2023 was a year like no other in the world of professional golf.
While many will remember this year as the time LIV Golf truly divided the sport, there are so many incredible moments that happened on the golf course. We don’t want fans to lose sight of that.
So, we at SB Nation’s Playing Through decided to reveal the five best moments of the 2023 golf season.
5. Jon Rahm wins the Masters on Easter Sunday
Brooks Koepka entered the day with a four-stroke lead over Jon Rahm, as the now five-time major winner had one arm in the green jacket by Sunday morning.
But since Saturday’s third round was suspended due to torrential rain, the leaders had to play 29 holes on Sunday to complete the tournament.
On the first hole of the day—the par-4 7th hole—Rahm’s deficit quickly became two when he made a birdie while Koepka bogeyed.
It was a harbinger of things to come, as Rahm went on to win the green jacket easily.
He shot a final-round 3-under 69, while Koepka managed a disappointing 3-over 75. Rahm’s superb approach shot into the par-4 14th during the final round solidified his second major title and his first victory at Augusta National.
Interestingly, at the time, this duel was seen as a battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, taking place on golf’s holiest grounds.
Rahm, a PGA Tour loyalist, outpaced Koepka, a LIV Golf star who had not won a major since the 2019 PGA Championship. Koepka joined LIV because he wanted financial security and because of the various injuries he suffered over the past few years.
Yet, less than eight months after winning the Masters on his idol Seve Ballesteros’ birthday, Rahm joined LIV Golf for north of $400 million.
With both of these players back on the same tour, these two will surely have more battles in 2024.
4. Viktor Hovland’s incredible FedEx Cup Playoff Run
Viktor Hovland won the Memorial Tournament in June, which gave him his biggest PGA Tour victory to date. It also gave him the fuel—and the confidence—to win more.
He did just that.
Hovland went nuclear in August, shooting an otherworldly 9-under 61 to win the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields—a course that has hosted the U.S. Open.
Not only did Hovland win, but he raced past Scottie Scheffler on the back nine to win in Chicago. At this juncture, we could have anointed Hovland as the hottest player on the planet. Perhaps even the best.
And that was vindicated the following week in the sweltering Atlanta heat.
Hovland cruised to victory at East Lake to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. He carded a 4-under 66 on Saturday and then shot a ridiculous 7-under 63 on Sunday to finish at 27-under par, five shots ahead of Xander Schauffele.
“[I’m] just handling adversity a lot better because I believe in my game,” Hovland said after his win in Atlanta.
“If I hit one bad shot or make one mistake it’s not the end of the world. I keep pressing on, I keep making birdies, and suddenly we’re back in it again.”
He made plenty of birdies over this two-week stretch, as he did not take his foot off the gas. In doing so, one of the tour’s most likable stars wow-ed the golfing world with his superb play.
3. Team Europe’s statement at Marco Simone
The United States has not won a Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993, and many thought that drought would be snapped at Marco Simone this year.
The Europeans thought otherwise, and the tournament was really over before it started.
Two weeks before the Ryder Cup, Captain Luke Donald gathered his team at Wentworth, where all 12 of his players participated in the BMW PGA Championship—one of the flagship events on the DP World Tour. While there, the team bonded and shared meals while also talking about strategy for the upcoming competition.
To top it off, during Team Europe’s scouting trip to Marco Simone, Donald surprised his team with this:
The Americans, meanwhile, took a last-minute scouting trip to Rome that did not even include the entire team.
While the Europeans played at Wentworth, Jordan Spieth and Max Homa played in the Fortinet Championship to knock some rust off. But many other Team USA participants were nowhere to be found.
Alas, the Europeans dominated.
It was never close.
Team USA won just a single match over the first three sessions, as the final score of 16.5-to-11.5 was not as close as it appeared.
And considering the absence of numerous Ryder Cup stalwarts—like Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, and Ian Poulter—thanks to their association with LIV Golf, Europe’s win this past fall was quite a statement.
2. The Year of Ending the Drought: Rickie Fowler, the Canadian Open, and more
There was no better golf tournament on the PGA Tour in 2023 than the RBC Canadian Open. Canadian Nick Taylor drained a 72-footer on the fourth playoff hole to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and win the tournament. His victory snapped a 69-year-old drought for Canadian golfers at their national open, as all of Canada roared when the putt dropped.
Fellow Canadian, Adam Hadwin, was so jacked up in the moment, causing security to literally tackle him on the green.
A few weeks later, Rickie Fowler won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit in a playoff. It marked his first victory in four years.
Many other players snapped win-less droughts in 2023. Here is a list of some of them:
- Justin Rose: Won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his first victory in over four years.
- Chris Kirk: Defeated Eric Cole in a thrilling playoff at the Honda Classic, marking his first win since 2015.
- Jason Day: Won the AT&T Byron Nelson the week before the PGA Championship; first win since 2018.
- Emiliano Grillo: Won the Charles Schwab Challenge in a playoff over Adam Schenk; first win since the 2015 Frys.com Open.
- Lucas Glover: Won the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in back-to-back weeks. Glover last won in 2021, but before that, his last victory came in 2011.
We also had plenty of first-time winners on the PGA Tour in 2023. Here is the list:
- Adam Svensson: 2022 RSM Classic
- Kurt Kitayama: 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Nico Echavarría: 2023 Puerto Rico Open
- Taylor Moore: 2023 Valspar Championship
- Matt Wallace: 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship
- Nick Hardy & Davis Riley: 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
- Wyndham Clark: 2023 Wells Fargo Championship
- Vincent Norrman: 2023 Barbasol Championship
- Akshay Bhatia: 2023 Barracuda Championship
- Lee Hodges: 2023 3M Open
- Sahith Theegala: 2023 Fortinet Championship
- Ludvig Åberg: 2023 RSM Classic
1. The Block Party at Oak Hill
The best moment of 2023 came at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, thanks to a club professional from Southern California,
Michael Block first came onto the scene on Thursday afternoon, when he did a walk-and-talk interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt during the opening round. Block’s easy-going demeanor, sense of humor, and charm resonated with golf fans watching.
But Block was actually playing well, something club professionals do not often do at the PGA Championship. He shot three straight even-par rounds and entered the final round tied for 8th, thus becoming the first PGA Club Pro to be in the top 10 at the PGA Championship since 1988.
Block was the biggest story of the championship. Despite his quick ascendance to fame, he still took time to sign every autograph, snap pictures with fans, and even hang out with fellow golf fans after his round at the Pittsford Pub—a local watering hole down the street from Oak Hill.
And yet, the best moment came on Sunday.
Paired alongside Rory McIlroy, Block was in the fourth-to-last pairing in the final round of a major championship. Most professional golfers dream of that scenario, let alone a club pro from Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California.
Alas, Block arrived at Oak Hill’s par-3 15th struggling a little bit, as he was 2-over for the day. That quickly changed when he dunked in an ace, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
His hole in one also broke the internet.
But three holes later, on Oak Hill’s famous 18th hole, Block made a miraculous up-and-down to shoot a 1-over 71 and secure a spot in the 2024 PGA Championship. He needed it to finish in a tie for 14th, which awarded him with a trip to Valhalla.
Block will likely have a hard time replicating the magic he had in Rochester in Louisville next May. But that should not stop us from reminiscing about how amazing that week was.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.