2025 Newsmaker of the Year

One word is enough to describe the sentiment that has dominated the golf world over the past 12 months:

Finally!

Indeed, 2025 has been a year in which patience has been rewarded, in ways big and small. The most obvious example occurred in April, when Rory McIlroy defeated Justin Rose in a playoff to win the Masters title in his 17th appearance at Augusta National, ending an 11-year major winless streak. The agonizing final round made the victory even sweeter as McIlroy became the sixth golfer to win a men’s career Grand Slam.

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But McIlroy wasn’t the only golfer to change the chapter of his career in 2025. So were Scottie Scheffler (who won his first major after crossing Magnolia Lane), J.J. Spaun (who gave a journeyman his heroics with his surprise U.S. Open win), and Happy Gilmore (who came out of retirement to save the sport). TGL played its long-awaited inaugural season, Tommy Fleetwood claimed his long-awaited first PGA Tour winner, and Cypress Point made its long-awaited return to golf’s competitive spotlight. Heck, even a reasonable solution to slow play seems to have appeared since then. for centuries decades Years of hand wringing.

All these moments and more are featured in Golf Digest’s Top 25 Newsmakers of the Year. This week’s annual countdown highlights the individuals, teams and events that defined the year. As we acknowledge each year, some are obvious (European Ryder Cup road win), some unexpected (have you heard of Brian Rolup or Craig Kessler before this spring?), happy (the rise of Gino Titicle), tragic (Los Angeles fires), and still unresolved (Is there an agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF?).

We hope our list is a fun way to remember the year and frame the direction of your game. —Ryan Herrington

Golf Digest Details

A year in review The definitive list of this year’s best social media posts in golf

A year in review Breaking Bad: A look back at the most notable Ruhr incidents of 2025

A year in review Golf Equipment Top Stories of 2025

No.11: Ben Griffin

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We probably should have known Ben Griffin’s breakout was coming. At a Maxfli press event during the week of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National in February, Griffin revealed during a brief conversation with reporters (including this one) that he had just started creatine therapy that morning. I tweeted this information and the hard creatine community quickly found out about the existence of the hard creatine community, who let me know that creatine doesn’t work for several weeks. Just to be clear, Griffin posted T-4 for the second time in a row that week.

Nearly two months later, the soft-spoken North Carolina native earned his first PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a team event with close friend Andrew Novak. Griffin quickly backed that up with an individual win at the Colonial, a solo second place at the Memorial (his signature event), and top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. He rode this impressive wave to the U.S. Ryder Cup team and added more wins in the fall FedEx Cup season. It’s been an unlikely career year for the 29-year-old, who took a complete break from golf in 2021 to become a mortgage loan officer.

As Griffin racked up top finishes, it became clear that there was more to his resurgence than just a few shots of creatine. Griffin stopped drinking during the season. He became vegan. He was wearing giant aviator sunglasses that many people made fun of, but Griffin revealed that the sunglasses will help him with his vision problems that he went to the eye doctor for in 2024 (they also help him read green). Oh, and don’t forget to switch to Maxfli balls. After a year he’s had, including getting married in December, the Ben Griffin Method (abstinence from alcohol, a vegan diet, Uswing Morgin sunglasses and creatine therapy) could be golf’s hottest trend in 2026. —Christopher Powers

Related: How was Ben Griffin as a mortgage loan officer? We asked his old boss

12th place: Brian Rolup and Craig Kessler

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The two men, hired to help reinvent their respective tours, began their new missions just 13 days apart. Craig Kessler was sworn in as the LPGA’s 10th commissioner on July 15, after most recently working for the PGA of America. Commissioner Jay Monahan was replaced by Brian Rolup from the NFL. He began his new role as PGA Tour CEO on July 28.

Although their end goals were similar, both men had very different tasks in front of them, and both wasted little time in tackling them head-on.

Rolup was specifically recruited as a golf outsider unafraid to take bold steps to navigate the evolving landscape of professional golf. The past is the past and all he cares about is the future of touring. In a short space of time, the 53-year-old has already made a number of coaching changes in Ponte Vedra Beach, and hearing from several tour players in recent weeks suggests plans are being made to completely change the PGA Tour’s schedule as early as 2027. Harris English discussed the possibility of a 20-tournament schedule starting in mid-February after the football season, while Tiger Woods further discussed last week’s Hero World Challenge that he knows he needs to improve his product.

Improving the product is also on Kessler’s agenda. Kessler has already signed new partnerships with Trackman and property and casualty insurance company FM to enhance television coverage of all 2026 tournaments with more cameras and microphones. Each round will be broadcast live, something not done since Golf Channel began broadcasting events in 1995. Kessler, 39, also brought on Aramco as title sponsor, opened the tour to direct investment from Saudi Arabia, and vastly improved communication with staff, sponsors and players.

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It’s unclear what the LPGA and PGA Tour will look like in a few years, but it’s clear that neither will bear much resemblance to what they are today, considering they started their new acts just 13 days apart in July. —Jay Coffin

Related: How realistic is the possibility of a 20-tour PGA Tour schedule?

No. 13: Player vs. Media

After a disappointing second-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Collin Morikawa decided to skip all media obligations and leave Bay Hill. The two-time major champion is not the first professional golfer to do something like this, nor will he be the last, but he made things clearer the following week at the Players Championship, saying he didn’t “owe” anything to the media. that The remark prompted a reaction from some corners, most notably Golf Channel’s Paul McGinley and Brandel Chamblee, who then fired back with Morikawa double down and one of the most ridiculous quotes of the year.

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A broader discussion then ensued, thanks in part to the post-Masters funk with Rory McIlroy and the writers. As a reminder, my position is that the concept of “owing” the media is irrelevant and stupid, and that the real point is to find ways to get along where our missions overlap, not to mention be mature about when we disagree. At the time, writing these words felt like throwing sand in the wind, and it feels even more like that now. Player access seems to decrease every year, and since writers can’t write what they can’t see, the humanity oozes out of the stories, mistrust escalates, and everything gets worse.

How will it change? This is an impossible question to answer. Because the idealistic version of far less influence from agents, more access to players, and less clickbait from the media isn’t happening in reality. It sounds cynical, but like many problems facing the world today, solutions are difficult to find and it is inevitable that this relationship will deteriorate as the years go by. —Shane Ryan

Related: Tour pros and media don’t have to be enemies

No. 14: Los Angeles Fire

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On the morning of January 7, 2025, much of Los Angeles was on fire as the world watched in horror and disbelief. The two deadliest fires — one in the vibrant Pacific Palisades community on Los Angeles’ west side and the other in working-class Altadena on the east side — would directly kill 31 people, destroy 18,000 homes and structures, and scorch more than 57,500 acres over the course of several days.

At one point, more than 220,000 people were evacuated from the area, and among those evacuated on January 7 were residents of an area beloved by golf fans. Riviera Country Club, a home course for Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes and a longtime host of Los Angeles’ PGA Tour events (along with multiple major championships), became the focus of media coverage as the Palisades fire spread. The club occupies a canyon just east of the town of Pacific Palisades. There were fears the fire could soon engulf nearby areas of the Riviera, with internet videos showing flames eerily close to the club on a hillside, where construction was already underway on a hospitality area in preparation for February’s Genesis Invitational.

Thanks to the efforts of firefighters and perhaps Mother Nature’s wind direction, the Riviera and its immediate vicinity were spared. However, much of Pacific Palisades was left in ruins, with homes, schools, churches, and grocery stores destroyed. In the midst of these tragedies, clubs and the PGA Tour faced difficult questions. Can a $20 million signature event go ahead in just four weeks?

After much speculation about where, or if, Genesis would be held, the Tour announced on January 24 that it would move the tournament to the Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego, which still had the infrastructure in place to host the Farmers Insurance Open. “We’re in unprecedented territory,” San Diego City Golf Manager John Howard told Golf Digest at the time.

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The impressive field arrived the week of February 10th, when Genesis announced it would donate $8 million in tournament vehicles and cash to fire relief efforts. Torrey South played tough as usual, with Ludvig Aberg birdied four of the last six holes on Sunday and shot a 66 to finish at 12 under and win the tournament by one stroke over Maverick McNeely.

