A new season for the PGA Tour began on Thursday with the annual West Coast Swing, the series of seven tournaments from Hawaii to Arizona to California.
But while a new year brings new possibilities to professional golf, this new year brings some of the same baggage. The game is still trapped in a battle between the PGA Tour and the LIV Tour for players, with money seeming to rule the day and fans a forgotten part of the equation. And on the West Coast Swing in particular, one of the game’s top players who dominated the first two months of 2023 won’t be playing in the same events in 2024.
Here’s a look at five storylines from the 2024 West Coast Swing: