The Round Table: Elite golfers MIA, Good Good Golf, and Fall viewing

Each week, we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.

On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler won the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship, to signal the end of another season. Several players won majors and multiple tournaments this year, while others had wins or notable accomplishments. Others missed the playoffs altogether or didn’t advance very far. Which player do you think most belongs in conversations about top players but was missing in action this year? 

Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): I was expecting more out of Victor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg, but they finished well in the FedEx Cup, so not exactly lost seasons for them.  I guess I’d have to point my finger at Jordan Spieth, who has been underwhelming for nearly a decade, despite occasional flashes of his former self.  Ditto Justin Thomas.

Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): For me, the easy answer is Hovland. A year ago, he looked like he was ready to become a permanent fixture in the Scottie-Rory-Xander conversation (I’m on record as stating so). The talent didn’t disappear, but the consistency did. He’s back with his old coach again. But between swing changes and a season that never really found momentum, he spent most of the year on the sidelines of the big discussions (often a mention at the start of a week but no real results). If we’re talking about elite players whose absence was noticeable, it’s Hovland for me.

Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: The entire Canadian male contingent under-performed this year. Only Yellamaraju and Connors broke the top 60 in winnings. Yellamaraju surprised a lot of Canadians who had not heard of him when suddenly he was contending and should do well in the future. The others may have ‘crested’, I hope not but none seem to be likely candidates for upward mobility.

TJ Rule, Golf Away Tours (@GolfAwayTJ): I would say the past and present LIV guys had very disappointing years.  Lots was expected of Brooks Koepka coming back to the PGA Tour, but he did absolutely nothing in 2026 and has a lot to prove next year.  And after a couple of stellar years in majors, Bryson DeChambeau had a dreadful year in the big events, and even worse year for his image after some of his comments late in the year.  And just when I thought he was doing a better job marketing himself.

Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine: Much was expected of Brooks Koepka, but he was less than inspiring this year. Jordan Spieth announced with regularity that he’s close – but it turns out he’s not. Patrick Cantlay used to be in the conversation, but results would argue otherwise. However, the player I think has faded most from the conversation, without rhyme or reason as far as I know, is Justin Thomas. He used to be a world-beater and regular contender in majors. Now the Tour should be putting out an APB for him.

Last week, the golf news was dominated by a controversy stemming from a Callaway ad that showed a man pushing a woman to the ground. The ad was created by Good Good Golf and was meant to be a spoof on a recent movie. However, the social media world erupted, the ad was deleted, Good Good Golf lost its Callaway sponsorship and had an upcoming Big Break show on Golf Channel cancelled. And collectively, a lot of people in golf lost their minds trying to distance themselves from this. What’s your take on it? 

Deeks: Call me a misogynist, chauvinist, and tone deaf, but my reaction was “oh come on, really?” That is much ado about nothing.  I’m not saying the ad wasn’t offensive (although I never saw it), and from the description, it should’ve been taken off the air, but it seemed to have caused a nuclear reaction for a relatively innocuous mistake.  (Would there have been any negative reaction if it was a woman pushing a man to the ground?)

Loughry: My take is that the ad was a bad idea, but the reaction was much bigger than the mistake. It was clearly intended as satire, not an endorsement of violence, but in today’s environment intent often gets ignored. At the same time, companies have every right to protect their brands. Good Good made a poor judgment call, Callaway (although they approved the ad) responded the way big sponsors usually do, and the outrage machine did the rest. Nobody came out looking particularly good good here.

Schurman: ‘Golf the Good’ has enjoyed a great marketing vehicle for a long time. The image of whole-some athletic, tanned, well-dressed, well-mannered men has appealed to large corporations and charities for decades. More recently it has been tainted by huge purses brought on through LIV, Tiger Woods car crashes, $80M losses in Las Vegas and infidelity. Phil Mickelson’s insider trading, $1B in gambling bets, infidelity and comments about (LIV: “They are scary…) while taking $200,000,000. from them. Patrick Reed’s difficulty with the rules. And other high-profile cases that have reflected on the clean image. One insurmountable problem is the pressure on event sponsors to continue increasing their prize money to their breaking point. This results in an erosion of ‘romance’. The TOUR is no longer a ‘dream’ job. It’s an insensitive, corporate mudwrestling, battle for survival. Greg Norman, who instigated thoughts of a world tour for excessive purses and small fields actually predicted the future. All he became was the messenger.

