Golf season’s over.
The signs are everywhere. The FedEx Cup Playoffs are in the books. The 2024 majors are a distant memory. The stars have started their offseasons; some have even undergone surgery. And when it comes to Thursday sporting attractions I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Bills-Dolphins outrates the Procore Championship.
But here’s the thing: golf season is never over.
There’s still some ketchup left in the bottle. Some beer left in the keg. Some twilight holes to be played before pitch-black. For golf diehards there’s actually plenty left to see this fall. So let’s get to ’em, in no particular order: The 13 most intriguing tournaments left on the professional golf schedule. (Spoiler alert: three are happening this weekend…)
Big Match Division
1. The Solheim Cup (9/13-9/15)
Intriguing because: It’s one of the tensest weeks on the golfing calendar — and the U.S. team desperately needs a win. The Solheim Cup, the biggest match-play event in women’s golf, is back this weekend, touching down just a short drive from Washington D.C. It’s been a few Cups since the U.S. last triumphed, so let’s see if proximity to the nation’s capital (plus, more importantly, a loaded roster including the two top-ranked players in the world) is enough to get them over the edge.
2. The Presidents Cup (9/26-9/29)
Intriguing because: Look, I know — it’s not the Ryder Cup. But the Presidents Cup is the next best thing, and this year’s U.S. team looks vulnerable. The International Team is playing host to the visiting Americans at Royal Montreal Golf Club, so it’s only about 30 miles from the U.S. border, but we’ll see what Canadian golf fans have in store.
3. The Match: LIV vs. PGA Tour
Intriguing because: of what it represents. If you’re not someone who’s gonna carve out time for the latest edition of The Match, I’m not here to critique your lifestyle. But this latest Match is significant whether you watch or not because of what it represents: an agreement, however small, between players on LIV and the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour’s best player (Scottie Scheffler) and biggest star (Rory McIlroy) have worked with LIV’s two most recent major champs (Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka) to play some golf. While McIlroy on Wednesday claimed he wasn’t sending a “message” with the match, he added this suggestive line: “It’s a way to show golf fans in the world that this is what could happen or these are the possibilities going forward.” Sounds like a message to me.
Tiger Woods Division
4. The Hero World Challenge
Intriguing because: This will likely be the largest collection of top-20 men’s players we see at a stroke-play event the rest of the year. It’ll also be the only time we see Tiger Woods play stroke-play golf before the end of the year. Hope springs eternal at Albany every winter; could this be the offseason Woods finds something again?
Honorable mention: The PNC Championship
Intriguing because: It turns out that family golf rocks — especially when those families are incredibly talented and competitive. Tiger and Charlie have served as an entry point to a world of delightful parent-child pairings, from the fatherly wisdom of Padraig Harrington to the athletic father-daughter duo of Petr and Nelly Korda to the Dalys, Singhs, Trevinos, Sorenstams, there’s plenty of good stuff coming out of the PNC. (I’m just not counting it as a tournament; two days of two-player family scramble is sort of in its own category.)
"If your kid gets good at the game that doesn’t necessarily make them love the game. But if the kid loves the game, it’s likely they’ll become good at it. It’s the love that should be first."
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) December 18, 2023
Padraig Harrington rules. This rules. Well worth your 3 min:
pic.twitter.com/vpmW1jjXkZ
PGA Tour Division
5. Black Desert Classic
Intriguing because: The PGA Tour’s first-ever stop in … Utah?! I’m in. And I’m curious if any top-tier talent from the desert (Tour pro hotspots Las Vegas and Scottsdale are just around the corner) decide to tee it up.
6. RSM Classic
Intriguing because: Jobs are on the line. The Tour’s year-end event comes with consequence and drama as final status is determined for next season. The fall season has lacked an identity in the past, but now it means more to pros on the bubble as they fight to retain or improve PGA Tour status — and the RSM Classic will mark their last chance to make a good impression.
LPGA Tour Division
7. CME Group Tour Championship (11/21-11/24)
Intriguing because: It’s the final event of the LPGA Tour’s season and among the most lucrative, too. They’ll send off the year in style, doling out $11 million in prize money as Nelly Korda hopes for a final coronation, Lilia Vu makes her case for best in the world, Lydia Ko writes the final chapter in a dream year and much more at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
8. Grant Thornton Invitational (12/13-12/15)
Intriguing because: It’s the second year of this PGA Tour-LPGA Tour crossover event. Year 1 went well; there was a giant boost in attendance and attention from the former PGA Tour-only format. Time to see if the sequel goes next level.
DP World Tour Division
9. The Amgen Irish Open (9/12-9/15)
Intriguing because: I’m most excited when the coolest tournaments go to the coolest golf courses and there’s not much better than Royal County Down, the crown jewel of Northern Ireland and arguably the greatest golf course in the world. There are also meaningful homecomings: Rory McIlroy’s there, Shane Lowry’s there, Padraig Harrington’s there and there’s something elemental and inspiring about this event in this setting.
10. The BMW PGA Championship (9/19-9/22)
Intriguing because: It’s maybe the European circuit’s greatest championship — almost a Players Championship equivalent, held by tour headquarters with big crowds and big money. Wentworth delivers every year.
11. The Dunhill Links Championship (10/3-10/6)
Intriguing because: It’s St. Andrews. And because there’s drama in the fall air. It’s one thing for Rory McIlroy to return to the Dunhill, where he plays nearly every year. It adds further intrigue that Jon Rahm is expected to be there as he tries to stay Ryder-Cup eligible. It’s another altogether for Brooks Koepka to do so. Koepka played plenty in Europe as a young pro; he cut his teeth on the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour. But he hasn’t played a regular DP World event in more than four years. If you put on your conspiratorial hat and you look at his appearance as not just a tournament start but a business meeting and perhaps even a chess move and you connect that to his appearance in the Match, well, you can really get your imagination going. Something is afoot. But even if you take your tinfoil hat off, tournament golf on the Old Course is enough intrigue on its own.
12. The DP World Tour Championship (11/16-11/19)
Intriguing because: It’s the season finale for big-tour men’s professional golf and it’s time to hand out the season-long prizes — including the Race to Dubai champion and 10 PGA Tour cards. This is it, gang. See you next year.
LIV Golf Division
13. LIV Chicago (9/13-9/15)
Intriguing because: Relegation. Will Bubba Watson be off his own team next season? Will Harold Varner III and Pat Perez be off to play LIV’s Q-School and the International Series in an effort to retain their spots? The details of player contracts and the rules around LIV’s “Drop Zone” are still somewhat murky, but what’s clear is that if you finish outside the top 48 it is not good. It’ll be interesting to see whether Jon Rahm wins the individual title in his first season, but it’ll be just as intriguing to see what happens in life after LIV for some big-name pros.
Honorable Mentions Division
I promised myself I’d stick to 13 and now we’re there, so my apologies to: LIV’s team championship at Maridoe in Dallas, where they’ll play match play and hand out a truckload of cash. The FedEx French Open, where they’ll return to Olympic host site Le Golf National. The Zozo Championship, which always brings out an enthusiastic Japanese crowd. The Butterfield Bermuda Championship, which is wonderfully quirky and carries the possibility of 60 mph winds. The Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, because golf in Arkansas is probably underrated. Q-School, ft. Tony Romo. LIV Q-School, ft. intriguing players to be named. And probably the dumbest snubs of all, the Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells and the Korn Ferry Tour Championship, which deliver life-changing drama every single year as the players on the bubble make it to the next level or come heartbreakingly close.
So, yeah. There’s a lot of golf left.
And then the season will start again.
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com. Want more? Subscribe to his Monday Finish newsletter here.