Unfortunately, not all golf courses did as well as Riviera. In Altadena, a fire destroyed the clubhouse and maintenance building of a 114-year-old public golf course. Then, in a devastating turn for golfers, the Environmental Protection Agency designated the course as a dumping ground for toxic materials from firefighting efforts in the surrounding area. The work, which was completed in late summer, left major damage to the course, which now requires millions of dollars from the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation to be renovated.

Although a construction schedule has not been set, Parks and Rec Director Norma Garcia Gonzalez assured that the work will be completed and the community jewel restored. “The surrounding community has been very supportive of us rebuilding the golf course, and we want to make sure that happens,” she said.

Meanwhile, Riviera will host the Genesis Invitational again in February, as well as the U.S. Women’s Open in June. —Todd Leonard

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Related: A look at the future of golf from the Canadian wildfires

15th place: Angel Cabrera

A man who only swung a broom for 30 months has won two major championships at the 2025 PGA Tour Champions. No one would argue that Angel Cabrera deserves the award (which he might have anyway), and even the accolades, but there’s no denying that the stocky Argentine has had a great season in senior golf.

Cabrera has enjoyed a comeback, but his accomplishments are colored by the reasons for his long absence from golf. The 55-year-old, known as “El Pato” (the duck), spent 30 months with the broom while he was jailed in his home country for domestic violence, intimidation and harassment of two ex-girlfriends. He was released on parole in August 2023 and played a limited schedule in 2024.

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Cabrera, who spent more time on his clubs than cleaning his instruments, was a different player this year, winning three total, including back-to-back majors in six days at the Regions Tradition and the Senior PGA Championship.

Cabrera, winner of the 2007 U.S. Open and 2009 Masters (he returned to Augusta National and played for the first time in 2019), admitted he was surprised at how quickly he returned to winning form after winning by one stroke over Jerry Kelly at the weather-delayed Tradition on May 19. At the 85th Senior PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, the usually stoic Cabrera let his emotions show as he defeated Padraig Harrington and Thomas Bjorn by one stroke.

“I’m very emotional,” he said. “I may not see it, but I’m very, very emotional inside, especially after everything I’ve been through. I can’t believe I’ve succeeded, but I’m here and I’m very happy with myself.” —Dave Shedrosky

Related: What we don’t know about Angel Cabrera’s unpleasant return

No. 16: Increase in TV audience ratings

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TV ratings for the 2024 PGA Tour were poor and declined. Regarding. Really bad. So there’s only one path forward to 2025.

right.

Still, the steady rise in ratings over the summer was perhaps taken as a sign that the tour had weathered the LIV golf storm. In total, weekend viewership was up 22% compared to 2024, an increase of more than 1.859 million viewers. For reference, the 2024 final round TV broadcast was down 19% compared to 2023.

NBC’s weekend viewership was up 18% compared to 2024, while Golf Channel’s early-round coverage was up just 1% and CBS’ weekend coverage was up 21%, according to Nielsen statistics. CBS aired six distinctive events, with an average audience of over 2.7 million viewers for the final round. NBC announced that the FedEx Cup Playoffs were the most-watched postseason in five years.

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The presence of lifelong Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy and the dominant Scottie Scheffler, who was behind an incredible 2024 season that included a major championship, certainly didn’t hurt the overall cause. (For reference: McIlroy helped the final round of the Masters draw 12.4 million viewers, a 33 percent increase over 2024 and the most since 2018.)

But even if the 2025 trends leave PGA Tour and network executives smiling, questions remain about what TV ratings mean in this streaming era. New metrics called “big data” for measuring viewing habits are emerging and are expected to be more accurate than previous methods. And unless Scheffler and McIlroy go MIA, viewership for the 2026 Tour is likely to rise even further.

However, this increase in numbers was not reflected in LIV Golf’s telecast, which averaged just 338,000 viewers over its 17 telecasts on FOX. After removing the three international events aired on the network (because the airtime wasn’t ideal for U.S. viewers), the league averaged just 344,000 viewers.

Nowhere was this number more evident than in April, when the PGA Tour and LIV Golf faced off. In 45 minutes from 5:15 to 6 p.m., 3.4 million viewers watched Brian Herman win the Valero Texas Open on NBC, and in a similar time slot, 570,000 viewers watched Marc Leishman win the LIV golf event at Doral on FOX. —Jay Coffin

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Related: LPGA TV coverage will be significantly upgraded in 2026

No. 17: The 50th Walker Cup will be held at Cypress Point.

