Jon Rahm scored a stunning victory in Hawaii as the PGA Tour kicked off a new era
The Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first event of the PGA Tour’s newly created “elevated series” of tournaments on the 2023 PGA Tour, kicks off a new era in Golf in terms of prize money. The series of 13 events that average $20 million in prize money, includes a commitment from the top ranked 23 players in the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program ( based on social media exposure) to play in at least 12 of them, was the PGA’s response to the challenge posted by the Saudi-funded LIV Golf Tour.
In that respect, the new era of “elevated series” got off to a good start with eight of the top-10 ranked players in the field, and 13 of the world’s top 15. Only World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith, who has moved to the LIV Tour, were missing. This means that McIlroy has to play in the remaining 12 events, which means fans know when they will have the opportunity to see him in the flesh for the rest of the year and can plan accordingly.
At the tournament itself, on the course Colin Morikawa, ranked 11 th , seemed to have removed any suspense from the tournament when he took a six-shot lead into the final day, but he improbably imploded and Jon Rahm wound up beating him by two strokes to take the title. Morikawa tied the inglorious PGA record for losing the largest 54-hole lead at six shots, which had been done eight times previously, the most famous of which is Greg Norman’s collapse in the 1996 U.S. Masters.
Rahm won $2.7 million from the $15 million purse at Kapalua. He also gets 25% of his Player Impact Program (PIP) bonus money — he finished No. 5 in the PIP for $6 million. That adds up to a combined $4,2 million USD, or slightly more than LIV paid out to individual winners of its events last year (though LIV players can earn more because of the team prize money).
Coincidentally, Rahm wore red and black on Sunday, colours made famous by Tiger Woods. In his post-round comments, Rahm said he wore that combination by accident. He had planned to wear navy pants but was bored of them and his only other option was black. Looking back now, it seems like a fortuitous choice.
This was also Rahm’s third win in his last five starts, making him the hottest golfer in the world right now. It also means he has won an event on the PGA Tour for seven consecutive years, though he has never won more than twice in a year. And even that he has done only once. Might this is the year Rahm goes on to win a bunch of times like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy did last year?
As far as the top-10 in the OWGR goes (or top 8 in this case), apart from Rahm only two others finished in the top-10 in Hawaii – Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler both finished tied for seventh at 21-under.
Zooming in further, Rahm and Morikawa were followed by Tom Hoge, ranked 36 th in the world going into the event, and Max Homa, ranked 17 th , who finished tied fornthird, while Tom Kim, ranked 15 th finished in a tie for fifth alongside JJ Spaun, who was ranked 86 th prior to the event,
In other words, while it is great to have the highest ranked players playing together, that’s no guarantee that they will all be in contention, or even that most of them will contend for the trophy. However, they are more likely to attract fans, who want to see the best players in the world competing against each other.
These events potentially give those lower down the rankings the chance to make big moves in the rankings if they play well since more points will be on offer e.g. Spaun climbed 21 places to 65 th in the rankings with his top-5 finish.
While there is concern that the remaining tournaments on the tour’s 34-event schedule will suffer by comparison, not everyone share’s that opinion.
"A lot of events aren’t going to change drastically," Justin Thomas was quoted as saying by Bob Harig in Sports Illustrated. "They may lose one or two people here or there. But I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for a lot of other storylines. Whether it’s through a rotation of different events or guys winning for the first time and jump-starting their career … these non-elevated events are still PGA Tour events. They’re still going to have the same opportunities for guys to play their way into Augusta, play their way into the majors. It is unfortunate if (that is) the way they are perceived because they’re still great events."
Thomas makes a good point. Take Tony Finau, whose first win a few years ago came in the Puerto Rico Open, an event played opposite one of the elite World Golf Championship events, making it a “lesser” event. The win gave Finau the security of having his PGA Tour playing rights for two years and now he is a bonafide star on tour.
Whether this is enough to land a knockout blow to the LIV Tour remains to be seen but it is a good start. And the longer LIV goes without a broadcast deal, the better the PGA Tour’s chances look. Certainly a new era in golf.
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Photo – Golf Digest