2023 Predictions from The Fried Egg’s Staff

The Fried Egg staff has collectively resolved not to fear being wrong this year. In that spirit, here are a few of our probably-faulty predictions for what 2023 will bring in the golf world.

Phil Mickelson will contend and finish top 10 at the Masters – Given the venue and character, this shouldn’t be a bold prediction, but here’s the current state of Phil: washed-up game and dirtied reputation, which seems like a bad combo. He’s disgraced himself, to be sure, and that will make things uncomfortable in his return to Augusta National. But I think there will also be an intense motivation to show well, and we know a critical part of Phil’s performance in the last decade has simply been getting his attention. I actually think the focus will be there at a place we know he’s mastered. The lack of competitive reps for Phil as of April could have the hopes for this prediction chopped up and disposed of come Friday afternoon at the Masters. But I’m going with it. -Brendan Porath

The PGA Championship will be a muddy mess – People have had the 2023 PGA Championship circled as a potential disaster ever since the PGA of America announced the event’s move to May. Most have focused on the likelihood of cold weather in Rochester that time of year, but I’m far more concerned about the conditions. There is bound to be rain during the week, and I’d be shocked if mud balls weren’t the main talking point by the weekend. Add in sloppy areas outside the ropes, and the 2023 PGA seems bound to be a memorable slip-and-slide of a tournament. -Will Knights

At least one of these tour commissioners will take a hike – Jay Monahan managed to keep his job through the most tumultuous season the PGA Tour has ever seen. I expect LIV’s limitless cash and unpredictability to keep him on his toes in 2023, though. Greg Norman and co. have seen the hand Monahan’s played with the announcement of a new elevated series featuring increased purses. With the ball in LIV’s court, player recruitment has got to be the league’s top priority. Snagging a few more big names would mean that all of the Tour’s changes have failed to stop the bleeding, and Monahan would be back on thin ice. His counterpart on the women’s side of the game could be in for a rocky time as well. After a major faux pas with CME Group, one of the LPGA’s biggest sponsors, and fewer cards to play against a potential LIV takeover, Mollie Marcoux Samaan faces a balancing act in which one false move could put the tour in survival mode. My prediction is that either Monahan, Norman, or Marcoux Samaan will ring in 2024 without the commissioner title, and where the Saudis decide to focus their attention this year will determine who is out. -Meg Adkins

"Let me explain to you why I should keep my private jet..."

Relatedly… LIV Ladies will be announced – LIV Golf faces stiff headwinds as the calendar turns over. At the league’s late-October finale in Miami, COO Atul Khosla said he hoped to finalize the 2023 player lineup by the end of the year. Well, December 31 has come and gone. Khosla resigned two weeks ago, and LIV has publicized no new signings. World-ranking points aren’t coming anytime soon, and if they do, the OWGR’s recently revised formula will ensure that LIV can’t compete with the PGA Tour as a pathway to the majors. An actual TV deal seems like a distant dream. So does profitability. Because the league has had an unexpectedly hard time recruiting top PGA Tour talent, it appears to be mired in what its own consultants defined as “start-up status.” But you know what LIV could pull of, like, tomorrow? A takeover of the women’s professional game. Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, and Brooke Henderson have already dipped their toes in the Saudi-backed Aramco Team Series. I doubt they’d regret leaving an LPGA Tour that has seemed rudderless since the departure of Mike Whan. Would LIV Ladies be an immediate global sensation? Probably not, but it would be a cost-effective bit of reputation laundering for an operation that has struggled to shake off its toxic image. -Garrett Morrison

Lydia Ko will win a major – Bold of me to say that the No. 1 player in the world will win a major, right? While Ko has won a major more recently than Rory McIlroy, her last one came way back in 2016. Since then, she has gone through caddie changes and many swing coaches, including a bizarre breakup with David Leadbetter. Over the past two years, though, Ko has emerged as a different player and regained her world-class form. She notched three wins and three top 10s in majors in 2022, and 2023 feels like the year when she’ll get her third major title. -Will Knights

Davis Riley will take home multiple trophies in 2022 – The former Alabama star put together a sensational rookie season, finishing 36th in the FedEx Cup and coming close to winning a few times. One definite truth of PGA Tour life is that winning is difficult, especially for the first time. Last year, Riley booted two chances to victories at the Valspar and the Charles Schwab with lackluster play down the stretch. This year, I expect him to turn a couple of close calls into wins and emerge as 2023’s breakout star. -Andy Johnson

Aiken, South Carolina, will light the way to the next era of golf architecture – Two promising new courses from young(ish) architects are set to open in the Aiken area in 2023: Old Barnwell, designed by Brian Schneider and Blake Conant; and the Tree Farm, routed by Tom Doak but built by Kye Goalby with input from Zac Blair. Mid-construction photos (see below) indicate that both courses, while clearly indebted to the neoclassicism of Doak and Coore & Crenshaw, draw on fresh sources of inspiration. Old Barnwell appears to be influenced by Walter Travis’s bold but tasteful use of vertical features, while the Tree Farm has the flavor of pre-World War II heathland constructions like Huntercombe, Walton Heath, and Woodhall Spa. These courses will remind golfers that early-20th-century architecture was tremendously varied and worth continued exploration. -Garrett Morrison

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Here’s where we turn it over to you, Club TFE members. What are your pet predictions for 2023? Comment below!