25 burning questions for the 2025 golf season

We’ve got questions. 2025 will have answers. Here we go: 25 questions for the 2025 year in golf. And just for fun let’s do it without using the word “merger” at any point…

INJURY DIVISION

1. Can prepping Christmas Dinner do what an overzealous police officer and every golfer in the world could not?

In other words: Is this what stops Scottie Scheffler? After a year where Scheffler became a father, got arrested and won nine times, including the Players, the Masters, the FedEx Cup and Olympic Gold, is a kitchen accident enough to derail this runaway train? Probably not. But a golfer’s hands are his livelihood, and the fact that Scheffler’s starting his 2025 with glass-shard removal surgery is … not great.

2. Which direction is Viktor Hovland headed?

And I don’t just mean which direction his toe is pointing — though that’s a good place to start. For a second consecutive season, Hovland arrives at the first tournament of the year having just split with instructor Joe Mayo. Last year was mostly disappointing; he regressed in his short game, managed just two top-10s and took four months this offseason to get right and get healthy. That offseason concluded with a broken toe and a new coaching plan. Is this a bad omen or just what Hovland needs?

3. Did Jordan Spieth just fix … everything?

Sometimes a wrist surgery is more than a wrist surgery. Spieth Nation hopes that’s the case. We haven’t seen Spieth since he bowed out in the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs in August — but perhaps this is intermission before a massive Spiethian second act.

4. What’s next for Ludvig Aberg?

He missed time this fall after a procedure on his knee but looked strong in his two starts at the RSM and Hero World Challenge. The Swedish star is already No. 5 in the world; what does the next step look like?

5. How much will Tiger Woods play?

We saw Tiger Woods alongside his son Charlie at the PNC Championship, of course, but he urged caution. Will we see him at the Genesis? At the Masters? At every TGL match? How will he look when we do?

LEADERSHIP DIVISION

6. Who will the PGA Tour’s new CEO be?

Not just in name but in philosophy — who will Monahan and Co. hire to push the PGA Tour forward? And what does [gestures at entire landscape] all of this mean for Monahan?

7. Who will the LPGA Tour’s new commissioner be?

Not just in name but in philosophy — how will Mollie Marcoux Samaan’s successor generate significant buzz for the league as it enters its 75th year?

8. Who will LIV’s new commissioner be?

With Greg Norman on the way out — or at least into a different role — can his successor take Norman’s passion for the league and marry it with a more conciliatory chapter for LIV’s future?

9. How will DP World Tour commissioner Guy Kinnings steer the ship?

I thought it was interesting this fall when Kinnings said, of the DPWT, “we really are the global tour.” LIV has been seeking that position. The PGA Tour obviously has tournaments around the world, too. Does Kinnings lean harder into the strategic alliance with the Tour or opt to welcome LIV’s stars to bolster its biggest events?

10. What will we see from the new head of the R&A?

That would be Mark Darbon, successor to Martin Slumbers. The R&A chief always feels like an important compass for the game; it’s worth reading this Slumbers exit interview with John Huggan to get a sense of the position and where Darbon will sit with respect to the game’s challenges.

MAJOR CHAMPS DIVISION

11. What will the sequel to Lydia Ko’s fairy tale look like?

Ko’s gold medal-St. Andrews-Hall-of-Fame combo made 2024 tough to beat. How ’bout 2025?

12. Can Xander Schauffele finish off the career grand slam?

Okay, maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Perhaps winning the Masters and the U.S. Open this year isn’t gonna happen. But what if it did?! We unpacked that on this week’s Bold Predictions episode of the Drop Zone, which you can find here:

13. Just how good can Nelly Korda get?

This year she claimed a major championship and six wins in one seven-tournament stretch — and it still felt like a weird year thanks to some high-profile missed cuts, a dog bite injury, you name it. Korda may not win five in a row again but somehow still has room for improvement in 2025.

14. Bryson?

Bryson DeChambeau’s ongoing off-course popularity is challenging established truths about what it means to be a pro athlete, stuff like: do you think more people know about DeChambeau’s house hole-in-one quest or his U.S. Open victory? But the fact that he could do both in 2024 is a testament to his continued rise. I don’t even know what question to ask here, so let’s just see what DeChambeau does next.

15. Just how good will Royal Portrush be?

It’s the major championship I’m most excited for: I’m a sucker for Northern Ireland, for Irish lore in general, for Shane Lowry’s return, five years later, for Rory McIlroy to re-enter the emotional pressure cooker. Can’t wait.

RYDER CUP DIVISION

16. Will Keegan Bradley make his own Ryder Cup team?

I hope so. For Keegan and for the chaos of it all.

17. How many LIV pros will make the Ryder Cup team?

There was only one LIV golfer at the 2023 Ryder Cup — American Brooks Koepka. There will be more this time. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton have since left for LIV on the European side and others, namely Bryson DeChambeau (and Sergio Garcia?!) will be under serious consideration.

18. Will American pay become a rallying cry?

The American side’s increased stipend has been an endless source of debate; will the European team and their traveling troupe of fans use that to their advantage?

19. How will the fans be, anyway?

Much was made of the $750 Bethpage ticket price and how it’ll price out regular fans. But much has also been made of the unruly atmosphere we’re certain to find on Long Island. Can both be true? Perhaps fans will be that much more unruly because they’ve paid so much to be there? A safe prediction: delightful madness, with at least one or two incidents that cross the line.

20. Can the Europeans steal another one?

Each side has been holding serve effectively; the Americans have now won twice in a row at home while the Europeans haven’t lost at home since [checks notes] 1993. Can Luke Donald lead his squad into hostile territory and emerge with a win?

MISCELLANEOUS DIVISION

21. How much will we see Lexi Thompson?

Her retirement was one of the biggest stories of 2024. But she also shied away from the word “retirement” at times — and finished the year playing some pretty good golf. Where will we see Lexi next? What will she be up to when we do?

22. What’s the story with with LIV’s Fox Sports deal?

That is, where, when and how will we watch LIV? Getting a big-time TV deal is huge for the league’s potential exposure and could be an antidote to its underwhelming ratings. But I’m curious how the media rights were valued and how the product will be televised — how much FS1 we’re getting vs. Fox, whether international events will be live vs. tape-delayed, etc. LIV’s ratings remain an important subplot as various power brokers decide golf’s future.

23. Will the TGL work?

Color me intrigued. I think this could be sneaky fun and legitimately different; it’ll be fast, the tech seems pretty cool and there’s plenty of star power involved — but there’s also a world where it’s something of a disaster. A directly related question: Will the players buy all the way in?

24. Can Rory…y’know…

…win a major? McIlroy will have four more chances to end his decade-long drought. While it’s tough to imagine him getting closer than he got at Pinehurst this year, it’s also tough to imagine just how good it would feel if he got across the line.

25. Can golf continue to grow?

I don’t mean that in the eye-rolling grow-the-game drivel you hear too often from too many people. But more people have been playing golf. More people think and talk positively about the game. There are more options and more different ways to participate than ever. Have we peaked as a sport — or is this just the beginning?

Bonus question: Who will be the next guest on Warming Up?

Shameless plug time; I want you to watch the below interview with Xander Schauffele, if you’re into that sort of thing. And then I want you to stick around for the next one coming in January. Appreciate you all.