Advertisement

Controversial PGA Tour season wraps with Ludvig Aberg's extraordinary victory. What's next?

garry smits, jacksonville florida times-union
·6 min read
1

One of the most extraordinary PGA Tour seasons finished with a promising look to the future.

Ludvig Aberg torched the Sea Island Club Seaside Course with a 29-under-par 253 to win the RSM Classic, his first PGA Tour title (he's won on the DP World Tour) and likely the deciding factor in winning Rookie of the Year honors — after playing only six months and making 16 starts after he earned his status by finishing first on the inaugural PGA Tour University rankings.

Aberg, a native of Sweden who played college golf at Texas Tech, tied the Tour scoring record for 72 holes and will be one of a number of young players to watch in the upcoming season, along with two other rookie winners, fellow Swede Vincent Norrman and Nico Echavarria, plus DP World Championship winner Nicolas Hjogaard, Eric Cole and Min Woo Lee.

Players defend Johnson: JT, Fowler, Schauffele say Zach Johnson should have no Ryder regrets

The biggest ongoing story in professional golf on a worldwide basis was the battle — on the golf course and in the courts — between the Tour and the LIV Golf League, which is bankrolled by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.

The first six months of 2023 were a war of words, court filings and behind-the-scenes posturing and maneuvering until June 6, when Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yassir Al-Rumayyen announced a "framework agreement" that would bring LIV and the Tour under a for-profit model.

Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot at No. 14 of the Players Stadium Course during the 2023 Players Championship. Scheffler won the tournament to add to his Masters victory the year before.
Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot at No. 14 of the Players Stadium Course during the 2023 Players Championship. Scheffler won the tournament to add to his Masters victory the year before.

They self-imposed a Dec. 31 deadline and there appears to be no movement toward a final decision — especially with the U.S. Justice Department and a Senate committee watching their every move. The Tour sent a memo to players saying other investors could be forthcoming if the deal falls through.

The Tour had better — it has already announced a schedule that includes eight "Signature Events," along with The Players Championship, with purses between $20-25 million. In addition, the FedEx Cup champion will earn $25 million, up from last year's $18 million won by Viktor Hovland.

Here's a look ahead at the 2024 season:

Where are golf's major championships?

  • The Masters is April 11-14 at the Augusta National Golf Club, with Jon Rahm defending his title.

  • The PGA Championship is May 16-19 at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. Brooks Koepka is the defending champion (he won at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.). The last time the PGA was at Valhalla was in 2014, with Rory McIlroy winning.

  • The U.S. Open will be at Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C. Wyndham Clark is the defending champion, having won at the Los Angeles Country Club. The last winner at Pinehurst was Martin Kaymer in 2014.

  • The British Open will be at Royal Troon July 18-21. Brian Harman will defend the title he won at Royal Liverpool. The last Open champion at Troon was Henrik Stenson in 2016.

What else is huge next year?

  • The Players Championship will celebrate its 50th anniversary, the last 41 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Scottie Scheffler will defend his title March 14-17.

  • The Olympic golf competition will be July 29-Aug. 1 at the National Golf Course in Paris. The gold medalist in 2021 in Japan was Xander Schaufele.

  • The FedEx Cup playoffs will begin with the St. Jude Classic Aug. 15-18 at TPC Southwind in Memphis. The second leg will head west to Castle Pines in Colorado Aug. 22-25 and the top-30 on the points list after that go to East Lake in Atlanta Aug. 29-Sept. 1 to crown the new champion and his $25 million haul.

  • The Presidents Cup will be Sept. 25-29 at Royal Montreal, with Jacksonville resident Jim Furyk serving as the captain for the American team and Canadian Mike Weir for the International Team. The success of Canadians on the PGA Tour in recent years should create a wave of momentum, led by Nick Taylor’s victory in the Canadian Open. Taylor, Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes were all among the top-16 on the International team points list when the season ended.

About those Signature Events

There will be eight of them, with 80-player fields: the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Genesis Invitational, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Wells-Fargo Championship, The Memorial and the Travelers Championship. Only three will have 36-hole cuts (to the low-50), the Genesis, API and Memorial. The minimum purse is $20 million. The top 50 on the FedEx Cup points list is eligible, with events staggered to give players the ability to play their way in.

The Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am will become a PGA Tour "Signature Event" in 2024.
The Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am will become a PGA Tour "Signature Event" in 2024.

What else to look for on the PGA Tour in 2024

The Tour will unveil its new pace of play policy designed to take factors such as difficult course and weather conditions into play.

In simplest terms, it comes down to Average Stroke Time (AST). After each tournament, a player's average stroke time will be compared to the field average. If a player has an average stroke time of seven seconds or more above the field average, he is deemed to have an AST Infraction. They will be fined $2,000 upon reaching a 10th AST Infraction, $5,000 for each additional ST from the 11th-14th and $10,000 for each one at 15 or above.

Players will still be timed on the course and the process will begin for players who take 100 or more seconds to play a shot when it's their turn. The number of bad times before fines are assessed is reduced from 12 to 10.

Who were the top players of 2022-23?

A few predictions on the major award winners, which will be voted on by the PGA Tour members and the Golf Writers Association of America and released in December:

Player of the year: Hovland won the FedEx Cup and there's recent precedent for that season-long distinction carrying great weight with the Tour membership, even over players who won major championships. But Rahm won the Masters and was among the top three on the points race all season. It's hard to tell whether his fellow players respect or fear him more. Probably a combination of both and that might push him past Hovland.

Rookie of the year: If Aberg had not won the RSM Classic the pick would have been Eric Cole, who led all Tour rookies in top 10s (seven), top fives (six) and FedEx Cup points (43rd). He also led the Tour in total birdies. Echavarria and Norrman also won but they were in tournaments opposite Signature Events. Aberg is likely to be the pick based in large part on how dominant he was at Sea Island, plus the fact that he won a DP World Event and went 2-2 in the Ryder Cup pressure cooker.

Chris Kirk completed his comeback from substance abuse and depressions by winning again on the PGA Tour, at the Honda Classic.
Chris Kirk completed his comeback from substance abuse and depressions by winning again on the PGA Tour, at the Honda Classic.

Comeback player of the year: The PGA Tour already said it best in awarding Chris Kirk its Courage Award. Kirk left the Tour for six months in 2018 after admitting to alcoholism and depression and won on the Tour for the first time since when with a playoff victory over Cole at the Honda Classic.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Ludvig Aberg won to cap a controversial PGA Tour season. What's next?