🏌🏻 Who Conquered Majors?

Good morning. It’s officially the Christmas weekend! Golf Reporter’s offices will be closed through Monday and we’ll be back with a fresh edition on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your families. Thanks so much for spending your mornings with us this year.

Until then, today’s edition packs a mighty punch - with more on the new rules impacting LIV Golf and PGA Tour, Justin Thomas reflecting on a disappointing 2023 year and the year’s major championship leaderboard. This and much more…

🏌🏻 Deal of the day: 3k+ people bought this last month: 40% off on Mobile Launch Monitor for Golf, Indoor and Outdoor Use with GPS Satellite View and Professional Level Accuracy. Check it out here.

⛳ This day in history: The first golf association was created on December 22, 1894. At that time, it was called the Amateur Golf Association of the United States. Today it is known as the United States Golf Association. The organization became the governing body of golf for the United States and Mexico.

ALBATROS
OWGR Shakeup: New Rules Impacting LIV And PGA Tour

Two months after denying LIV Golf's points application, the Official World Golf Ranking has made two alterations that might pave the way for LIV Golf.

The first change alters the points distribution for smaller fields (80 players or less), favoring higher-ranked finishers and omitting points for the bottom 15 percent in events without a cut. For match play events, losing in the first round or through a pool format will no longer earn points.

These adjustments will impact the PGA Tour's eight key events in 2024, with some featuring cuts and others not.

The second update introduces bonuses for multiple wins within a year, potentially indicating a shift towards including LIV Golf despite earlier statements suggesting otherwise.

Specifically, the allowance for no-cut events with smaller player fields aligns with LIV Golf's format, although the OWGR had initially refrained from awarding points due to this format, while permitting a 54-hole Tour to earn points.

When it comes to the PGA tour, the three player-hosted invitationals (Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament) will feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties any player within 10 shots of the lead.

The other five signature events – The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship – will not have a cut.

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Who Conquered the 2023 Golf Majors? Find Out

• In 2023, only 12 players qualified for all four men's Majors.

• Interestingly, despite not winning a Major, the player with the best overall performance wasn't the ultimate champion.

Jon Rahm secured his second Major victory at the Masters, surpassing Brooks Koepka. Wyndham Clark clinched his first Major title at the US Open, while Brian Harman also celebrated his maiden Major win at the Open in Hoylake. However, despite their triumphs, none of these players topped the overall Major championship leaderboard for 2023.

Scottie Scheffler is our Major leaderboard champion, finishing the Major events at 18-under, coming close to winning one, if not for his widely discussed struggles with putting.

Viktor Hovland's impressive performance placed him just behind Scheffler at 16-under, with both being the only ones to complete all four Majors without finishing a single one over par.

Rahm secured the third spot, his seven-over finish at the PGA Championship highlighting the intense difficulty of consistently competing in major competitions.

2023 Major Championship Leaderboard

Check out the complete article here.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

The Masters: Who's in, who's out? 11 tour pros anxiously wait for confirmation that they’re in the 2024 Masters. The final ranking for 2023 doesn’t come out for a few more days and there’s only one more tournament (Tata Steel on the PGTI) in 2023 that offers World Ranking points. However, there's no player competing in that event who could influence the top-end of the rankings.

PGA Tour: Voting for the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council is officially underway. Eight members of the PGA Tour will be elected by the membership, with an additional eight members to be appointed by the player directors to serve on the PAC. The voting ends on 12th January.

LIV Golf: Majesticks GC has announced a new partnership with Destination Sport Group which will see the global sports travel leader become the team’s Official Travel Partner. They have become the first LIV Golf team to secure an official travel partner.

Christmas Greetings: The Masters have released an hour-long Yule Log video but it doesn't have any soundtrack. The video was shot in the famed Butler Cabin at Augusta, where the famed green jackets are handed out.

Tiger Woods: Tiger Woods and LIV Golf were Google’s most searched-for golf subjects in the United States in 2023. Rory Mcilroy was notably second in Google searches, generating 88.7% of the search interest of Woods.

BIRDIE
Navigating the Rough: Justin Thomas on His Toughest Year

1 Green, 8 Reds - an apt sum up of Justin Thomas' 2022-23 PGA Tour season. Thomas reflected on his disappointing year, sharing his set of goals for the season that reflected his performance across the four Majors.

He posted on Instagram, revealing his objectives for the 2022-23 season. Among these goals, making the Ryder Cup team was the sole accomplishment, while he fell short on targets like winning another Major, avoiding missed cuts, and reclaiming the World No.1 spot. Thomas admitted this as his "least successful year" on the PGA Tour.

Thomas faced a challenging time at the Majors in 2023, experiencing disappointments with missed cuts at the Masters, US Open, and The Open Championship.

His best performance was a T65 finish at the PGA Championship. However, he did achieve 11 top-25 finishes and secured four top-10 positions this season, earning over $3.5 million in prize money.

His top-10 finishes were attained at the Hero World Challenge (5th place), WM Phoenix Open (4th place), Travelers Championship (9th place), and Fortinet Championship (5th place).

Despite the difficulties throughout the year, Thomas views this season as a valuable learning experience and expresses determination to return stronger in the future.

DRIVING RANGE
Stop Thins, Fats And Skied Drives With These Simple Drills

In this video, coach Ged Walters explains the main cause of fat and thin shots and demonstrates an easy drill that should help elevate your ball striking abilities.