6 pro golf observations from 3 weeks abroad

MANCHESTER — In the last three weeks, I’ve jumped from country to country following this silly game — from the Scottish Open (PGA Tour) to the Open Championship (major) to LIV Golf UK. Along the way, we’ve seen breakout stars, fading stars, zero shooting stars, and just enough things that make you wonder — where is this sport headed?

For that, we’ve got six thoughts on the state of things, interesting observations from the road … and how golf and European football have run parallel paths. Dive in…

1. Gotterup’s Traveling Heater 

It was exactly 17 days ago that Chris Gotterup shot 61 in the second round of the Scottish Open. It was a quiet, morning round at Renaissance Club that few people, and few cameras, were even following. But it pushed him to the top of the leaderboard, and from there he’s done so much. He toppled Rory McIlroy over the weekend at the Scottish, and then did about as well as you could against Scottie Scheffler the following weekend. Then he raced over to Minneapolis and was in contention again, finishing T10.

When we chatted after that Friday morning 61, Gotterup still had a flight itinerary booked from Edinburgh to Reno for the Barracuda. He told us he was planning to play out the full season, meaning Reno —> Minneapolis for the 3M Open —> Greensboro for the Wyndham Championship. My, how things change. He’s shot up to no. 20 in the FedEx Cup and in the American Ryder Cup standings. The former is going to make him a lot of money, considering he’s in great position for East Lake. The latter, well … a few thoughts:

In many ways, this run by Gotterup is exactly what Keegan Bradley wants for his Ryder Cup squad. And in other ways, it’s exactly what he doesn’t want. A last-ditch move from a player who wasn’t on your radar only complicates the roster building, and makes life difficult on the Patrick Cantlays, Wyndham Clarks and Jordan Spieths of the world. It feels like Memphis and Delaware are a two-week trial period for all of the American “bubble” players, and I hope Gotterup keeps it up because three things feel very true. 1. His game clearly travels, from East Lothian to Nor’n Ireland to the wet, hot mid-America summer. 2. It hasn’t just been the last 17 days — he’s been great since mid-April. 3. He stared McIlroy down and beat him. That has to bode well for Bethpage. 

2. Koepka’s Grind

Three days after his major season ended with another goose egg, I found Brooks Koepka grinding on the LIV range on … ball position. Ricky Elliot was working around for different looks from every angle, trying to will some simplicity into Koepka’s setup. Before long, Pete Cowen was observing Koepka, and not long after that Graeme McDowell, too. 

“It just feels awkward as shit,” Koepka said to Cowen, stepping back after one driver swing. G-Mac then stepped in to over-emphasize how Koepka needed to keep his stance as it was — not open to target, which is what he seemed to be experimenting with — and lean on his front leg more. 

This is the kinda of nitty-gritty golf stuff that tells a story on its own. A story about Koepka, the 5-time major champ who was unhappy with his game this summer. About Elliot, the caddie who was speaking very frankly with his pro — something Koepka says he needs from his team. And McDowell, the teammate who probably wouldn’t give a damn were Koepka not essentially his employer. 

It may not be much but it felt like a window into the team element of LIV. Team stuff matters as much as anything to that enterprise because it needs to. They’re reportedly upping the team purse for 2026 events, but it’s not all money. Sergio Garcia absolutely believes he’s doing something for the future of Spanish golf by signing young Spanish players to his team. Bubba Watson says he’ll be a non-playing captain in the future, maintaining belief that the Range Goats will live for years down the road. (Who knows if that’ll be true, but Watson has to believe it. He may have no choice!) The Majesticks have built out larger and larger activations at every U.K.-based LIV event over the years, and it seemed to be a hit with their home crowd. Again, they have to do this. It’s their model! And it’s ultimately undercut by their bleak TV viewership. But it still feels worth noting when you see it.

3. How much bigger should The Open get? 

It’s possible the sheer size of this Open was perfect. Particularly for the R&A, who claimed it “set a new benchmark” for overall viewership, in person and through broadcast and digital channels. But there’s a worthy question to be had about how big the Open has become.

This year’s Open was massive, and we may have looked past its size because of the spectators’ obsession with the reigning Masters champion. You could scale dunes at Portrush for a better view, but you cannot do that at St. Andrews. Or Royal Liverpool. That complicates anyone’s ability to actually see the golf. The 2025 iteration was aided by the meandering, criss-crossing course routing, which allows fans to move about from hole to hole, from front nine to back nine, quite easily. But on out-and-back courses — two of them named above, in addition to Troon — the immense crowds tend to gather toward the start/finish area and not leak out into the extents of the course.

All of that is relevant … before even discussing the commutes — quietly, spectators were left disappointed by two-hour delays from a park-n-ride on Tuesday at Portrush — or how many beds there are in these tiny, lovely beach towns. I don’t anticipate this to be much of an issue during next year’s Open at Royal Birkdale, in which both nines return to the clubhouse, with plenty of hosting towns nearby, but it will be the first Open with a play-in qualifying tournament on the Monday of Open week. Attendance for that day will surely be up. The R&A wants attendance to keep going up. But where is the ceiling?

4. Where will LIV history…live? 

During my time in Manchester — post Open and pre-LIV — I made a stop at the National Football Museum, tucked into the town’s Northern Quarter. It’s a multi-level building that mostly caters to dynamic visuals (and interactive areas for children), but I appreciated how the curators didn’t balk at the inclusion of some of English football’s more angsty topics. 

Included were sections about racism and sexism — some of the obstacles that have hindered not just football but society for centuries — but also more soccer-focused, recent issues like Super Leagues, foreign investment and priced out fans. It got me wondering about the main angsty issues in golf these days, and if we’ll see that chronicled in, say, the USGA Museum or the R&A Museum someday. It’s probably too soon to archive LIV Golf in an official capacity as it keeps chugging along, but I certainly have a few artifacts/videos to contribute from my time visiting its tournaments. 

5. 13 rules seems perfect

While we’re on the topic of European football, I found it cute (and nothing more) that the original list of rules for football was just as long as the original rules of golf. Thirteen decrees deep!

Within it was another reminder of just how well the original rules of golf have held up — and for longer — because the footie rules have certainly changed a lot since 1863. The original pitch? Two hundred yards by 100, basically twice the size of the current field of play. How about catching the ball? That was apparently a thing.

In golf’s original rules, though, made in 1744 by the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, plenty has sustained. You still aren’t allowed to change ball once you’ve started a hole, you still must play it as it lies, and you still must start each hole from an area that fits the original definition of a “teeing ground.” This stuff largely hasn’t changed in 281 years. The folks at Muirfield got a lot right. Something tells me they could have seen golf’s distance problems on the horizon, too.

5. Not the only one on summer vacay

During July, I noticed a lot of people — outside the ropes and inside — clamoring for the PGA Championship to return to August, willfully ignorant to the fact of what it left August to begin with: the NFL schedule. Our sport cannot, and should not, try to compete with football, which many executives agreed with when the PGA was moved to May in 2019. The month of August is best left to the PGA Tour — the most important purveyor of the pro game — and its chief sponsor, FedEx, and that’s that. The toothpaste is already out of the tube!

My thoughts: embrace this fascinating moment in the pro golf schedule, where the game’s stars are going on holiday… so long as they’re in good standing. Viktor Hovland went mountaineering in Norway. Ludvig Aberg enjoyed some time at home, too, and even ran a 6k race with his girlfriend. Justin Thomas went on a golf buddies trip. Rory McIlroy took a non-golf trip to Saint-Tropez before taking in Padraig Harrington’s Open win at Sunningdale. These are examples of summer break that is badly needed for anyone on Tour. The players who haven’t earned it, unfortunately, have a bit of summer school to tend to. Many of them flew from Belfast to Minneapolis for the FedEx Cup points on offer at the 3M Open. Adam Scott, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler might not have been happy about the commute, but their professional standing is better for it.

There’s something very valuable in starpower for the PGA Tour — see: Jordan Spieth playing the Wyndham Championship this week — so don’t expect the Tour to loosen the grip on August. In fact, they should embrace it. And urge the PGA of America to consider a format change first. (Wink.)

6. Yasir’s Game 

I stepped out to walk a few holes with Bryson DeChambeau during his LIV pro-am, in part because I always enjoy watching Bryson be Bryson, but also because he was playing with Yasir Al-Rumayyan — aka the straw who stirs the drink in any future billion-dollar PGA Tour investment. No, I didn’t get any clarity on if that investment will ever actually take place, but I did get a good look at Yasir’s game … again. 

It feels irrelevant, but in some ways it’s not. By almost every account, Al-Rumayyan’s interest in investing in pro golf comes from a burning love for golf. He’s obsessed, was (at least at one time) very much interested in using this investment to gain access to Augusta National, and he regularly still shows up to LIV pro-ams for face time with players. I’ve been there for a few of these pro-am starts over the years, and I think his swing has improved. Is that worth anything to the future of golf? Probably not. Just a dumb little observation. Just like this one: I did see H.E. hit a cold shank over my head on the 9th hole at JCB. Unfortunately, the forecaddie was too quick and tracked down the ball before I could. I did, however, watch him play a deft chip over a sponsorship sign for Riyadh Air, which felt like … the whole point.