That was the question proposed to numerous Tour players ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. The PGA Tour posted a video a little more than a minute long on its social media accounts Wednesday, and it led to some fun answers.
Up first was Rory McIlroy, who said he thought it was Sam Ryder. Also asked the question were Tom Kim, Max Homa, Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele, among numerous others.
The name that popped up the most? Take a minute and watch the hilarious video below to find out:
The WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale is the PGA Tour’s annual party in the desert.
The fan-favorite event is known for many things, none bigger, however, than the stadium-like stands surrounding the par-3 16th.
It’s madness year in and year out, with fans hoping for the opportunity to throw their beers on the green in celebration of a hole-in-one. The latest to do so was Carlos Ortiz — who has since moved to LIV Golf — in 2022.
Relive some of the iconic moments below.
(Mike Sposa (2002), Steve Stricker (1997), Jay Delsing (1991), Brad Bryant (1990), David Edwards (1990) and Hal Sutton (1988) also made holes-in-one at the 16th at the Phoenix Open, but we were unable to find video footage.)
Keep an eye on this mix of veterans and rising stars in 2024.
After taking a nearly two-month holiday hiatus, the PGA Tour will return to action the first week of January with the 2024 Sentry in Hawaii.
The last time we saw the boys in action, rookie Ludvig Aberg earned his first win on Tour at the RSM Classic in November. There were 13 first-time winners on Tour in 2023, up one from 12 the year prior. Golfweek predicted four of them.
So who do we have our eyes on for next year? From veterans to rising stars from the amateur ranks, here are 10 players who we predict will hoist a trophy on Tour for the first time in 2024.
Another week, another strong start for Sweden’s Aberg.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Another week, another strong start for Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.
The rookie sensation and European Ryder Cupper didn’t turn pro until after the NCAA Championship in May but won in September on the DP World Tour and has been threatening to do the same on the PGA Tour. He’s down to his last chance before the calendar flips as he grabbed the 36-hole lead at the RSM Classic on Friday with a bogey-free 6-under 64 at the Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course.
“I consider myself very, very fortunate to be in this position and I view it as a privilege to be able to feel that kind of pressure and tension and nervousness,” he said. “It’s not something that I want to back down from. I want to keep doing what I’m doing and hit good golf shots and make putts.”
Ludvig Aberg plans a shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the 2023 RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Aberg drained a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to take a one-stroke lead over Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy and Sam Ryder at 11-under 131. It marked Aberg’s first 36-hole lead or co-lead and lowest opening 36-hole score in what is his 11th start on Tour as a professional. How comfortable does he feel being in front?
“I think I’ve been in the lead a few times, and every time you do it, it gets easier,” he said.
Here are four more things to know about the second round of the RSM Classic.
BLAINE, Minn. — Lee Hodges is pulling a Brian Harman.
Last week, Harman led by five shots after 54 holes in his triumph at the British Open. This week, it’s a completely different set of circumstances, but Hodges’ lead is five with 18 holes to play.
The second-year Tour pro has played flawless golf and led after every round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities. Coming into the week on the outside of the FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble, Hodges needed a big week to punch his ticket in the field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. He’s doing just that.
Although it may be a big lead, a reminder: last year in Minnesota, Scott Piercy led by four after three rounds and was up by that many on the back nine and lost.
BLAINE, Minn. — There are only two regular season events left in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, meaning the FedEx Cup Playoffs are right around the corner.
However, this year, they’re going to be unlike ever before. Only 70 players will qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, unlike the 125 who have in year’s past. From there, the top 50 make it to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois, and then the top 30 advance to East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.
The change in amount of players who qualify for the playoffs means some big names joined the field of this week’s 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, at TPC Twin Cities.
At the top end, Jon Rahm is No. 1 in the FEC standings, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler right behind. Rory McIlroy won his third FedEx Cup last year.
Here’s a closer look at some interesting names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including some who have work to do to stay in the top 70 and others who need to make a push to make it to Memphis.
The year’s second full-field designated event is here, as 23 of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Ranking have made their way to Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational.
Oh, and some guy named Tiger Woods is going to be there, too. For all those kids reading, go look him up on YouTube. He was pretty good.
