This week, the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing starts again with the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. The wraparound season had already begun, but for many, the images of palm trees blowing in the Hawaiian breeze at Kapalua give us reason enough to feel warmly optimistic about what the coming golf year will bring. With that in mind, we offer a few of those dates you might want to circle on your calendars—and not just the ones you think—as you look ahead to another intriguing year in our sport.

Jan. 30: APGA Tour plays on the big stage

Just like most pro mini tours, the Advocates Pro Golf Association—a circuit founded to provide more professional playing opportunities for minorities—has mostly toiled in anonymity. It got some exposure in 2021 when the Farmers Insurance Open offered a special exemption to APGA standout Kamaiu Johnson, and now the APGA is getting a chance to take a far bigger stage. After the Farmers Insurance Open finishes on Saturday, the APGA will be on Golf Channel on Sunday when it plays the Torrey Pines’ South Course in the final round of its 36-hole event, called APGA TOUR at the Farmers Insurance Open (the PGA Tour event wrapping up the previous day). Is there a star in the making for us to discover? We’ll see.

Feb. 3-6: Saudi International

In any other year, the Saudi event—which was formerly a part of the DP World Tour (which was formerly the European Tour)—was merely a curiosity to American fans, mostly to see which PGA Tour players were drawn to the Middle East for sizeable appearance fees. This year, it seems far more compelling now that the talk of rival tours has heated up, and the PGA Tour has given permission to its players to jump on their private jets (and pad their bank accounts) in what is now an Asian Tour event. Among them is Phil Mickelson, who will miss Pebble Beach, where he’s won five times.

March 10-13: Players Championship

It’s crazy to consider that the week of the Players will mark two years since the pandemic turned our lives upside down. Depending on how the first couple of months go with the Omicron variant, the tournament is expected to greet full galleries after being wiped out after one round in 2020 and limited to 20 percent capacity in 2021. Justin Thomas is the defending champion after narrowly making the cut and then rallying on Sunday to overtake Bryson DeChambeau and Lee Westwood.

March 27: Last chance (almost) for the Masters

The last opportunity to reach Augusta National—aside from winning the Valero Texas Open in the week prior—is to get into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of the Corales Puntacana Championship. Good luck, bubble dwellers.

March 31-April 3: The Chevron Championship

Tears no doubt will flow for some when the LPGA plays the event for one last time at Mission Hills and the California desert, home to the tournament since it was founded by Dinah Shore in 1972. With Chevron as its new sponsor, the tour’s first major of the year since 1983 is set to move to the Houston area beginning in 2023. Patty Tavatanakit defends after an impressive breakout win in ’21.

April 7-10: Masters

The color and atmosphere of the men’s first major of the year is expected to return to full bloom after two years of missing Augusta’s most cherished gift: the roars. Hideki Matsuyama will be back as defending champion after his history-making turn last April.

May 19-22: PGA Championship

Is it possible Tulsa’s weather will actually be tolerable in mid-May? Southern Hills Country Club has hosted some oppressively sweaty summer majors, but this one might get a break with a spring date that opened when the PGA of America yanked the event from Trump Bedminster after the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. Phil Mickelson is the defending champ from Kiawah, while the last man to win a major in Tulsa (Tiger Woods in the 2007 PGA) very likely will be watching from his couch.

June 2-5: U.S. Women’s Open

Pine Needles in Southern Pines, N.C., this year’s host, only got into the USGA Women’s Open rotation in 1996. But it has delivered impressive champions since: Annika Sorenstam in ’96, Karrie Webb in ’01 and Cristie Kerr in ’07. Yuka Saso of the Philippines defends after winning last year’s Open in a playoff at The Olympic Club.

Jonathan Ernst
Cristie Kerr receives the U.S. Women’s Open trophy after her two-stroke victory at Pine Needles in 2007.

