Cameron and Matt Kuchar on Sunday on the 18th hole.
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There were swings and smiles. Thoughts and tears. And just two bogeys. Tiger and Charlie may not have been around, but the PNC Championship played on, complete once again with all the competitiveness and cuteness that its pro-and-relative scramble format provides, along with a first-time winner in Team Kuchar (pro Matt and son Cameron). Notably, the PNC is also the last event of the major pro golf tournament calendar, so it also offers a chance to reflect. Here, then, to go back and forth about it all are GOLF staffers Josh Schrock and Nick Piastowski.
Nick Piastowski (@nickpia): Hey, Josh! Happy holidays, man! Let’s start this with a fun one. You’re invited to the PNC. Who are you taking, what would you shoot and whose shots would you use the most?
Josh Schrock (@Schrock_And_Awe): Hey, Nick! It’s always nice to put a bow on the golf season with the PNC. Truly the best kind of hit-and-giggle, even when Tiger and Charlie aren’t around. I’d love to say I have a ringer in my family to help Team Schrock hoist a trophy, but it would probably be my mom and me. We’d unfortunately use most of my wayward shots en route to a ghastly number that would see us well behind Team Kuchar and Team Korda. What about you?
Piastowski: I’m going to cheat on this and say my dad, who’s sadly no longer with us. But I’m going with Mr. P because way back when, we did play in a player-parent scramble when I was in high school — and we sorta cheated on the last hole. We had bet the other team on the final hole that we’d better their score, and, when we were greenside, my dad picked up his ball and threw it, thinking that would help, but I somehow hit it closer than his toss. So maybe that’s not cheating. I dunno. All right, what’s your big takeaway from the PNC week?
Schrock: For me, the big takeaway is just that this is the best way to cap the pro golf season. As our colleague Sean Zak noted this week, the fall schedule is no longer “silly season” due to the stakes, but it is nice to have a fun event with a range of personalities.
Piastowski: Agreed. Things may get reshuffled in pro golf, but this one has to stay. There’s a nice mix of seriousness and not-so-seriousness, and that should be the way you end a year. What was your favorite moment this week, be it a swing, a comment or a moment?
This Lee Trevino interview is worth watching every second. 🥹🙌
Schrock: Any time you get a microphone in front of Lee Trevino is a win for golf and the fans. Hearing him tell NBC’s Todd Lewis about all golf has given to him and how much the sport means to him was the right way to end a week that’s about way more than birdies and bogeys. (You can watch the video above.) A close second was seeing Gary Woodland get to tee it up with his father after what has been a difficult few years following brain surgery.
Piastowski: Good choices! I’m going with the winners — and their finish. In February, Matt Kuchar’s dad died, and Peter Kuchar had been a golf constant for the pro, and a PNC regular. As you’d guess, the scene on 18 was emotional. Tears. Embraces. It got even better, though, when the pro hit his team’s second shot to a foot, all but locking up an incredible 18-under day. (You can watch the video above.) OK, a deeper one here, but does this event work for you? Would you make any fixes?
Schrock: It works for what it is. I think part of me would like to see the format tweaked one of the days to alt-shot instead of “best shot,” but I think it’s in a sweet spot where it is.
Piastowski: Alternate shot! I’m intrigued. I wouldn’t mind seeing a field expansion, though playing with limited sunlight is tough. I guess my request would be that no one adds a similar-style event — the PNC shouldn’t be robbed of its uniqueness. Who’s one team you’d like to see?
Schrock: The easy answer is Rory and Gerry McIlroy, but I’ll also throw in Tommy and Frankie Fleetwood in the coming years.
Piastowski: Bryson and whoever. I’d love to see that. Do we see Tiger and Charlie here next year?
Schrock: As long as Tiger is healthy, I imagine we will. We’re unfortunately at the point where the PNC is the most likely place for us to see Tiger tee it up. Although perhaps his upcoming birthday and ability to play on the Champions Tour will change that.
Piastowski: Yeah, I think we’ll see Tiger and Charlie next year — and here’s predicting that they win the thing. But I think you’re right — here’s also predicting he makes about five other starts next year. All right, since we’re here, let’s look back a bit. How will you remember the year from the pros, be it a player, tournament or moment?
Schrock: The obvious answer is Rory, given all he accomplished. The win at Augusta, yes, but I do think that the visual of him draining the eagle putt on the final hole of the Irish Open to send the home crowd into a state of delirium might be the image of the year. However, to offer a zag, I think I’ll also remember 2025 as the year that Tommy Fleetwood finally got it over the line and we might just look back on his road from the Travelers collapse to his Tour Championship win as the spark for a big, major-winning 2026.
Piastowski: Ooh, I like that. Let’s fit Fleetwood for the green jacket. For me, it was the Scheffler “what’s the point” speech from the Open Championship. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a pro be that sincere in a press conference. From what I saw, it appeared like he was processing the answer in real time. And honestly, I’ve been thinking about what he said in the months since — though I’m already dreaming of how I’ll celebrate my fantasy football title, should that happen next week. All right, gimme something you saw from your time on the road.
Schrock: I’ll offer you something I saw and something I learned. The image that sticks out from my time on the road is watching Scottie Scheffler at the Players in March and seeing how frustrated he was at the state of his understandably rusty game. I remember him missing a short par putt on the 17th, slamming his putter down and walking to the tee box by himself while his partner finished. Two months later, he won the PGA and was about to coast to another Jack Nicklaus Award. Things can change fast when you’re elite.
More importantly, though, I think the LPGA is in an awesome place with Craig Kessler at the helm. He has a vision, understands the landscape of professional sports and the attention economy and has already made big moves to put the LPGA in a position to have a long-awaited breakthrough moment. I’m very excited to see where things go from here with Kessler steering the league.
What do you got for me?
Piastowski: The emotional tilt-a-whirl that Rory McIlroy put his fans through at the Masters. I had a thought something like we saw was going to happen — so I walked with McIlroy and the patrons for all 19 holes and interviewed some after each big moment. I’m not sure we’ll see something like that for a while. What are you looking forward to next year?
Schrock: Two majors. Two iconic venues. The U.S. Open at Shinnecock and the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera. The major stretch next season is going to be loaded, but those two championships are already at the top of my mind.
Piastowski: You’re spot on with the Women’s Open at Riv. Fantastic course. Prime time. I’ll add … the buzz around whether Tiger will make a Champions start. So … gimme a bold prediction for 2026!
Schrock:Nelly Korda wins the U.S. Women’s Open and the AIG Women’s Open. I think there was too much talk (guilty) about her not winning in this past season. Was it weird? Sure. But she still played really good golf, but just didn’t give herself a lot of chances to win. I thought she should have won at Erin Hills, but the putter let her down. She gets back to winning a lot in 2026 and bags the two trophies she covets most.
Piastowski: I love that! How about this, though? Tiger wins the U.S. Senior Open. I asked for bold! Wait! Actually, TGL starts next week Sunday. What do you hope to see from the simulator league?
Schrock: As one of our staff’s resident TGL appreciators, I am actually pretty excited to have TGL back. I thought the league really found something starting with the middle of the season last year. The players bought in, showed they cared and that fans should too. It was the right mix of competitive and entertaining. It offered something new. I’m excited to see what tweaks they’ve made, the different types of holes they’ve conjured up and if Rory McIlroy, after achieving his dreams, can deliver Boston Common’s first TGL win in 2026.
Tell me you’re psyched for things to get cranked up again in the SoFi Center.
Piastowski: Hmm, I’ll say I’m interested. I thought last year felt forced at times to me, so I hope that gets dialed back. But what I really hope to see is a sense of importance. Seeing balls go into a simulator can get dry quickly — but competitiveness solves that. OK, last one. What’s a golf thing you want from Santa? It can be anything!
Schrock: Can I ask for a better swing? I’d like one of those.
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf.com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (updated: he did it). Josh Schrock can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
