Golf Year 2023: Highlights

The PGA Tour golf season is already underway. The 2023 calendar year kicked off on January 5 with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which was dominated by Spanish golfer Jon Rahm. Now fans are looking forward to more exciting tournaments, which will of course include the majors. The traditional Ryder Cup is also waiting for us after the season.

The year 2022 was a very turbulent one with the arrival of LIV Golf on the scene. In 2023 it will probably be no different, the conflict between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will escalate. Yet, in between all of this, golf will be played. What can we look forward to?

24.-February 28, 2023
LIV Golf season kicks off

Just the start of the second season of the LIV Golf League will be one of the exciting milestones of this calendar year. Although there are still many question marks surrounding the season schedule, the season is set to begin in Mexico on February 24.

We are still waiting for the complete list of tournaments, the starting field, as well as information about the television contract, which LIV representatives were still raving about in the fall.

Defender: Cameron Smith

9.-March 12, 2023
Players Championship

The PGA Tour season offers many tournaments, but few have as strong a buzz as the Players Championship. The tournament features fifty of the best players.

Last year, the winner took $3.6 million, with a record $20 million in the pot. This year, the total is expected to rise even higher. The tournament has been held since 1974 and is one of the most heavily subsidized events in the professional golf world.

Defender: Cameron Smith

6.-April 9, 2023
The Masters

In the spring we can traditionally look forward to one of the most watched tournaments in the professional golf world. The Masters generates extraordinary interest among golf enthusiasts every year. This year, however, will be even more special.

It is a tradition before the Masters that the winner of the last edition hosts a dinner for all previous champions. However, Major tournaments do not follow the classic PGA Tour rules. So it means that for the first time, PGA Tour and LIV golfers will be in the same room.

Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler

18.-May 21, 2023
PGA Championship

The second major of 2023 is coming up next month. Interestingly, the venue changes every year. This year, the famous tournament will visit Oak Hill Country Club in New York, where the PGA Tour returns after nine long years.

The tournament is hosted by the PGA of America, an organization of club golf professionals. Up until 2018, the event was held exclusively in mid-August, also concluding the season’s series of majors. As of 2019, it is played in May.

Defender: Justin Thomas

15.-June 18, 2023
US Open

The third major of the season moves to Los Angeles this year on the unique North Course, which sits inconspicuously amidst the skyscrapers and urban sprawl near Beverly Hills.

Organizers have dubbed the event as an “intimate” Open because only 22,000 tickets will be distributed for one day of play. The tournament is being held as part of the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

Defender: Matt Fitzpatrick

20.-23 July 2023
Open Championship

Major number four is one of golf’s oldest tournaments ever, having celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. Last year it was held at the famous Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, this year it will visit Royal Liverpool in England.

Winner Cameron Smith answered burning questions after the tournament about his possible move to the LIV. “Man, I won a tournament like this and now you’re asking me this?” he retorted to a reporter at a press conference. A month later, Smith transferred.

Def: Cameron Smith

10.- August 13, 2023
FedEx Cup playoffs begin

Compared to years past, there will be one major change in the season’s highlights. Previously, the top 125 players qualified for the first PGA Tour playoff tournament at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, but now that number will be narrowed to 70 golfers.

The top 50 will then advance to the second playoff event (the BMW Championship) and only the top 30 will play the season-ending event (the Tour Championship).

2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs Schedule

august 10-13
St. Jude Championship

aug. 17-10
BMW Championship

aug. 24-27
Tour Championship

29. september – 1 October 2023
Ryder Cup

The team competition between the USA and Europe is one of the biggest and most watched events on the sporting scene. It is one of the few recent sporting events that is played for pure prestige and not for fat financial cheques.

This year the Ryder Cup will be very different as it will be missing a large number of players who have chosen to link their careers with the innovative LIV Golf venture.

Ryder Cup officials have excluded these players from their community. Europe will be looking to avenge the crushing defeat it suffered in Wisconsin on home soil near Rome.

Source: Golf Digest