Rory Is a Story (Again), Guessing the Designated Events and the Future of Match Play

Rory McIlroy didn't win the final WGC-Match Play, but is playing well enough to get hopes up again for the Masters.

Raise your hand if you had a Sam Burns-Cam Young final match in your WGC-Match Play bracket. Yeah, we didn't either.

Perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder, as golf fans were all-in on the swan-song match play this year especially as several of the game's best made deep runs through the bracket. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were in the hunt, then when they weren't anymore they still got to play each other in a consolation final.

Good stuff all around, but that's that for World Golf Championships and, for the foreseeable future, the match play format. 

Yet something pretty good is coming up next week, no? With one storyline that's now nine years old.

The Masters Is Almost Here, and Rory Again Is a Story

Eric Gay/AP

When Rory McIlroy won the 2014 British Open and PGA Championship to get to four career majors (and three of the four Grand Slam events), the sky seemed the limit to how many more he'd get.

It's 2023 now. He has four career majors. And still doesn't that final piece of the Grand Slam. But ... is this the year?

Bob Harig reviews the near-misses at Augusta National but also the optimism of recent weeks which suggests that maybe, just maybe, this could be Rory's time.

No matter what, it's arguably the biggest story going into the year's first major.

Next Year's PGA Tour Designated Event Rotation Is Anyone's Guess, and It's Complicated

Richard Burkhart/USA TODAY Network

We're biased here, but no one does deep dives into the PGA Tour schedule like Bob Harig. He takes a look at 2024 and speculates on what could be the four non-legacy designated events. This season, the four are the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo and Travelers. Nothing is known for sure yet on next year's schedule, but it's pretty safe to say those four won't all be designated again. 

The WGCs Are Done, and For Now Match Play on the PGA Tour Is Too

Eric Gay/AP

Next year will be the first since 1998 without a match play event on the PGA Tour. Does that bother you? Adding one back won't be easy, Bob Harig explains. 

Fore! Things: Sam Burns Makes History, More Additions to Masters Field

Eric Gay/AP

Sam Burns is somewhat quietly piling up wins on the PGA Tour, and Cam Young is also piling up high finishes without wins. The weekly Fore! Things reveals those numbers along with the four players who qualified for the Masters via Sunday's top-50 OWGR cutoff. One opportunity to get into the field remains.