Rory and Rahm, Greg Norman, Lydia Ko, OWGR tweaks

Check in each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the most popular matters within the sport, and be part of the dialog by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, our group breaks down the finales on the DP World and LPGA Tours, Rory McIlroy’s touch upon Greg Norman, and Jon Rahm’s tackle the OWGR.

1. The DP World Tour Championship was not with out star energy, with Jon Rahm profitable the match and Rory McIlroy clinching the season-long factors title. Afterward, McIlroy talked of his play being as full because it’s ever been, and Rahm famous that his effort on and across the greens, a perceived weak point this 12 months, saved him this week. All good things. With each stars hitting their strides, who may have a much bigger 2023?

Jack Hirsh, Assistant Editor (@JR_HIRSHey): It’s fascinating as a result of Rahm most likely must win at a steadier clip on the PGA Tour whereas McIlroy, who has been doing that, must win a significant. But it received’t matter the remainder of the season if McIlroy ends his main drought, and that’s one thing I believe he’ll do in 2023. McIlroy has completed within the top-8 in 12 of his previous 15 worldwide occasions, and whereas that sizzling streak isn’t any fluke, considering it’s sustainable might be silly. I may see Rahm profitable two or 3 times subsequent 12 months, but when McIlroy simply wins one main, we’ll name his 12 months “bigger.”

Dylan Dethier, Senior Writer (@dylan_dethier): By any measure, Rory McIlroy is enjoying the very best golf of anyone on this planet. I’d anticipate him to proceed — however I’d additionally anticipate Rahm to complete subsequent 12 months increased than No. 5 on this planet, the place he presently stands. Both had big-time seasons. Both may also be hungry for main championships subsequent 12 months, although …

Josh Sens, Senior Writer (@joshsens): Anyone who thinks they will forecast a sport this fickle is fooling themselves. That mentioned, Rory shouldn’t be solely going to have the larger season, he’s going to seize the profession grand slam when he wins the Masters. Book it.

2. On the LPGA Tour, Lydia Ko held off Leona Maguire to win, for the second time, each the CME Group World Tour Championship and the Rolex Player of the Year honor. With the ladies’s season now behind us, what will likely be your enduring reminiscence?

Hirsh: I’m certain I’ll be echoed under (or possibly saying this may power everybody to choose one thing else), however this was Lydia Ko’s 12 months. She talked about her mother joking she was higher when she was a young person, however now she’s put collectively her first multi-win season in her 20s and appears to move into her late 20s with a little bit of a spring in her step. We actually have but to see a lot of a Ko-Nelly Korda rivalry, however that may very well be actually enjoyable in the event that they find yourself buying and selling No. 1 over the course of the subsequent couple of years.

Dethier: Jack’s proper; on the finish, this turned Lydia Ko’s 12 months. I additionally actually loved Minjee Lee’s alpha play on the U.S. Women’s Open. But even when I’m swayed by recency bias or my love for a comeback story, Nelly Korda’s victory final week to reclaim her World No. 1 rating after months of uncertainty had me all fired up.

Sens: Ko has lengthy been probably the most likable participant in skilled golf, so watching her not solely regain her type however regain it with the grace and humor she has at all times proven, even when her sport was within the tank, was the spotlight. But the larger information is perhaps the LPGA’s just-unveiled 2023 schedule, with a record-breaking whole prize fund of greater than $100 million. Talk of cash in golf today is mostly obnoxious and fueled by synthetic markets (see: just about something associated to LIV and the PGA Tour newly added participant perks), however this prize enhance displays one thing welcome in regards to the progress and recognition of the ladies’s sport. 

3. Earlier within the week, when requested what the PGA Tour and LIV Golf may do to presumably discover peace, Rory McIlroy mentioned: “I think Greg [Norman] needs to go. I think he just needs to exit stage left. He’s made his mark but I think now is the right time to sort of say, look, you’ve got this thing off the ground but no one is going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that can actually try to mend fences.” Whew! But does he have some extent?

Hirsh: This was one thing McIlroy and Rahm agreed on, and I do too. If Norman hadn’t been main the LIV cost from nearly the start, I believe it’s fairly probably we’d be in a a lot completely different house than we’re right now. If Norman goes away, doubtlessly Monahan can be open to some form of “peace agreement,” and I believe that’s finally what’s finest for the sport. Let’s face it, competitors is nice, however not attending to see a phase of gamers, a few of whom are very, very, excellent, play often towards the remainder of the very best gamers on this planet shouldn’t be an excellent factor.

Dethier: If the golf world is in search of some form of compromise, that might really feel extra probably beneath somebody like Mark King, who has been rumored as Norman’s potential substitute, than it might beneath Norman, who has embraced his function as a disruptor and because the thorn within the PGA Tour’s facet.