Woods has never won at Riviera and enters the week at 150/1. Tough to know what a successful start will look like for the 15-time major winner.
SAN DIEGO – Joe Greiner had never seen his boss and best friend, Max Homa, smile so wide.
This was on Thursday as Homa was playing on the North Course at Torrey Pines and Greiner, his dutiful caddie, pointed to Homa’s wife, Lacey, and newborn son, Cam, who had come out to the course and surprised him
“He was like a kid when he saw Cam,” Greiner said.
That smile may have been topped late on Saturday as Homa sewed up his sixth PGA Tour victory with a birdie at 18 to win the Farmers Insurance Open with wife and son watching from behind the green.
“If he screams at me, I will just be smiling ear to ear,” Homa said of returning to diaper duty. “He can poop away and I’ll just be here for him.”
Homa shot a final-round 6-under 66 at Torrey’s South Course to edge hard-charging Keegan Bradley by two strokes.
Max Homa with his wife Lacey and son Cameron after he won the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)
Homa’s last five wins have been in come-from-behind fashion. This time he erased a five-stroke overnight deficit, which had grown to as many as six, by the turn, canning a 7-foot birdie at nine to tie for the lead. He toured the front nine in 32 en route to his second victory of the 2022-23 Tour season, including his win at the Fortinet Championship in September, and fourth win in his native state of California.
Homa became a first-time parent on Oct. 30, but it was not without its fretful moments. Lacey underwent complications during Cam’s birth, Homa has said, requiring multiples surgeries and time in the ICU.
“She had a horrendous birth, it did not go well,” Homa said during his winner’s press conference. “It was the scariest – hard to say because it was an amazing day, get a new son, Cam. It was the worst day ever at the same time.”
Homa credited his wife for being “a rock star” as a mother, allowing him to practice and focus on his play, and he wanted to pay back her for those efforts.
“I feel like I’ve almost worked harder for this because I want to spend as much time as I possibly can helping her and being with Cam and doing all the cool things, catching some smiles here and there and getting screamed at,” he said. “But I also want to be the best golfer on the planet and she knows that and she just does an amazing job letting me do both…I work hard at two things now, so it feels a little bit more difficult but it’s a million times more rewarding.”
In the final round, Homa got his first of three deuces on the day at No. 3, the first of four birdies on the opening nine. As the players turned for home, the marine layer gave way and Torrey Pines was bathed in sunshine. Among a stacked leaderboard, Homa shined brightest. He made the second deuce at No. 11, striping a 4-iron to 13 feet and rolling in the putt.
“When he made the one on 11, I said, ‘That’s a Tiger two right there.’ Cuz guys don’t make two there,” Greiner said.
But Homa surrendered the lead at 14 with his lone bogey of the day to drop back to 11 under. Homa saved his best swing of the day for the par-3 16th, flagging another 4-iron to 15 feet, the closest anyone got to the hole all day, and drained the putt.
“I’m not even looking at that pin,” Collin Morikawa, who played alongside Homa, said. “He didn’t miss a shot and that’s what you’ve got to do if you’re going to win out here.”
Homa added a birdie at 18 for good measure to finish at 13-under 275.
Bradley carded the only bogey-free round of the day with a 6-under 66. But he pulled his second shot from 219 yards on the par-5 18th into the bunker left of the green, and he was unable to get up-and-down for birdie.
“The one shot I mis-hit all day,” said Bradley, who finished 11 under, a shot better than Morikawa (69), who was alone in third.
After holding at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, Sam Ryder made a costly double bogey at 15 to fall out of the lead and finished T-4 (75). Jon Rahm, who entered the final round in second place with a chance for his third win in as many starts, struggled on the front nine and shot 74, settling for a T-7 finish, his fourth top-10 in four starts to begin the season.
Homa, who represented Team USA in his first international team competition at the Presidents Cup in October, has emerged as one of the game’s best players after twice losing his card and having to return to the Korn Ferry Tour. Saturday was a gritty performance that showed just how much he trusts and believes in his game.
“It’s really easy to fake-believe that you’re a really good player but now he walks around and you can just tell that he knows when he plays well he’s going to contend and that he should be one of the best players in the world,” Greiner said.
