Grand (Slam) memories from attending all four men’s majors in 2023
Sunday’s soggy finale at Royal Liverpool marked the end of the strangest major championship season in recent memory with an eclectic mix of champions and storylines.
From Augusta to Hoylake, the Grand Slam stops provided continuity for a game that desperately needed something familiar. Here are some highlights from the 2023 major championship season:
Brooks is back. Brooks Koepka, with his performance at the PGA Championship, conclusively shattered the narrative that the players who joined LIV Golf wouldn’t be able to maintain their competitive edge playing a limited schedule of 54-hole events.
After starting slowly with a 72 at Oak Hill, Koepka finished with rounds of 66-66-67 to beat Viktor Hovland by two shots and become the first player who joined LIV Golf to win a major.
“To win a major is always a big deal no matter where you’re playing,” Koepka said. “All it does, I just think, validates it for myself. I guess maybe if anybody doubted it from Augusta (where he lost a 54-hole lead) or whatever, any doubts anybody on TV might have or whatever, I’m back, I’m here.”
Everything but win. Scottie Scheffler was a combined 18 under par at this year’s major championships which, according to a tweet by golf writer Kyle Porter, is the best four-tournament total of any player who participated in all four majors.
His runner-up at the PGA was his best opportunity to win, although he started the final round four strokes back and never got closer than two shots. The larger narrative for the world No. 1 was his inconsistency on the greens paired with his historically sublime ball striking.
The Open, where he finished tied for 23rd, was a statistical microcosm of his major season. He finished 75 – out of 76 players who made the cut – in putting and seventh in greens in regulation.
Lefty’s return. Since joining LIV Golf last year Phil Mickelson had become a reclusive antagonist, occasionally dropping random shade aimed at the Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan, but largely he’d become a competitive non-story. That changed dramatically on Sunday at the Masters.
After starting the day 10 shots off the lead, Lefty produced a classic second-nine charge with birdies at Nos. 12, 13, 15, 17 and 18 for a final-round 65 that was the low round of the day. His runner-up finish was his best showing in a Tour event since his victory at the 2021 PGA Championship and, for a moment, was a reminder of why he’s long been a fan favorite.
Block party. This year’s major championships largely lacked the emotion that normally defines the game’s biggest events, with one exception – Michael Block.
The California club pro wrestled with tears when he made the cut on Friday at Oak Hill and the water works came again late Saturday when he found himself six shots off the lead, in the day’s fourth-to-last group and paired alongside Rory McIlroy for the final round. When he closed his week with a magical 71 – which included a hole-in-one – the water works were quick to follow.
“I didn’t cry when I had my kids. I cried [today], for some reason. If you love golf, you know. I cry about golf, to be honest,” said Block, who tied for 15th to secure himself a spot in next year’s PGA Championship. “I have cried only a couple times in my life. When I won the [PGA Club Pro] national championship in 2014 in Myrtle Beach. At The Dunes Club, I cried. And after that, my wife hasn’t seen me cry until this week.
Standing tall. More than any other major The Open Championship produces off-beat front-runners, but even by those standards, Christo Lamprecht was an outlier.
The 6-foot-8 South African grabbed the Day 1 co-lead at Hoylake with a swing one journalist described as akin an accordion. Although he faded after his opening 66 to tie for 74th, his unique swing and obscene power was a show.
No Rors. While Rory McIlroy endured another major championship season without adding to his Grand Slam total, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
After missing the cut at the Masters, a genuine stunner given his form heading into the year’s first major, McIlroy posted top-10 finishes in the final three majors. But his only real chance to add to his Grand Slam haul was at the U.S. Open, where a middling even-par 70 on Sunday left him alone in second place.
On Sunday at Hoylake, where he won the 2014 Open, he didn’t seem concerned with his major drought: “I’m optimistic about the future,” he said, “and just got to keep plugging away.”
Architectural airings. Players complain – about golf set up, architecture, tee times, you name it – but this major season featured elevated criticism from the outset.
The new tee at Augusta National’s par-5 13th hole received mixed reviews. “It puts you in no-man’s land. The green is so small from left to right off a hook lie. It’s kind of a no-brainer, honestly. You just lay up. There’s not much to it,” Xander Schauffle said.
Players had a similar take to the par-3 17th hole at Hoylake. The entirely rebuilt hole was supposed to mimic some of the game’s best short par-3s but instead didn’t factor into Sunday’s outcome with the top 10 on the final leaderboard playing the hole in a collective 3 over par, which included Tommy Fleetwood’s triple bogey-6.
The one addition that wasn’t “mixed” was Los Angeles Country Club, which hosted its first major at June’s U.S. Open. “It’s a good test. You get rewarded for your good shots and you get punished for your bad ones,” Scottie Scheffler said.