Sens: A Camp David-style assembly positively appears extra probably with out Norman within the combine. But coming to the desk shouldn’t be the identical as leaving with a compromise. With or with out Norman, the identical sticky points stay.

4. Also earlier within the week, in response to the DP World Tour Championship receiving fewer world rating factors than the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic, Jon Rahm mentioned: “The fact that the RSM doesn’t have any of the top 20 in the world has more points than this event [DP World Tour Championship] where we have seven of the top 20 is laughable. The fact that Wentworth [BMW PGA Championship] had less points than Napa [Fortinet Championship], having players in the top 10 in the world is laughable.” Whew! But does he have some extent?

Hirsh: Adam Svensson acquired extra factors for profitable this week than Rahm acquired for profitable the finale on the world’s second-biggest tour? Yeah … that is sensible.

Dethier: Yeah, it looks like Rahm does have some extent. While the adjustments appear typically smart and like an enchancment, they’re not good. And based mostly on the viewpoints of some individuals smarter than me, it looks like the OWGR erred of their dealing with of smaller fields. While we’ve seen that the OWGR doesn’t prefer to rush to make adjustments (cc: Greg Norman), I’m hoping they will re-evaluate a few of these; my understanding is that Rahm needs to be getting extra factors for profitable a small-field occasion than he truly acquired.

Sens: The rankings could also be imperfect (that’s what occurs once you attempt to quantify what can’t finally be quantified with out some margin of error), however with the current enhancements, they’re not “laughable.” This isn’t simply in regards to the high gamers within the area. It’s in regards to the entirety of the sector. I’ll defer to the stat grasp Mark Broadie on this one. As he identified within the press this week, the winner of the DP championship needed to beat 49 gamers, 34 of whom ranked within the high 200. The winner of the RSM needed to beat 155 gamers, 68 of whom ranked within the high 200. By Broadie’s math, the second problem is harder. That’s sufficient for me.

5. On the PGA Tour, Golfweek reported that Honda, the longest-running title sponsor on the PGA Tour, will now not assist the once-popular Honda Classic, which is presently performed at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The 2023 version of the match in February will likely be Honda’s final, ending a 42-year run. The information comes on the heels of the PGA Tour’s current determination to designate 13 tournaments on the 2023 schedule as “elevated events” — that means the purse dimension of every will swell to $20 million. Is the Honda transfer a trigger for concern, or only a blip?

Hirsh: This turned a reasonably sizzling occasion about 10 years in the past when seemingly each professional was transferring to close by Jupiter, however transferring the Players again to March has actually damage it. It was at all times going to be powerful to make this one an elevated occasion, even on a rotating foundation, and I don’t blame Honda for wanting to maneuver on, seeing as if there was no path to elevated standing. That being mentioned, I don’t assume the Tour may have bother promoting a brand new sponsor. It’s one factor when you might have a legacy sponsor who needs to be handled like everybody else, and a totally completely different factor when you might have somebody are available in from the skin with the complete expectation of what is going to occur.

Dethier: If some occasions are going to be elevated occasions, which means different occasions are … not elevated. Time will inform if it is a harbinger of issues to come back, however let’s not overreact to at least one sponsor turning over. In years previous, the Honda Classic was house to battles between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Getting sandwiched in between larger occasions was by no means going to finish nicely for a sponsor with excessive expectations.

Sens: I do assume it’s an indication of extra to come back. But not an incredible trigger for concern. Just additional recognition of the truth that a small variety of occasions appeal to the lion’s share of curiosity. In that sense, you can see it as a wholesome adjustment available in the market, with non-elevated occasions having to strike up relationships with those that are content material with the smaller publicity that these occasions present.

6. ‘Tis the season for giving thanks. For which golf growth or storyline have been you most grateful in 2022?

Hirsh: The golf growth I’m most grateful for in 2022 was GOLF’s determination to rent Jack Hirsh this summer time. Great transfer, if I don’t say so myself.

Dethier: Happy to have you ever, Hirsh, so long as you steer clear of the third particular person. While I’m uneasy in regards to the division of the lads’s skilled sport, I’m grateful the PGA Tour has re-evaluated its product. I believe 2023 has a lot to get enthusiastic about.

Sens: Like plenty of followers, I believe, I used to be turned off by plenty of what went down in skilled golf this 12 months. I’m far more grateful for what I’ve seen within the leisure sport. Lots of rejuvenated munis across the nation, for example, propelled partially by the Covid increase but additionally by a rising consciousness that golf can contribute to the higher public good. Glen Golf Park in Madison, Wisconsin is an effective instance— a revitalized muni that doubles as a public park, with live shows and different occasions that anybody can attend. It’s an incredible instance of how golf programs will be stitched into the material of on a regular basis civic life. It doesn’t need to be a zero-sum sport the place one earnings on the expense of the opposite.

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