Ranking Things to Like So Far About 2023: Jon Rahm’s Fast Finish, Will Zalatoris’s Health, Tiger Woods Rules the PIP
Another golf season has begun. Technically. LIV Golf apparently won't hold its first event until late February, but The Ranking will forge ahead, anyway, on The New Era of Golf that the PGA Tour presented in almost-prime time from Kapalua, Hawaii. Was it a good week for golf? It was an Elevated Event so all hyperbole must be elevated, too. Let’s all just agree, then, that it was the greatest first week of a season ever. Not counting that week in 1866 when Old Tom Morris … never mind.
Some Things to Like in Golf So Far in 2023
April in Paris Augusta: The Masters Tournament offered a special invite to Gordon Sargent, a Vanderbilt University sophomore who won the NCAA title last year. It is the first time in more than two decades the Masters has given an invite to an amateur. And, of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with LIV Golf signing players out of college, such as Eugenio Chacarra, one of the players Sargent beat in a four-way playoff to win the NCAA championship. Nothing whatsoever.
The Return of Dr. Z: The last time we saw Will Zalatoris was at the BMW Championship, where he pulled out due to a back injury. Fears of a career-threatening injury proved unfounded. Zalatoris didn’t even require surgery. He said the way he pushes off his right side late in his swing was the cause of the problem. Instead of surgery, he operated on altering his swing and was able to start hitting balls in mid-December. Zalatoris finished 20 under par and tied for 11th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Give him a Z for effort.
Hoge dokey: This is the kind of thing you can do when you just won $840,000 for finishing third. Or you’re trying to pile up frequent-flyer miles. Tom Hoge, a Texas Christian University alum, planned to catch a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles to watch Monday night’s national championship game between Georgia and his beloved TCU Horned Frogs. Then he planned to fly back to Honolulu for this week’s Sony Hawaiian Open. The last time TCU was a national champ in football was 1938, the same year New York mandated syphilis tests in order to get a marriage license. The Ranking’s sources at Baylor University report there is no connection between the two.
The Theory of Elevated Wallets: As the first elevated event on the PGA Tour schedule, the Sentry Tournament of Champions packed a $15 million purse. How elevated was it? Winner Jon Rahm won $2.7 million; runner-up Colin Morikawa pocketed $1.5 million (which used to be good first-place dough); and last-place finisher Chad Ramey, who finished 25 shots back in 38th, snagged $201,000. Nice work if you can get it. In an unrelated matter, The Ranking’s GoFundMe page will be starting shortly.
The X Files: This can’t be good. Former Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele withdrew partway through the T of C with a back problem and returned home to Las Vegas to see a doctor. Not how anyone wants to start the season.
Mount Morikawa erupts: The radically low scoring at Kapalua makes any mistakes look worse than they are, but there’s no getting around the fact that Collin Morikawa effectively butt-fumbled at the goal line in the T of C’s final round. He didn’t make a bogey in the first three rounds and shot no higher than 66. His bogey-free streak reached 67 holes, then Morikawa bogeyed three in a row in the final round at 14, 15 and 16 and watched things slip away as Jon Rahm charged. Morikawa became the ninth player in a PGA Tour event to lose after holding a six-shot lead through 54 holes. Wonder if anyone connected with LIV Golf knows what that feels like?
Tiger rules the Tiger Rule: The PGA Tour’s new elevated events are tied to its Player Impact Program bonus money. It’s pretty simple. A player is allowed to miss only one of the events to be eligible for the PIP bonus. Last year, Woods played only nine rounds of golf but still got the $15 million first-place bonus. And PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told media members at Kapalua that Tiger isn’t going to get a deduction for not playing. What if other players miss more than one event like Woods certainly will, Monahan was asked? Will they get a pass, too? “Guys are going to play the events. So that’s the policy,” Monahan answered. “I have discretion, OK?” Place your bets, please: Tiger Woods wins his third straight PIP bonus in 2023 no matter how few events he plays.
The Rambo Factor: Last year, Jon Rahm shot 32 under par in the Sentry T of C and finished second. Last week, he posted a 9-under 64 in the opening round and a 10-under 63 Sunday to win, finishing at 27 under par. About the closing 63—Rahm bogeyed the first hole after starting the final round seven shots back. He ended up winning by two over 54-hole leader Morikawa. “Bit of a crazy day, I’m not going to lie,” Rahm said. The best part of 2023 may be watching Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy battle to see who’s going to be able to get—and keep—the No. 1 ranking. Or will Justin Thomas, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Houston or Connecticut join the battle? The Ranking will defer until the second half.