Golf courses aside, there are few places on earth more stunningly beautiful than where the waves from the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean crash against the jagged coastline of the Monterey Peninsula. Inspired by the incredible landscape of huge inland sand dunes, Dr. Alistair Mackenzie created a unique design when he founded the Cypress Point Club in 1928.

With just three years to go until its 100th anniversary, this iconic course was chosen to be inspired by a new historic occasion. The USGA selected CPC for the 50th Walker Cup in 2025, but the biggest question ahead of perhaps the most anticipated cup game this side of the Atlantic was whether its play could match the setting.

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When the competition ended on a Sunday night in early September, the clear answer was yes.

The United States fielded six of the top 10 players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, but Great Britain and Ireland, made up mostly of players from American universities, struggled to a one-point lead heading into Sunday’s singles match. The stage was set for a potentially epic ending, but just as in the 2023 match at St. Andrews Old Course, the United States took complete control, scoring seven and a half points in the first eight games. In the end, GB&I’s chances disappeared into a gathering fog, and they ultimately lost 17-9 to the Americans.

“I’m really surprised,” said Nathan Smith, who was participating in the tournament for the third time but serving as captain of the U.S. team for the first time. “They showed up all weekend…and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Walker Cup team produce results like they had this afternoon in singles.”

The opportunity to simply walk around the grounds of the highly exclusive CPC, which had not hosted anything but exhibitions and college tournaments since the final year of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am rotation in 1990, created a high demand for tickets, and the few available to the public were entered into a lottery. Under mostly clear skies and a light breeze, Cypress Point did not disappoint. Fans crammed up and down the dunes and packed tightly around the 15th and 16th tees for some of the most spectacular views in golf.

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Two different stories emerged on the American side of the competition. One is the continued rise of Auburn star Jackson Koibun (see Newsmaker No. 21), who became the nation’s most 3-point scorer, and the rise of 18-year-old Georgia high schooler Mason Howell. Howell had only briefly caught Smith’s attention until he won the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club.

In the hot spotlight of the Walker Cup, Howell barely blinked. He was the only American to go undefeated (2-0-1) and started the celebrations in style with an albatross with a 6-iron on the par-5 hole in the practice round. In Sunday morning’s foursome, Howell holed out of a wedge on the 17th for a walk-off eagle. During that time, the University of Georgia commit showed skill and poise as good as any player on either side.

The United States, which won five straight games starting in 2017, will only have one more year to hold the trophy before defending it again in 2026, but the USGA and R&A have decided to move the tournament to even-numbered years to avoid Ryder Cup contention. Smith will return as captain of the U.S. national team, while GB&I captain Dean Robertson will also be looking to earn his revenge at Cypress in the iconic venue of Lahinch, Ireland. —Todd Leonard

Related: How Walker Cup Curates a Killer List of Host Courses

18th place: Donald Trump

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Having lost his grip on the professional game, President Trump will return to the White House in 2025 and return to the inner sanctum of the golf world.

Ten years ago, Trump was a celebrity in American golf. He invested in the sport when other businessmen retreated during the onslaught of the financial crisis and was an advocate of the PGA Tour and LPGA events. His New Jersey property was set to host the 2017 U.S. Women’s Open and 2022 PGA Championship, and he had acquired the Turnberry Resort, but the task of hosting the 2020 Open seemed more of a formality. But the sport distanced itself from Trump during his candidacy and first term as president. The most notable points are as follows.

• PGA Tour removes Doral from schedule, holds event in Mexico instead

• R&A removes Turnberry from rotor (said he would not return until he focused on the championship rather than course ownership)

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• PGA of America changes 2022 PGA in response to January 6, 2021 Capitol attack

But Saudi Arabia made a calculation that no one else in the sports world would make, and in 2022 it brought President Trump into the upstart LIV Golf League, which hosts multiple events. With Trump winning the 2024 election and the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF no closer to a deal to unify golf, Trump is suddenly seen by the tour as a conduit for Saudi Arabia. That was underscored by multiple visits by tour leaders to the White House, including a summit in February that was expected to officially reunite men’s professional golf. But no deal came to fruition, and although President Trump’s Justice Department withdrew its reins on antitrust investigations into the inspections that began under the Biden administration, the gap between the two sides remains wide.