June 7: Golf’s Longest Day

Ten sites … more than 800 players … 36 holes. And to the most talented and courageous on “Golf’s Longest Day,” there awaits a spot in the U.S. Open. There are 11 final qualifiers (the one outside of the U.S. being in Japan), and June 7 marks the 10 contested around the country in America. Last year, former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel made it through the gantlet, as did Wilson Furr, a University of Alabama star who didn’t even have a spot in his qualifier until some late withdrawals. Therein lies the beauty of the Longest Day.

June 16-19: U.S. Open

With the national championship returning to The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., for the first time since 1988, you’ll do yourself a favor if you brush up by reading one of the best golf books of all-time—Mark Frost’s The Greatest Game Ever Played—that recounts amateur Francis Ouimet’s Brookline triumph in 1913. Of course, memories of the Americans’ Sunday comeback at Brookline in the 1999 Ryder Cup linger, too. Jon Rahm is the defending champion from Torrey Pines, while Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick has a shot to pull off a USGA double after seizing the 2013 U.S. Amateur at Brookline.

Boston Globe
Arnold Palmer tees off in the 1963 U.S. Open at The Country Club.

July 14-17: Open Championship

A visit to St. Andrews makes every Open there special, but this one is particularly notable. It’s the 150th playing of the championship that was first contested in 1860. This will be the 30th Open played at the Home of Golf, with Zach Johnson being the last to win on the Old Course in 2015. Collin Morikawa will defend the title he captured last year at Royal St. George’s

July 18-20: Inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open Championship

With a progressive stroke of inspiration, the USGA will hold the inaugural U.S. Adaptive Open Championship on the No. 6 Course at Pinehurst. The 54-hole event is open to men and women who have a physical, sensory or intellectual impairment. We’re looking forward to seeing and hearing the heroic stories for this one.

Aug. 11: FedEx Cup Playoffs begin

At a time in summer when we used to gear up for the PGA Championship, the PGA Tour begins its postseason with the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The top 125 from the FedEx Cup points list will qualify before being trimmed to 70 players for the following week’s BMW Championship. The BMW is scheduled for Wilmington Country Club, marking the first time the tour has staged an event in Delaware.

Aug. 25-28: Tour Championship

The top 30 from the BMW reach East Lake in Atlanta, where the FedEx Cup will be awarded for the 16th time. The financial stakes have never been sweeter, with the winner getting a record $18 million. Four of the last five champs have been first-timers. Anyone else like Jon Rahm or Xander Schauffele?

Sept. 22-25: Presidents Cup

Pushed back a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the matches between the U.S. and Internationals will be played at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. Trevor Immelman helms the Internationals opposite of Davis Love III, who must be feeling confident for two reasons: The Americans dominated Europe in the 2021 Ryder Cup and the U.S. has lost only once in the previous 13 contests—that lone time coming in Australia.

Dec. 31: Rules of Golf study day

On Jan. 1, 2023, the USGA and R&A will make their next update to the Rules of Golf, the first since the governing bodies modernized the rules back in 2019. You shouldn’t expect a complete overhaul like we saw four years ago, but if history tells us anything, there will likely be a handful of adjustments everyday players will need to note (changes have yet to be announced but will likely come by the end of the summer). Before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, you might take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the 2023 Rules.

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By Brian Wacker
When the PGA of America announced on Tuesday that it would allow distance-measuring devices in its major championships, including at this year’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, one of the main tenets of the decision was that it would help speed up play.

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our championships,” PGA of America President Jim Richerson said.

It’s a noble thought.

Rounds on the PGA Tour—DMDs still aren’t permitted on tour outside of practice rounds—routinely stretch north of five hours and in majors can be closer to six. Pace of play has also been a topic on tour for decades. Whether the use of rangefinders actually results in faster play, however, remains to be seen.

This much is evident: If you gather a dozen caddies in a room, you’re likely to get a dozen different opinions. When it comes to the impact the devices will have on speeding up play, however, almost all told Golf Digest that they will have little to no impact on moving things along any faster.

