About our guest contributors:
_FlushingIt

Tom, who runs the FlushingIt golf pages on X, Instagram and everywhere else, aims to bridge the gap between established journalism and fan media. As a former competitive player himself he provides great insight into the professional golf world and has fantastic in depth conversations with those right in the middle of it.

Be sure to check out his socials:

X: https://x.com/flushingitgolf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flushingitgolf/

_{JakeGoesGolfing}

Jake Hower is an Australian who has a weekly podcast “Beyond the Tour”. He and his co-host Luke Manning provide “unfiltered takes” on everything happening in professional golf as well as deep dives into some of the most fascinating storylines the game has to offer. He also runs rankeagle.com, a website that compares various ranking systems in professional golf.

Check out Jakes socials:

X: https://x.com/JakeGoesGolfing

Beyond The Tour pod: https://bttpod.com/

Flushing It
_{A Deal will be reached to allow free movement between tours but no full merger will happen:}

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to envision a complete merger between tours as this stage. I’ve learned from my short time in business that egos are a very difficult thing to deal with when they clash. And there’s a lot of egos at play!

The situation within golf over the last few years has stirred up emotion like we’ve never seen before. It will pass, but it will take time. All parties need some sort of a deal to happen and the easiest way is to allow players to play wherever they want.

How that works on the PGA Tour is that players will need categories or sponsor invited to play, it won’t be a free for all. How that works on LIV is players could be able to rotate in and out of different teams, like how they do in other team sports. This would solve a lot of the current issues and really help to bring professional golf together again.

_{PGA Tour Enterprises will make moves to buy ownership of the Ryder Cup:}

The PGA Tour already outlined their plans to take ownership of the DP World Tour’s Ryder Cup interest in court documents released in the Larry Klayman/Patrick Reed case last summer. Their plan is moving along steadily as they have their stake in European Tour Productions and Jay Monahan has a seat on the board. They also now have a for profit entity based out of Ponte Vedra with outside capital investment.

We’re already seeing PGA Tour centric media, like Eamon Lynch, float ideas about the PGA of America selling their Ryder Cup interests too. I strongly believe this will gather momentum in 2025 and the equity holders will make their investment count with significant purchases.

_{Finally, Team Europe will win the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black:}

We’ve seen a reversal of fortune for the US Ryder Cup team with several of their stalwarts not performing on the big stage. It wasn’t long ago that media were saying Rome wouldn’t even be close, and we saw how that played out.

Luke Donald has been an incredible captain and has really worked out how to get the most from his lads. With the new European talent emerging, I think they will upset the odds and do the business again

JakeGoesGolfing

_{Jay Monahan Leaves the PGA Tour to Replace Greg Norman as CEO of LIV Golf:}

As outrageous as this may initially sound, it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider the current golf landscape. Jay Monahan’s strength as a CEO lies in his relationships—with both players and sponsors. Now that LIV Golf has been established for a few years, they need someone who can effectively bridge the gap between the tour and its stakeholders.

Monahan appears increasingly powerless in his current position, especially if Tiger Woods’ camp continues to wield influence behind the scenes. He seems like a dead man walking in his current role.

LIV Golf needs sponsors and must continue attracting the best playing talent possible. At 54 years old, Monahan still has plenty to offer as a CEO, and while this move may not sit well with many initially, it could ultimately be the perfect fit for him as he transitions from the PGA Tour to take the helm at LIV Golf.

_{Scottie Scheffler Has a Majorless Season:}

After delivering the most dominant PGA Tour season since Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler looks primed for another strong performance in 2025. He may again dominate the PGA Tour, but despite his talent, I predict he won’t win a major this year. His putter will be the key issue, becoming the biggest talking point as to why he falls short of major glory.

_{Europe Wins the Ryder Cup on U.S. Soil for the First Time Since 2012:}

Traveling to possibly the most hostile away environment in all of golf—Bethpage, where only the upper echelon can afford $750 tickets—Europe, led by a fired-up Rory McIlroy, will upset a superior U.S. team on paper. This victory will mark their fifth win on away soil and the first for an away team in the Ryder Cup in 13 years, showcasing the resilience and spirit of European golfers.

Tee Times
_{2 LIV Golf Teams have new captains in 2025:}

I think there’s some things shaking up behind the scenes at LIV Golf and I’m not sure what the 2025 rosters are going to look like, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we see a few new names spearheading some of the rosters, and I don’t think that will be on Range Goats GC.

To expand on this prediction a little bit, I think one new captain will come from within the current (October 2024) LIV Golf roster, and one will come from the outside. We’ve heard that Cleeks is undergoing a full rebranding, and that could come alongside some recruitment drives from the league. We’ll see how things shake out, the offseason is sure to be full of rumors, but I don’t expect to hear anything on this front until after the new year.

_{Rory McIlroy wins The Masters:}

It’s time. This really does feel like it should be the least bold prediction of all time but it’s really not. I think this is the year he gets the job done, he gets the weight off his shoulders, and completes the grand slam. We know he can play well at this course, we know he’s got the talent and drive to get it done, he’s just got to figure out what’s going on between the ears. Think he gets it done.

He’s in Butler Cabin, he’s just finished recapping his round, Scottie Scheffler helps him get his 2nd arm through the green jacket. A little shrug of the shoulders to get it to rest nicely on his shoulders, and he says “I couldn’t have done this without my Boston Common Golf teammates.”

_{One of the major championships adjusts their criteria to include LIV Golf players:}

Another one that feels like it really shouldn’t be a bold prediction, but I think (and hope) that this year is the year where one of these tournaments comes to their senses on this.

I’ve detailed my thoughts on this many times before but the criteria simply aren’t accomplishing what they’re meant to. The majors use OWGR as a catch-all for when the other criteria don’t effectively ensure top players make it into their fields, and the current state of the OWGR means that’s not happening.

You can blame whoever you’d like and there’s fair arguments for both sides, but for decades now the majors have sought to include all of the best players, and they are at risk of no longer doing that.

The extension of individual invites that we saw in 2024 were merely a band-aid, and one that really didn’t do that great of a job. 2025 will be the year that one of these tournaments steps up and sets the standard for the rest of them, and that will be the formal inclusion of LIV Golf players in their exemptions.

Here’s an old thread where I detailed why I think this needs to happen: