to get him back to winning majors and called his struggles a "wake up call." Still, with all the reported animosity, Rory congratulated Kopeka when the two ran into each other in the parking lot after the tournament.
The bombshell
Two weeks after the PGA Championship, the news that shocked the golf world came out: the PGA Tour and those behind LIV Golf were planning a merger.
The reaction was one of complete and utter shock from golf journalists and the PGA Tour players, with the most common reaction being "what the f**k?", and others calling it a betrayal and a slap in the face. But what about Rory, who was the poster boy for the PGA and ally to Jay Monahan? He wonders why he just "wasted the last 12 months" of his life and career to defend the PGA when this was what would happen.
More fallout and reactions are coming in Full Swing season 2 episode 2.
The best from Full Swing season 2 episode 1
Here are some of the standout moments and people from Full Swing season 2 episode 1:
- Claude Harmon III, Koepka's coach, was easily one of the most interesting subjects in the episode. He said he was "keeping receipts" about people's criticism of LIV golfers and added other memorable bites and defenses of Kopeka, who apparently opted not to sit down for one-on-one interviews with Full Swing this season.
- The shenanigans of Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler hitting golf balls at a porta potty while Adam Hadwin is in there shows the fun side of the players
- Joel Dahmen makes a quick but fun self-deprecating appearance in the episode
- We got a couple of quick clips of Tiger Woods from his time at the Masters and an event with Rory (what would it take to get Tiger on Full Swing I wonder?)
- Jake Paul, whose show Koepka appeared on, is definitely not a golfer.
- Rory's playlists for the car include golf podcasts, DJ Khaled and Encanto (for his daughter Poppy).
All episodes of Full Swing season 2 are now streaming exclusively on Netflix. Check our our best shows on Netflix guide for more series to enjoy.