Despite no deal, Trump emerged as the winner. Not only will the PGA Tour return to Doral next year, but it will give the venue a signature event. The DP World Tour also has Trump properties on its 2025 schedule, and the R&A appears to have opened the door slightly for a championship visit following reports that the president continues to inquire with British leadership about Turnberry. New CEO Mark Darbon said this summer that although logistical challenges remain, the company remains on track. If an agreement is reached between the Tour and PIF in the future, it will likely ultimately go through President Trump. The outcast became the most powerful man in golf. —Joel Beal

Related: Comedy’s Saudi backlash has lessons for Brian Rolup and the PGA Tour

No. 19: 29 LPGA Tour winners (no Nelly’s name)

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The LPGA Tour will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2025 and was looking to make a big splash by paying homage to its rich history and golfers. Few could have predicted the impact of an interesting season that saw 29 different winners in 31 events. And surprisingly, there wasn’t a single person named Nelly Korda.

It was like Oprah Winfrey saying, “You win!” every Sunday on the final episode. and “You win!” and so on. From Lim Kim’s win at the inaugural Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions to world No. 1 Gino Titikul’s win at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, the same developments were the tour’s biggest storylines.

One of new commissioner Craig Kessler’s pillars is to vastly improve the tour’s storytelling and marketing of its most important assets, and there were plenty of opportunities to do so. The first nine months of the season saw a unique 27 consecutive winners after his first win at the Mizuho Americas Open in May, until Titicle won the Buick LPGA Shanghai in October, ending his incredible winning streak. Then, Rookie of the Year Miyu Yamashita won her first major of the year at the Chevron Championship and won the Maybank Championship.

Still, there was a chance to show off the players, from veterans to newcomers, hoisting trophies and spraying champagne. Korda fell to No. 2 in the world and did not win a tournament after winning seven the previous year. Just to be clear, the 27-year-old had a great season statistically, but it really wasn’t all that different from 2024, where he was second in points average with 69.44. She had two second-place finishes and nine top-10s, and competed in all 19 starts.

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“It’s definitely been an interesting year,” Korda said at the Tour Championship less than two weeks after announcing his engagement to girlfriend Casey Gunderson. “There were some good things, some really good things, and there were times where I was like, ‘I don’t know what happened.’ But overall, I think it’s kind of golf. It’s always going to be hard to back that up, considering what happened last year.” —Jill Painter Lopez

Related: Talent-rich Japan is an emerging force on the LPGA Tour

20th place: tantrum

In 2025, professional golfers weren’t necessarily on their best behavior. Rory McIlroy threw his club and hit the tee marker at Oakmont on his way to the U.S. Open. At the PGA Championship, Shane Lowry slammed his club into a divot after failing to get relief and gave the golf ball his middle finger. And Tyrrell Hutton kept doing Tyrrell Hutton things.

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But no one has garnered as much attention for his temper as Windham Clark. The 2023 U.S. Open winner threw a driver at the PGA Championship, damaging a T-Mobile sign. Marshall was “scared to death” by the outburst.

Then there was the riot that people didn’t see at the U.S. Open until photos emerged of damage to Oakmont’s historic locker room. Angry at missing the cut, Clark took the cut in some lockers.

He apologized for his actions at the Travelers Championship the following week, but Oakmont still did not suspend the 31-year-old. “Reinstatement is conditional on Mr. Clark meeting a number of specific conditions, including full repayment of damages, meaningful donations to a charity of the board’s choice, and successful completion of counseling and anger management sessions,” Oakmont President John Lynch said in a letter to members.

Oakmont is scheduled to host the next U.S. Open in 2033, so Clark has plenty of time to right the situation. —Alex Myers

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Related: Never throw your club unless…

No. 21: Amateurs who play like pros

The definition of an “amateur” golfer in 2025 is much different than it was just a few years ago. Long prohibited from exchanging “golfing skills or reputation” for financial rewards, now anyone can make money with their name, image and likeness. Some people call it progress; others call it madness. But for those who play with a little “a” next to their name, there is still a red line that prevents them from taking home winnings when playing in professional events. It’s a Rubicon that Jackson Koibun and Lottie Ward, the world’s top-ranked male and female amateurs, stumbled across in the summer.