“Each year there’s maybe once or twice where I wish I had one, and that’s only when [my player] is so far offline,” said Webb Simpson’s caddie Paul Tesori. “Otherwise, I’ll still have to have the front number, carry number, how many [yards] left or right and yards behind the pin. The last number we get is the pin, and what happens if the rangefinder is more than a yard off? Then we have to re-do all the other numbers to fit what we’re trying to do with the shot.

“I’d say that we are trying to aim at a pin less than 5 percent of the time. And off the tee, I still need runouts, carry numbers and lines over trees.”

Ben Jared
Paul Tesori, caddie for Webb Simpson, says there are far more yardages that need to be figured beyond just the pin.

Added Rickie Fowler’s caddie Joe Skovron: “If I shot a number, I would check it three times and still have to go to my yardage book and get a front or cover number.”

Looper-turned-on-course-reporter for Golf Channel/NBC John Wood agreed, opining on Twitter that play would come to a “screeching halt” as a player and his caddie try to figure out why there’s a discrepancy between their numbers and that of the rangefinder. He also noted that a player wants the yardage his ball has to land at, not necessarily the number to the hole.

There are other factors as well when it comes to pace of play, such as field size, course conditions and a player’s routine.

“I think it will make a marginal difference,” said Brennan Little, caddie for 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. “At the PGA Championship, pace of play is still going to be slow. Anytime you have 156 players in [major championship] conditions, they’re not going to get around quickly. When you have twosomes [on the weekend] would be a different story.”

To the point, Francesco’s Molinari’s caddie, veteran Mark Fulcher, said that while the use of rangefinders is probably logical, they will only add to the time it takes to make a decision and that he just found the whole thing “a little pointless.”

There are other points to consider as well.

Jamie Squire
Matt Kelly, caddie for Marc Leishman, said he probably won’t use a rangefinder very often.

Though the caddies surveyed almost all agreed the use of lasers would do little for improving pace of play, they are more split in thinking that the devices take some of the skill out of caddying.

“Anyone can shoot a flag and know without any doubt what the number is,” longtime caddie Kip Henley said. “Caddies and players [screw up] numbers all the time and especially coming down the stretch trying to win. The caddies that handle the pressure and the players that can quiet their brains have a small advantage in the course of a year in not missing numbers or gauging them from way off [the fairway] where they can’t get accurate yardages and guessing comes into play.”

Perhaps the most glaring example in recent years came in the final round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, where Jordan Spieth hit his tee shot about 100 yards right of the fairway on the 13th hole, memorably took a drop on the driving range, made only a bogey and went on to win the claret jug.

“Thirty caddies would have had 30 different numbers on that shot,” Henley said.

Tesori took it a step further: “I think it rewards caddies who haven’t done their homework.”

While the use of rangefinders will be limited to the PGA Championship, Women’s PGA and Senior PGA, it’s also fair to wonder whether they will one day be permitted in all events on the various tours. Currently, they’re permitted at the NCAA level and in USGA amateur championships as well as Monday qualifying and during practice rounds on tour.

More than a few caddies oppose using DMDs beyond that.

“There have been rumors for years rangefinders would become legal on tour,” Tesori said. “I’m for them in events where having a caddie isn’t a requirement—the U.S. Amateur, NCAAs, Monday qualifying—but for a professional event I’m very against it.”

Matt Kelly, caddie for Marc Leishman, feels similarly and said he likely won’t use a rangefinder often and would likely only do so if his player is well off the fairway.

“I’m not a big fan of the decision,” he said. “It slows things down, if anything. I also don’t see the tour adopting them because it looks unprofessional on television and I don’t think the tour wants that.”

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By Daniel Rapaport
The PGA of America will permit the use of distance-measuring devices during play in its 2021 major championships, including the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island (May 20-23).

The association announced the decision on Tuesday, with it also applying to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (June 24-27 at Atlanta Athletic Club) and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship (May 27-30 at Southern Hills).

“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our championships,” said Jim Richerson, president of the PGA of America, in a release. “The use of distance-measuring devices is already common within the game and is now a part of the Rules of Golf. Players and caddies have long used them during practice rounds to gather relevant yardages.”

Anything used by players and caddies will need to comply with Rule 4.3a (1), which prohibits any devices that measure elevation changes or “directional information,” such as using a device to recommend a line of play or club selection.

The announcement suggests this is not a one-year exception, and that the devices will be permitted at these three championships moving forward.

When the USGA and R&A modernized the Rules of Golf in 2019, the language of the rules changed to allow the use of distance-measuring devices as a default rather than something a tournament could permit through a local rule. Tournaments committees now must apply a local rule when they want to prohibit the use of DMDs.

That’s the case for events on the PGA Tour, where distance-measuring devices are permitted only in practice rounds. During competition, players get their yardages from highly detailed yardage books, which do indeed include information about elevation changes. These yardage books have long been debated as a root cause of slow-play across professional golf.

It is not yet clear whether fans will be permitted at any of the PGA of America’s major championships this year.

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By Joel Beall
FARMINGDALE, N.Y.—Bethpage hasn’t seen a beatdown like this since the British drove Washington into Manhattan.

That’s not how this rodeo is supposed to work. It’s the Black’s job to lay the hurtin’; there’s a “Warning” sign and everything. Only Brooks Koepka decided to take that sign and snap it in half. The reigning PGA and U.S. Open champ fired a first-round 63 at the PGA Championship, and we do mean “fired.” Koepka was so hot the joint would have burned down had it not been saturated by weeks of rain.

“That was one of the best rounds I’ve played probably as a professional,” Koepka said. “This golf course is brutal.”

That might seem like it was said in jest, similar to when an opposing football coach remarks, “You have to give that team a lot of credit,” after winning by five touchdowns. Yet Koepka’s analysis rings true: Only Tommy Fleetwood’s 67 came close to matching Koepka in the morning round. Koepka was the only player to go bogey free, and his seven-under score with nearly 10 strokes better than the field’s 72.76 morning average.

Damnedest thing, it could have been lower. Koepka’s only blemish of the day came at the signature par-5 fourth. It’s the lone respite at the Long Island venue, a hole that (as of writing) surrendered 46 red figures and just six bogeys or worse. But Koepka sailed his drive into fescue and chunked a chip around the green. These mistakes lead to..a par.

The horror.

“And then 13 I can get there, too, I just hit it in the bunker,” Koepka reminded on Bethpage’s other par 5. “And then the second hole today, my 11th hole, I missed about a five-footer. That would have been nice to shoot 60. I guess that would have been pretty good.”

But the shock isn’t that Koepka turned Bethpage into Bellerive. It’s that he’s made such masterpieces a habit.

There have been pundits who claim Koepka is a good player on a great run. Please. Dustin Johnson winning threes straight tour events? That’s a streak. Justin Thomas capturing six wins in a calendar year? A heater. Koepka’s major performance over the last five seasons? That’s not a run, that’s routine.

Yes, five seasons. Koepka’s three titles and a runner-up in his last seven tries have vaulted him to the sport’s upper echelon, yet somehow fails to encapsulate his success. Starting with a T-10 at the 2015 Open Championship, Koepka has 11 top-15 finishes in his past 13 major starts. Throw in a T-4 at the 2014 U.S. Open, he boasts nine top 10s. Anyone thinking Koepka is riding a wave is ignorant or brazenly obtuse.

That production is a notch below the primes of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods . . . but right in line with the primes of Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, who boast 15 majors between them. Whatever blasphemy that may convey, the record books back it up. In fact, should Koepka win the Wanamaker, he’d join Tiger, Jack, and Ben Hogan as the only modern-era golfers to win four majors in an eight-appearance stretch.

Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose have played hot potato with the No. 1 ranking, and Rory McIlroy, statistically-speaking, has been the best player on the PGA Tour this season. However, golf’s 46-tournament schedule is judged by a four-week prism, and through that vantage point, Koepka has no present rival but history.