Max Homa looks on prior to hitting his first shot on the 14th hole of the North Course during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
He’s earned the respect of his peers, who think Homa is just hitting his stride.
“It was only a matter of time before he put a string together like this,” Morikawa, a fellow Cal Bear, said.
“He’ll be challenging for No. 1,” CBS’s Colt Knost said. “He’s that good.”
Homa has become the rare social-media star, who also can pull off being a world-class player. If he can balance those acts, why not this parent thing too? He’s already looking forward to the day that he can tell Cam about the time daddy took down some of the best at Torrey.
“I will tell him this story ad nauseam and he will probably think I’m the worst for it, but this will be my corny dad story that I will tell every Thanksgiving or something,” he said, adding, “he’s not going to remember this, so I’ve got to win again.”
While there may be bigger victories still to come, Homa will always remember his first victory as a parent with a special keepsake. As he waited to do an interview, Homa took the Titleist golf ball he had used, which has the No. 25 inscribed on it, the basketball number of a high school buddy who passed away, and in black Sharpie he added, “For Cam.” Then he shoved it back into his pocket for safe-keeping and wiped his eyes.
“This is ultimately what we want, right? That’s why we play,” Sam Ryder said.
SAN DIEGO — Sam Ryder is attempting to win his first PGA Tour title in his 147th start. Breathing down his neck is Jon Rahm, the hottest player on the planet, who is bidding to become just the fourth player in the last 25 years to win in three straight starts. And lining up behind Rahm are five players who competed in the Presidents Cup. No big deal for Ryder, if he’s to find the winner’s circle for the first time. But to be the best, Ryder knows he’s going to have to beat the best, and he’s embracing the challenge.
“This is ultimately what we want, right? That’s why we play,” he said. “I can’t recreate that anywhere else in my line of work, so it’s just exciting, it’s fun.”
Ryder finished with 12 straight pars at Torrey Pines’ South Course on Friday, and posted an even-par 72 to remain at 12 under and two strokes ahead of Rahm. Ryder began the day leading by three strokes but took three putts at the second and watched a host of top players climb a little closer to the lead. Ryder made his only birdie at the par-5 sixth hole and continues to be rock solid when he has missed the green – 9 of 10 in scrambling this week.
“Overall, I’m very pleased,” he said. “Starting the day with a lead, ending the day with a lead, pretty satisfied.”
Ryder said he’s a creature of habit, something he picked up playing baseball in his youth.
“We’re a very superstitious bunch, the baseball players. It’s like if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it kind of thing,” he explained. “I remember where I was in Omaha when I won (on the Korn Ferry Tour), I was sitting at the same seat at the bar. I’m not going to that level, but just sticking to what I’m doing. It’s nice to kind of feel the same. I can’t control the weather or the conditions, my tee time, things like that. If I can control my environment as much as possible, it helps you feel a little bit more comfortable.”
He may not be sitting at the same bar stool, but he has been eating the same meal everyday at Urban Plates, a restaurant he described as “semi-healthy.” And his meal of choice?
“It was just a little chimichurri steak and some sweet potatoes and broccoli and a little rice. Pretty simple,” he said, adding that he washed it down with sparkling water.
Ryder has a big task ahead of him in the final round but he said he has won at every level. “This is next on the list,” he said. “Whether it’s tomorrow or whether it’s down the road, I believe that’s going to happen at some point. Just trying to enjoy the journey and the ride and all those things, too, as much as possible.”
The Shot of the Year divided the staff more than any other category among the 2022 Golfweek Awards because there are so many to consider.
Pros make difficult shots look routine every week, and sometimes Lady Luck plays a part too, but the writers, reporters and editors at Golfweek also felt that the circumstances and the moment mattered.
A miraculous shot in a major championship is just bigger than the same shot hit on a Thursday at a week-to-week event.
In the end, it came down to six shots. Five have been awarded honorable mention, and in some other years they each could have been the winner, but the 2022 Shot of the Year delivered in every way. A star player, on a massive stage, in a tight situation. The 2022 Golfweek Award winner for Shot of the Year goes to …
