by Welcome to the ninth edition of my weekly pro golf update. Today we’re tiering golf’s most valuable renegades, plus a spotlight on a player who passes the vibe check. And, as always, a reader Q&A.
Tiering LIV Golfers Who Would Add Value to the PGA Tour
As reports and rumors continue to swirl about a potential deal between Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the PGA Tour to reunify the game, I thought it’d be an opportune time to tier the LIV golfers who would add value by playing on the PGA Tour. I also must be subconsciously craving replies from the worst accounts on Golf Twitter, which are hopefully piling up as we speak.
Bonus Twitter Tip: Click the View button next to “This Post is from an account you muted” to display many of the replies to my tweet of these tiers.
If the PGA Tour could snap its fingers and steal LIV Golf players back to the Tour, which ones would they take? I’m not sure how many LIV golfers are itching to get back on the PGA Tour, but I thought it’d be a useful exercise to zoom in on how many the PGA Tour should actually want. So here they are.
A few notes:
That’s 14 players. Just over a quarter of LIV’s league. Each of the above players would add value to varying degrees, but there is a significant amount of collective value teeing it up in each LIV event. Does the PGA Tour need these guys to survive? Reasonable (and extremely unreasonable) minds can debate that question. But if all 14 hopped over to the PGA Tour starting tomorrow, it’d be a much stronger Tour.
I know I’ve heaped plenty of praise on him in previous editions of this weekly column, but David Puig is a highly impressive talent. LIV fields are not as strong as PGA Tour fields, so you need to finish consistently near the top of LIV leaderboards to demonstrate high-level ability. Puig is doing that. Through two DP World Tour and two LIV starts in 2025, he’s yet to finish worse than T-6. Keep an eye on the 23-year-old Spaniard.
Talor Gooch, the greatest iron player in the world, has been snubbed by lamestream media once again. If you want to argue about this one, go for it. You’ll sound ridiculous. Gooch is a…fine player. A tour with Talor Gooch is no weaker or stronger than a tour without him. If he cracks a top 10 in a major, we’ll have a conversation. It might be a short conversation, but we can have it.
Player Spotlight: Daniel Berger
I wish every professional golfer had Daniel Berger’s attitude. And many professional golfers wish they had his game. DB Strait Vibin’, as he refers to himself, has taken an interesting path up to this point. He’s part of the illustrious high school class of 2011, a group that includes Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, and Patrick Rodgers.
Berger quickly found his footing once he turned professional, earning PGA Tour status following his first full season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014, a year that included his first major championship start, a T-28 in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. The 2015 PGA Tour season went fine for DB – he racked up six top 10s, predominantly in weak fields, highlighted by a loss in a playoff at the Honda Classic and another runner-up finish at the BMW Championship. Promisingly, he gained more than a half of a stroke per round with his approach play, 22nd on the year in that category.
In 2016, Berger took a significant step forward. He notched his first professional win at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and made the cut in all three majors in which he played, including a T-10 at the Masters. His 2017 year resembled 2016, with yet another win at the St. Jude, a playoff loss to Jordan Spieth at the Travelers, and mediocre results in majors. Both 2018 and 2019 were underwhelming seasons, though Berger had a legitimate chance to win the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock – one of the few bright spots of those two seasons. After firing 66 in the morning on the infamous Saturday at Shinnecock, Berger and Tony Finau shared the final tee time on Sunday, co-leading the tournament with Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. DB stumbled on Sunday, shooting 73 and settling into a tie for sixth place, his best finish in a major championship to date.
To understand the full career arc of Berger, you have to consider his injury history. Following disappointing years in 2018 and ‘19, he rebounded with exceptional golf throughout 2020 and 2021, ranking in the top 12 on Tour in Strokes Gained: Total in both seasons. He won at Colonial in 2020 and Pebble Beach in 2021, and he racked up seven additional top-five finishes across those seasons. He also earned two points for Team USA in his three matches at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.
Berger has never been one of the very best pro golfers in the world, peaking at 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking, with just four top 10s in major championships to his name. However, he was playing a sustained stretch of excellent golf entering his prime in late 2021 at age 28. Then, health derailed his career.
Berger started experiencing back pain in December of 2021. He managed the pain and continued competing over the next six months before he put down the clubs and sought treatment after a painful missed cut at the 2022 U.S. Open. In December of 2022, doctors discovered a bulging disc in his lower back, and Daniel elected rehab over surgery. He returned to competition in January of 2024, and his form has steadily trended in a positive direction since then. He has two runner-up finishes in his last six PGA Tour starts, and he finished solo 12th in a strong field at the Genesis Invitational the last time he teed it up.
Is Daniel Berger a potential top player in the world? A legitimate major championship contender? Hard to say but probably not. He’d need to ascend to a level he’s never reached before, which doesn’t get easier as you approach your 32nd birthday. He’s also never been at the top of the charts in ball speed, a common deficiency among players with strong results in non-majors and weaker results in majors. However, back at the Grant Thornton Invitational in December, Berger’s playing partner Nelly Korda alluded to Berger pursuing speed. We’ll see how much that effort pays off, but he did touch 182mph ball speed a few weeks ago in Phoenix.
Where Berger goes from here, time will tell. No matter the result, he’s not lacking in confidence. After a T-2 at the RSM Classic in November, Berger was asked about the shifting dynamics of a more competitive PGA Tour. He said, “To me, it doesn’t really concern me because when I play 1/10th of what I’m capable of…I’m just at a different level than some of the other guys I’m competing against.” He also recently mentioned that he’d asked for a sponsor exemption into the signature event at Pebble Beach, which wasn’t granted, and that it gave him a chip on his shoulder. Love the attitude, Daniel! The Tour could use some more of that.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, this week’s Cognizant Classic is a huge moment for Strait Vibin’. The golf course suits his game and his eye, as he finished runner-up in 2015 and recorded top-five finishes in back-to-back appearances in 2020 and 2022. Berger lives in Florida and is intimately familiar with both this golf course and these conditions. Considering the lackluster strength of field, with the majority of top PGA Tour players on bye, this week offers a prime opportunity for Daniel to take the next step in his comeback to competitive form.
Anything short of a late tee time on Sunday would be a disappointment.
Reader-Submitted Question:
Reader: Is the TGL enthusiasm a bit? Or are you guys actually into simulator golf?
Answer: I can only speak for myself, but I’d say I’m 85% serious and 15% joking.
I have no doubt that this product has legitimate potential. It’s fast-paced, televised on primetime, and occupies pretty good television real estate at an otherwise slow time of year for sports.
TGL’s rule change midway through the season to where each team now has three Hammers drastically improved the entire product. Previously, optimal Hammer strategy involved keeping the Hammer in your pocket more often than not. The new rule encourages more strategy and keeps matches alive longer than before. TGL deserves a lot of credit for adjusting on the fly.
A fun element of TGL gameplay, and specifically the Hammer, is that many pro golfers overestimate their ability. That’s a common theme in golf analytics, right? You don’t have as much control over the ball as you’d like to think you have. You’re going to see a bunch of instances where TGL players elect to accept the Hammer when the data says you clearly shouldn’t. We are watching extremely competitive, overconfident athletes, and it will be intriguing to see which golfers have the humility to reject the Hammer when standing over a 15-foot putt to tie their opponent early in a match. Most will not!
For as much (good-natured) flak as Patrick Cantlay has taken for talking about Hammer Expected Value, he seems to have the best grasp on Hammer strategy, which is an interesting added dimension to his personality. Cantlay having a calculated mindset isn’t a shocking revelation, but this format gives insight into the way these guys think in real time that you’re never going to get in traditional competitive golf.
I could be wrong, but I think the TGL Finals will be highly entertaining and ignite enthusiasm for Season Two. For future years, dump some of these dial tones – I’m looking at you, NYGC – and find more of the names who are invested in winning and genuinely want to be in the arena. This product has potential. And it might already be working?
Ok, that’s all for this week. Have a question you’d like me to answer for next week? Email me at joseph@thefriedegg.com!