And, here’s the scary part if your a Koepka competitor: He may not be in his prime yet.

“I think I’m still learning, understanding my game, and I’ve figured it out, and I think over the next few years, I’m excited for what’s to come,” he said.

Mike Ehrmann

Koepka turned 29 this month. Palmer didn’t win his first major until 28. Phil Mickelson, 33. Though arguments can be had when a golfer “peaks,” there’s no debate that careers, thanks to training, medical and equipment advancements, have been extended longer than ever. Moreover, Koepka’s game is more than the blunt-force trauma it’s often portrayed. Say what you will about Erin Hills and Bellerive, but you don’t win at Shinnecock without creativity, precision, and a short game. Ditto his run at the Masters this spring. Sentiments that apply at Bethpage.

Long as it may be, the emphasis is on accuracy and approach, challenges Koepka answered on Thursday hitting 64.2 percent of fairways and 14 greens. And when he does miss the fairway, Koepka’s angle of attack is so steep—Trackman measured his 6-iron at -9.0 compared to the tour average of -4.1—that its effect is mitigated. Power may be an asset, but it’s far from the only tool in his box.

“(Bethpage) tests every asset of your game,” Koepka said. “You’ve got to drive the ball straight. It’s long, so you’ve got to hit it far and really position yourself with some of these shots in. You can’t miss, you can’t take a shot off, and that’s what I love.

“I think that’s why I play so well at U.S. Opens, this golf course, typical U.S. Open golf course. I mean, if you don’t have a good day, you can very easily shoot five, six-over. There’s a fine line between five, six-over and a couple under out here. It’s a fun golf course to play, that’s for sure.”

Better yet, Koepka—who has banged the disrespect drum whenever he can—feels he’s getting his long-awaited acceptance. His caddie, Ricky Elliot, said this is the first time he can remember when Koepka wasn’t feeling slighted. Koepka reiterated the point. “I’ve opened up. I’m being me, so I’m happy with how I’m, I guess, communicating a little bit better. I feel like I’m finally in a good spot now to say things that I probably couldn’t say before or was maybe afraid of.”

The chip on his shoulder that supposedly fueled Koepka’s success? Perhaps it was actually weighing him down.

So here we are, Koepka’s game, confidence, contentment soaring, and the question now isn’t if he’ll keep it up but how high he’ll go. Earlier this week, the man himself gave us an indication.

“I don’t see why you can’t get to double digits (major wins),” Koepka said. “I think you keep doing what you’re supposed to do, you play good, you peak at the right times. Like I said, I think sometimes the majors are the easiest ones to win. Half the people shoot themselves out of it, and mentally I know I can beat most of them, and then from there it’s those guys left, who’s going to play good and who can win.”

Said into a microphone, the goal seemed ambitious. Watching him slice one of the world’s toughest courses into pastrami on Thursday, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

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A fitting scene, for Woods’ journey has been straight biblical.

“It’s great to be part of the narrative,” Woods said.

Was it really 17 years ago? Woods, fighting the muck and Phil Mickelson, capturing the 2002 U.S Open at Bethpage. It was his second straight major, the seventh in the 11 tries and eighth overall. At just 26, he was not so much shifting as shattering the sport’s paradigm. Forget catching Jack Nicklaus and his 18 titles; many already considered Woods the superior player.

“It’s not like my career is finished,” Woods said that week to Nicklaus comparisons. “I have a long way to go and in that span of time I’m going to try to get better. This is what we all play for. I’m just living out a dream.”

But it was 17 years ago, a time when most of the tour’s current marquee players were in middle school, and what’s transpired over the second half of that span has been more nightmare than dream for Woods. Yet he returns to Farmingdale this week not as golf’s prodigal son but as its renewed power source.

As Woods lifted his arms and bellowed to the heavens at Augusta National this spring, it was said to cap the greatest comeback in sports, and in some ways, it was. However, a cap infers a seal, an ending to a journey, and the latest iteration of Tiger-mania is nowhere near the finish line, continuing to morph in its dynamism. If the Masters was a culmination of hopes, the PGA Championship is about what’s next.

“If you look at most of the players or the players that have had the most success on tour, you’re not measuredlike an NFL football player when you get in the Hall of Fame after nine years,” Woods said. “If you played out here nine years, you haven’t really done that well. You’re measured in decades . . . It’s just done differently. Because the nature of the sport, we’re able to hang around a lot longer and still be relevant.”

Mike Ehrmann

“Relevant” would be putting it lightly. Woods enters as tournament favorite at 10-to-1. Fueled by Augusta, yes, also his past conquests at this site: Along with the 2002 win, Woods finished T-6 at the 2009 U.S. Open, firing the lowest score over the final 54 holes. That he’s unequivocally the most popular player factors into that betting figure.

Conversely, while Woods conjures a range of sentimentality, there’s an objective aspect to the point. Only Brooks Koepka has been better in the last three majors, Woods making runs at both Carnoustie and Bellerive. He’s won twice in his last seven events, ranks seventh in strokes gained and leads the tour in greens in regulation. Without the minimum divisor, he would be ranked No. 1 in the world, a standing he can reach by Sunday. Woods’ bite has matched the bark, and as such, expectations—even by his preposterously high standards—have been raised.

The fact that this has happened, and is happening . . . well, despite Tiger’s pleas to savour the moment, that’s not how things exactly work these days. Forget nabbing Major No. 16; folks are wondering if he can compete for the Grand Slam.

“I’m not looking at it like that. I’m just looking at trying to give myself the best chance to win,” Woods said. “Whether I’m dominant or not going forward, that remains to be seen.”

Regarding this week, he won’t need to alter his game plan from years past. Woods won in 2002 by hitting a tournament-best 73.61 percent of greens in regulation versus the field’s 50.64 average, and found 73.21 percent of fairways against the competition’s 59.13 mark.

“In order to win this one, driving is going to be at the forefront,” Woods said. “With the rough as lush as it is, it has grown up a little bit. I don’t know how much they’re going to cut it down or top it off, but it won’t be much.

“Fairways are plenty wide because it’s wet. It’s just you’ve got to hit it not only straight but you’ve got to hit it far because, as the week goes on and the greens dry out, the majority of the greens are elevated. And so trying to get enough spin, hitting the ball up to elevation with the greens firming up, you have to be in the fairway to do that.”

Easier said than done. Driving accuracy hasn’t been his strength in the latter part of his career, and good as an iron player as he may be, Woods has been dreadful from the rough (209th in proximity) this season.

Warren Little

There’s also the matter of his physicality. Woods’ body has held up remarkably well over the past 18 months. But Bethpage is a big ballyard that will do a number on anyone, let alone a 43-year-old with a Rolodex full of orthopaedics. Woods has to manage his time and his training. He passed on the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago because he wasn’t ready “to start the grind” that’s demanded.

“Having enough energy is one of the things I struggle with,” Woods told GOLFTV. “I still mentally think I’m 23. Still understanding that and coming to grips with it.”

However, Woods asserts he feels fine, that he’s no longer trying to find his game, but maintain it. He says he’s fresh, and plans to take Tuesday off before a final practice nine on Wednesday. He’ll then try to make what was once deemed impossible—contending for a major championship again—the new normal, in front of as raucous and pro-Tiger crowd as you can find.

“I can’t even imagine,” Joe LaCava, Tiger’s caddie, told PGA.com earlier this week. ”I think the atmosphere is going to be off the hook after winning the Masters.”

Woods agrees: ”This could be a hell of a championship.”

He tees off in Round 1 at 8:24 a.m. on No. 10. Mentioned above, it’s a long way from home, and a real long way from 2002. Woods has already proved he can come back. On Thursday, we get to see how far he can keep going.

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