Despite appearing in six of his seven starts on the PGA Tour, finishing T-11, T-6, T-5 and T-4 in his past four starts, Koibun had to turn down nearly $1 million in pay. It’s not entirely accurate to say that the 20-year-old Auburn undergraduate didn’t benefit from the experience. This performance, along with his collegiate/amateur honors, including a spot on the winning U.S. Walker Cup team, ultimately earned him a PGA Tour card through PGA Tour U’s Accelerated Program the day he decided to turn pro.

Similarly, Ward had to hand over about $600,000 of her payday for a T-3 at the Amundi Evian Championship and a win at the Irish Open on the European Women’s Tour, but decided that was too much. The week after turning professional in July, the 21-year-old from England won the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, followed by a T-8 finish at the AIG Women’s British Open. By the end of the year, the former Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion had performed well enough to qualify for the CME Group Tour Championship and finished the season with earnings of $831,400.

In tandem, Koibun and Ward sparked a new debate over whether amateurs should keep the prize money they would have won in professional events. Supporters say they are already being paid to wear the logo and appear in commercials. Want to see if they’ve played enough 72 holes? Critics are asking, if that’s allowed, what does it mean to be an amateur golfer? Again, some call this progress, others insanity. —R.H.

Related: Do amateurs need to earn money to compete in professional events?

22nd place “Happy Gilmore 2”

When “Happy Gilmore” was released in theaters in 1996, the film was a modest box office success but quickly gained a cult following. Although it didn’t win an Oscar, it did win the all-important MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (kudos to Bob Barker).

Almost 30 years later, loyal fans are finally getting the sequel they’ve been craving. And although it didn’t have a theatrical release this time around, “Happy Gilmore 2,” starring nearly every golfer in the known world, quickly became a Netflix juggernaut and ultimately set a record on the Nielsen streaming charts during its opening weekend. Over 3 days, 2.89 billion minutes were watched. This is what the media industry calls “a lot of time.”

With cameos from dozens of tour pros (including the likes of Lee Trevino and Nancy Lopez), Adam Sandler’s titular character returns with his rival, Christopher McDonald’s Shooter McGavin, to recreate that run-and-gun swing that everyone has tried (and failed) to recreate on the driving range that has become part of golf’s canon. I’m not sure if I’d call this a spoiler alert, but I think we can all agree that there will be a sequel. It doesn’t live up to the storytelling magic and ridiculous “height” of the original. HG2 It briefly took over the golf world’s consciousness, married the PGA Tour, lampooned LIV golf, launched John Daly’s acting career, and threw Scottie Scheffler (again) into prison. Everyone I know watched it, or at least logged onto Netflix for a few minutes. The film did so well and re-entered the culture in such an impressive way that our editorial director had to take a little of the blame for predicting it would fail.

Golf has never been “cooler” and the bar is certainly lower, but the success of “Happy Gilmore 2” feels like proof that the sport is global in a whole new way. The coronavirus has brought in many players who would never have tried before, professional golf is pouring in millions of dollars, and the Zapruder Film-ing cheating scandal is making waves on YouTube. Additionally, my work as a golf influencer is more fulfilling than ever. in. (What a sentence.) Still, the most important thing is that people really, really, really love Adam Sandler. That’s how it should be. Has there ever been a mensch as manly as this? —Greg Gottfried

Related: Definitive ranking of all golfer cameos in “Happy Gilmore 2”

No.23: Increase the pace (of play)

Will my topic be featured on Newsmaker Countdown? few Is the story different than it has been in years past? 23rd place “Pace of Play” proves the answer is a clear yes. One of the major points of contention in professional golf that seems to continue forever is the glacially slow rounds on the PGA and LPGA Tours. In March, PGA Tour executives explained to Golf Digest exactly what they were doing about the issue, and the solutions varied widely. More importantly, they acknowledged that it’s a real problem and that it’s getting worse.

In fact, things seemed to reach their lowest point when Dottie Pepper criticized CBS’ slow play at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. But even at the Players Championship in March, it looked like the cavalry was coming. The main weapon will be effective in 2026, but on a smaller scale. The 156-player tee sheet was abolished, leading to inevitable pile-ups as players took their turns, and rounds not being completed until the next morning, leading to a logistical nightmare.

In addition, the PGA Tour commissioned a Speed ​​of Play working group to develop ideas such as publishing individual player times (which may or may not see the light of day), testing distance measuring devices on the Korn Ferry Tour (which would save time and is expected to be allowed in 2026), harsher penalties for time violations, and expedited rulings by referees that facilitated video review. His pace of play improved by five minutes on the PGA Tour in June, and next year should be even better. The same is true on the LPGA Tour, which incorporated a series of tougher penalties for slow play in March and has seen results since then. Naturally, this is where real progress is made and if we’re lucky, we won’t even be in the top 25 in “pace of play” next year. —Shane Ryan

Related: The PGA Tour recognizes that pace of play is an issue. Here’s what we’re doing about it:

No. 24: Split between player and caddy

There is nothing new in the world of professional golf, where rifts between players and caddies have become more prominent. But in 2025, shocking, headline-worthy breakups appear to be more prevalent than ever. Phil and Bones’ “amicable” breakup may have happened in 2017, but eight years later, it continues to serve as proof that even the most solid partnerships must end.

The first domino fell after the Players Championship, when Matt Fitzpatrick missed the extra cut due to a slump and fell to 69th place in the Official World Golf Rankings, his lowest since 2015. Billy Foster, who was on Fitzpatrick’s bag for six years, including winning the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline, took to social media the next day to reveal that he and Fitzpatrick were calling for his retirement. Just a few weeks later, Max Homa, another top player who was in a severe slump, showed up at the Valero Texas Open with another caddy in place of longtime looper and childhood friend Joe Greiner. It was soon revealed that it was Greiner who made the call, ending an alliance that lasted more than a decade.

Greiner briefly rode Justin Thomas’ bag before jumping to Collin Morikawa’s bag. Morikawa parted ways with his first and only professional caddy, J.J. Jakovac, after five years. Morikawa then began a caddy merry-go-round comparable to a college football coaching cycle, dumping Greiner after just five games and trying old college teammates KK Limbasut and Fitzpatrick’s former Foster. Morikawa was with a fifth caddy, Mark Urbanek, when the FedEx Cup playoffs began, but parted ways with Tony Finau after the British Open.

Perhaps no breakup tugs at the heartstrings more than the breakup between Joel Damen and Geno Bonaly. Their sibling-like relationship was the subject of an entire episode of Netflix’s “Full Swing” Season 1. Fortunately, Damen stated on his X account that they were still “best friends,” but it served as yet another example of the highly volatile nature of Bagman’s job. God of golf, please don’t take Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller away from us next time. —Christopher Powers

Related: How many shots can a tour caddy save?

25th place: Tiger Woods

Sadly, it was yet another lost season on the golf course for the 15-time major champion. In 2025, he spent more time chasing his 16-year-old son, Charlie, through junior tournaments than he did inside the ropes himself. Tiger started the year optimistically while competing at the new TGL (of which he is a co-founder) Jupiter Links Golf Club, but his two most memorable moments at SoFi Center were less than breathtaking shots. Instead, he was angry at teammate Kevin Kisner’s shank and his own creative failure when he missed the ball by a wide margin on his approach and hit the wrong club.

Still, it was exciting to watch Tiger “play” golf — he hadn’t played in an official tournament since the 2024 British Open — because those high-profile moments showed the influence Woods still has among golf fans. So they would be sad to learn that Woods suffered yet another injury and surgery (a ruptured Achilles tendon) in March that ultimately eliminated him from the PGA Tour and the entire major championship season. (He made news at the Masters, though, when Augusta National announced that Woods would design a short course at Augusta Municipal Golf Course.)

Woods’ personal life first hit the headlines with the death of his mother Tidus in February. On a lighter note, the 82-time PGA Tour winner announced on Instagram in March that he was dating Vanessa Trump, Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-wife. Woods captioned it.

His fans will tell you that life is better when Tiger is in the game, but Woods, who underwent disc replacement surgery in October, had no plans to return when he hosted the Hero World Challenge in December. And since Woods turns 50 (!) at the end of the year, his next start could be a PGA Tour Champions event. -morning

Related: Tiger Woods’ complete injury timeline

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