Rule: It was a terrible idea and terrible execution, which you may expect from Good Good, who are guys looking for clicks and pushing the boundaries to get them.  But it was a huge miscalculation by Callaway, and they are paying the price.  They jumped right into damage control mode, but they will be feeling the effects of the decision for a while to come.

Mumford: I guess political correctness is still alive and well. What a fiasco! Huge over-reaction to what was supposed to be funny, turned out to be in poor taste and caused a lot of people to lose their jobs. Hard to believe the folks now clutching their pearls didn’t understand that’s what they were getting when they jumped into bed with content creators whose success relies on pushing the limits.

Now that the PGA Tour season is over, what Tour are you most likely to pay attention to this fall: LPGA, DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, Champions Tour or none of the above?

Deeks: I may be the last regular viewer of the LPGA in North America, but that would be my choice over the others.

Loughry: The DP World Tour is usually the one that keeps my attention in the fall. There’s often a stronger mix of established stars, emerging talent, and interesting venues than you find elsewhere. I’ll check in on the LPGA as well, especially for major storylines, but week to week the DP World Tour tends to be the most compelling watch once the PGA Tour season wraps up. The international flavor just makes it feel a little fresher. And the TV times fit my lifestyle well too, early weekend mornings.

Schurman: A little of each but primarily or when forced to choose, the Champions Tour. The last few years are burning my interest. The constant bickering is taking its toll on me. I am so glad to see the end of Tiger, Mickelson and Monahan. We experienced some of the finest golf of all time, but the off-course side-show made us pay a steep price. We lost some of our innocence. We are more callus, boorish and the calling out during tournaments indicates a level of intelligence of a wooden post. I liked professional golf when the fans came to watch golf, not Der Stiefel (drinking a boot of beer).

Rule: There is fall golf?  It’s all just so hard to follow with all the schedule changes year to year.  I am looking forward to the Presidents Cup as I always do, especially with a few Canadians involved.  But beyond that, I won’t likely tune in too often to PGA Tour events, unless someone I like is in contention on Sunday.  The Solheim is also a must watch for me, and beyond that I’ll likely only watch if a Canadian is in contention on the weekend!  It’s tough for golf to compete with baseball playoffs, a new hockey season and the NFL, so it naturally takes a bit of a back seat in the fall.

Mumford: The Cups are must-watch TV. Beyond that, I’ll watch the PGA Tour Fall series and the DP World Tour. Still lots of great golf left.

One of our readers, Brian Deeks, wrote to ask what we thought about Wyndham Clark grounding his club behind his ball numerous times during the BMW Championship. It was reviewed several times on the air, but no penalty was assessed.

Deeks: Brian sent me video of Clark grounding his club, and I agree it looked pretty suspicious. But what exactly is the rule? DeChambeau was accused of improving his swing path, but grounding your club in the rough isn’t illegal as far as I know, unless you’re improving the lie by forcing the grass to be flatter… and I didn’t think Clark was doing that.

Loughry: As for Clark….I just don’t like how that looked…AT ALL. As a player he (and all) should err on the side of caution and maybe don’t blur the lines with the Rules. I can’t think of any reason why you would need to ground your club that many times directly behind the ball, especially when he tested the grass beside/near his ball to get a feel for how it would react. Plus, it’s Clark, he has a history of grounding the club behind his ball, remember Bay Hill (and other fringy rules issues), he’s always pushing the limits with the Rules. And because he has a history of it, right or wrong, where do we think the compass points the public here? Innocent? Guilty?

Schurman: Wyndham Clark is ‘out’ for me. I’m putting him on my list of “never to buy from”. You can put it on the shelf; I’ll never buy it!

Mumford: I had to go back and look at the footage Brian. When I first watched the tournament, I didn’t think much of it. Just quirky Wyndham being himself. Upon further review, it sure looks like he’s improving his lie. But he didn’t acknowledge it or admit it, and nobody called him on it, so technically it never happened. You may recall Jumbo Ozaki, the famous Japanese golfer and World Golf Hall of Fame member who would take numerous practice swings behind the ball at right angles to his swing path. By the time he finished, it looked like someone had mowed the grass, giving him a perfect lie. To my knowledge, nobody ever called him on it either.