Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Rory McIlroy’s memorable 2025 and look ahead to the LPGA’s season finale.
Rory McIlroy lost the DP World Tour Championship in a playoff to Matt Fitzpatrick but still won the season-long Race to Dubai title for the seventh time, capping a season in which he won three times on the PGA Tour — highlighted by his Masters title to complete the career Grand Slam — and helped Europe win a road Ryder Cup. Was this McIlroy’s best year ever?
James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): This was absolutely the greatest season of Rory’s career, but not for the reasons you’d think. Yeah, the Grand Slam was nice, and yeah, the road Ryder Cup win (something McIlroy himself called one of the hardest achievements in golf) doesn’t hurt. But for my money, the totality of these accomplishments is even better than the sum of the parts. This was the year that McIlroy solidified himself as the greatest player of his generation, and even if he goes on to win more or win bigger, this year will always be more important to his lasting greatness than the ones that came before or after it.
Josh Sens, senior writer (@Josh_Sens): For sure. It wasn’t just what he won but how he won. The wild ride on the way to winning the Masters, ending a 10-year major drought at a tournament that had given more heartache than any other. And then that showing at the Ryder Cup, backing up his prediction amid all that ugliness from the crowds. Those moments will sear into collective memory more than any other season achievements.
Josh Schrock, news editor (@Schrock_And_Awe): There’s no question. As my colleagues noted, it’s not just what he did, but how he did it and where he did it. He won at Pebble, TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National, vanquishing personal ghosts and avoiding what would have been a soul-shattering collapse. He navigated post-achievement depression after winning the Masters, had an inspiring week at his Open, won the Irish Open in thrilling fashion and then led Europe to an away Ryder Cup win. As James noted, he’s the greatest player of his generation and might have cemented himself as the greatest European golfer of all-time.
McIlroy’s seven Race to Dubai titles is just one shy of Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight, which McIlroy seems likely to tie or break. Does McIlroy receive enough credit for the worldwide success he’s had?
Colgan: I feel like Rory’s criminally underrated resume abroad is almost a running bit among golf fans today. But I think this goes back to what I was saying above: All those other accolades seemed a bit … empty in the face of the major championship drought. Now that the drought is over, we can see those achievements in their fullness.
Sens: Hmm. I dunno. He collected $1.2 million for second place in the event, and another $2 million for winning the season-long race, and his name appeared in banner headlines in every golf publication around the world. What are we supposed to do? Start erecting monuments in his honor? He’s accomplished a lot overseas. But he’s not exactly crisscrossing the globe at the clip of stars from generations past. He plays a select schedule and gets rewarded extravagantly for it.
Schrock: I think Colgan nailed it. Rory has been a consistent, worldwide great for more than a decade, but the major slump, countless heartbreaks and missing green jacket caused most to overlook the big picture.
Speaking of McIlroy, teams were announced for the Golf Channel showdown he’s headlining with Scottie Scheffler on Dec. 17. McIlroy’s team will consist of Shane Lowry, Haotong Li and Luke Donald, while Scheffler will have Sam Burns, Luke Clanton and Keegan Bradley in an event with all sorts of different formats and games baked into it. Do you think the unique spin will be enough to have it draw better than other made-for-TV matchups?
Colgan: I mean, I think it’s a little funny that we’re filling the quiet season for golf with … more golf. If there’s evidence that real human beings actually want to watch these events, I certainly haven’t seen it. But for those of us writing about the sport, these made-for-TV shenanigans are better than a black hole of nothing on the golf calendar, so … I guess that’s good?
Sens: Well said, James. It’s hard to get overly excited about an event like this. But complaining about them from this perch does seem a bit contradictory.
Schrock: Co-sign the above. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp emphasized the importance of scarcity in improving the professional golf product. This is the opposite. I’m all for taking swings, but I have a hard time seeing this break through.
The LPGA season concludes next week with the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., and it will be Nelly Korda’s last chance to get a victory. Korda won seven times last year — how is she one week away from a potential winless season?
Colgan: Yeah, it’s shocking — and it’s disappointing, too, if you’re the LPGA — but I think the easiest explanation lies with the flatstick. Korda ranks 98th on Tour in 2025 in putts-per-final-round and 101st in three-putt average. Interestingly, that’s not too far off where Korda ranked in those categories in her seven-win 2024. But when you factor for variance — and regression in some of the otherworldly parts of her game last season — it’s not hard to wind up with a seven-win difference.
Sens: Golf is a beautifully fickle game where the tiniest margins can separate success from failure, nowhere more so than at the elite level. When the irons are just a hair off, when the putts that used to drop start grazing the cup — those little misses produce disproportionately lesser results. If anything, this year further underscores how insanely great her 2024 was.
Schrock: The answer lies in a little bit of everything. The putting has held her back when she has been in contention. She has been dealing with a neck injury that might be more of a pain than she initially let on. She also mentioned she’s been dealing with a swing issue where she has been dealing with a laid-off look at the top. It’s also hard to win. Her stats aren’t much worse than last year, but she just hasn’t been in a mix a ton and when she was in the mix at Erin Hills, the putter betrayed her.
What was the more interesting subplot to this week’s Annika: WNBA star Caitlin Clark attracting monster pro-am galleries or the attention of Kai Trump, granddaughter of President Donald Trump, receiving a sponsor’s exemption and shooting 83-75 to miss the cut?
Colgan: There were an awful lot of people who rushed to defend the President’s granddaughter from allegations that she … might not have earned an invite on the merits of her golf. (No hate to Kai, whose TikTok megastardom made her a great fit for a sponsor exemption, but I didn’t realize this was up for debate!) If the LPGA can turn even 10 percent of those people into regular watchers, it will have been worth the effort!
Sens: While it’s fun to watch Clark shift from the court to the course, it’s always especially interesting to see a very good player try to compete at the next level. It’s an in-your-face reminder of the gap between the best and the rest. I guess you could say that the way people’s political allegiances colored their take on Kai’s exemption was also interesting. But mostly that was just depressing.
Schrock: The most interesting subplot was what the LPGA can do to try and retain the extra eyeballs Clark and Trump brought. It’s great that Clark is into golf and can expose her fans to golf. Televising the pro-am is a win! Giving Trump a sponsor invite is an opportunistic swing for the social media impressions, but if there is no big plan to capitalize on moves like this, then it ends up meaning very little. The LPGA should be applauded for trying things to increase viewership, interest, etc., but Caitlin Clark and Kai Trump aren’t the antidote to what ails the tour.
