2 reasons why 2025 is one of golf’s most important years…

Long before he donned the green jacket, I remember hearing Rory McIlroy say something amazing about memory.

It was early July 2024 at the Scottish Open, a few weeks after his heartbreaking loss to Bryson DeChambeau at the US Open, and McIlroy was feeling understandably raw. He had just had his heart ripped out in front of the entire golf world, and because of the unusual rhythm of the golf machine, he would be forced to talk about it every day between then and the end of the following week’s Open Championship.

Given the obvious contradiction between something McIlroy clearly didn’t want to talk about and something I was professionally obligated to ask, I expected McIlroy to defend himself or fight back. But when the subject of the US Open came up, he was surprisingly outspoken. McIlroy talked about the disappointment of the loss, the decision to leave Pinehurst without saying, the few days he spent licking his wounds by disappearing into the chaos of New York City. And then, almost out of nowhere, he admitted something funny: He didn’t plan on watching that US Open again.

“I look back on my first US Open win so much that I don’t remember the emotions I had,” said McIlroy. “Honestly, my memories of the US Open at Congressional are from the television, so I’m really trying to do a good job of not watching anything.”

McIlroy went on to say that he hopes to learn from his heartbreak at Pinehurst by reminding himself, day after day, until he has collected enough memories to make sure the result doesn’t happen again. It was a noble pursuit. But a broader feeling struck me: If a guy who finished Congressional weekend in 2011 with a trophy could have his memories of golf glory brought to the size of a television screen, how could I hope to be different?

I guess this is a long way of admitting that I don’t plan on watching the 2025 Masters again. I saw it for myself. I was alive. From the busy (and very painful) grounds of Augusta National, I missed a lot. But I know better than McIlroy knows his way to 15 what it feels like to watch McIlroy finish the golf story of a generation – and I don’t want to lose that feeling.

When my editors first came to me with an assignment to write about the importance of 2025 to the great Tao of golf, I snorted. Juxtaposed against the tectonic shifts of the heavily funded rival golf league, the ongoing melodrama of leadership, ownership, and sweet, sweet money among the golfing class, and the fact that Tiger Woods hadn’t played a single event, I felt comfortable admitting that I didn’t just dislike the premise, I disagreed with it.

But then I thought about that Sunday afternoon at Augusta, and I remembered the golf stuff indeed the issue does not happen on the board or in the press release but in the memories too precious to be forgotten. That’s what my great-great-grandchildren will remember from 2025 – and I’ll tell them this story in my mind’s eye.

Why 2025 is important: The Masters

Throughout your life, you collect a lot of things that don’t make sense.

Like, for example, the cliches – dozens or dozens – whispering about the magic of a Sunday afternoon at Augusta National and the Masters on the line.

But not until you are ready Thereto witness a truly magical Sunday afternoon at Augusta National, that it hits you like a pickup truck: Every last one of those cliches is absolutely and unquestionably true.

When people ask me about mine memory from the floor at Augusta on Sunday afternoon at the 2025 Masters, the day Rory McIlroy completed his career Grand Slam, is usually what I tell them.

If you’d spent your life scripting the story of Rory McIlroy’s victory, you wouldn’t have picked a brutal trip or an upset finish like the one we saw at Augusta National. The swings – from a four-shot lead on the 10th hole to an elusive half-wedge at Rae’s Creek on No. The ending was unbelievable. The tournament epitomizes everything that is truly good about sports, namely that it is a story far better and more real than any story created in the human mind. Sports, in the literal sense of the phrase, is the ultimate drama.

That McIlroy’s win not only overcame his ten-year demons, but did it at the one venue that had plagued him the most? That he needed to defeat an old friend in Justin Rose and an enemy in Bryson DeChambeau? That it earned McIlroy an irreplaceable place in golf immortality? Well, that was just the gravy that took McIlroy’s victory from epic to historic.

Unfortunately, the balance of the universe argues that we probably won’t see any more 2025-level Masters of importance for some time. But we will always have 2025. Always.

Why 2025 is important, reason 2: Winds of Change

It was fitting that McIlroy’s victory came just months before the PGA Tour fought hard to protect it in the years LIV hired new leadership.

In fact, Brian Rolapp’s hiring on the PGA Tour was one of the three most important golf leadership changes we saw in 2025 – joining Scott O’Neil at the top of the LIV and Craig Kessler over the LPGA (and not including new USGA president Kevin Hammer or PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague).

Of course, it’s too early to say how these three men will do, but it’s not a stretch to suggest that all three face the opportunity to become leaders in the biggest change in their tour history.

For Kessler, the question is: the chicken or the egg? The LPGA has grown a bit over the years, but not with the scale or excitement of other major women’s sports. Can Kessler inspire a new generation of stars to attract fans outside of golf? And can he increase the Tour’s media presence significantly enough to change the bottom line? And which comes first?

For O’Neil, the question is consistency. Can he carry the league and qualify for the big tournament? And the benefit of the TV rights? And sponsorship marketing? O’Neil already has a new way of thinking for LIV relative to its competitors: perfect, not competitive. An unanswered question? If LIV, as currently constructed, can do anything.

And for Rolapp, the question is scalability. Much has been made of his NFL pedigree and his dreams of a major overhaul, but his career success will be judged based on his ability to grow the PGA Tour pie for everyone. He has the best player in the world under his roof and the deepest star pool of any tour in the world. Is that enough to deliver a great return on investment? If so, Rolapp may be remembered as the man who changed good golf for good.