pga tour game 2023 review

PGA Tour 2K23 Review

Bland virtual golfing with limited ways to play is hard to get excited about..

Real golf doesn’t lack thrills – watching a player sink a delicate chip-in generates no shortage of excitement. But in the context of a video game, it needs some extra energy. A pizazz. An added enthusiasm, even if it’s when browsing a menu, just to keep it from becoming something you can sleepwalk through. PGA Tour 2K23 lacks that. It’s silent, it’s calm, it’s bland, it’s so… proper.

PGA Tour 2K23 (and previously, PGA Tour 2K21) was born of HB Studios’ fanatically accurate simulation The Golf Club, and the change in name hasn’t changed much about the underlying philosophy behind it. The actual shot mechanisms, ball physics, and standard frustration when sinking into a bunker retain their dazzling authenticity, and yet, even with a year off between editions to rethink things, HB Studios has produced another plain, stuffy, elitist golf sim with as much personality as a white polo shirt. 2K23 makes minor strides towards loosening up the pomposity, but lands inches from dropping in the cup.

2K brings the points-based FedEx Cup into focus as the central career goal. That’s fine, although the PGA draws more attention for the Masters, US Open, and other high-profile events – the stuff EA licensed in the past for its golf projects. PGA Tour 2K23 doesn’t have those, or their most famous courses, like Augusta National. That means the career mode feels like filler as it works around licensing restrictions and takes us through second-tier courses like the Detroit Golf Club and TPC Southwind. That’s an issue when it’s the primary way to play, and here there aren’t a lot of other options.

Taking to the course, the major publisher influence from 2K becomes evident. There’s an effort to streamline things, including an optional three-click swing system. That’s new, but brutally difficult to master, and not the accessible feature that was expected. This method involves holding the swing button to set power, releasing to begin a spinning meter that needs to be stopped twice to determine swing accuracy. If you’re anything like me you can expect botched shots on the regular before reverting to the smooth, clean, and precise analog stick swing.

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HB Studios mastered this analog method, thankfully. Other golf games have tried – and even succeeded in their own ways – but HB’s quest to mimic the feel and challenge of a real club pays off. It’s an appropriately fragile existence off the tee or from the fairway, as stick speed dictates a slice or hook. Even when well practiced, the possibility always remains to botch a shot – as it should be. Plus, 2K23 adds needed shot types like punches to squeeze the ball under hazards, furthering PGA Tour’s repertoire and strategy.

There’s an attempt to add charisma to this series, but it comes across as half-hearted. Selectable golfers include cover star Tiger Woods and other known PGA names, but also celebrities like NBA stars Michael Jordan and Steph Curry. In the equipment section, a hockey stick is offered as a putter choice, giving necessary nods to Happy Gilmore. That’s it though, and those celebrity players exist only in side modes or versus play. Say what you will about the defunct Tiger Woods PGA Tour series, but maintaining golf’s central appeal while driving with Happy Gilmore’s walk-up swing was a delight, with no gameplay cost.

There’s also TopGolf, a party-esque challenge founded in 2000. Now it’s digital, and a passable substitute for when short on time with friends, if also an uneventful target practice event unlikely to earn any long-term engagement.

Likely, the most time people are going to spend with PGA Tour 2K23 will be with the career, mostly because that’s almost all that’s offered. There’s one goal (FedEx), one play style, and outside of exhibitions, nothing else to do for solo golfers. Brief (usually) one-event rivalries using a Stableford scoring system bring the slightest additional drama. Local and online versus adds small variety like two-on-two match-ups and skins play. That’s something. Between matches the deepening RPG side offers incremental skill upgrades. Some offer easier swing timing, others accuracy, or better work out of bunkers. Leveling requires tiered decision making as each club type is individually boosted, and opportunities grow in tandem alongside the custom golfer’s XP meter.

PGA Tour 2K23 - Release Date Announcement Screenshots

In a reversal of HB Studios’ usual philosophy, clubs themselves matter. Not just the clubs, but every boost to them, which are acquirable after winning events. A +3 club shaft of power matched with a +2 grip of shot shaping can form a credible weapon – err, piece of sporting equipment. Given PGA Tour 2K23’s demanding swing precision, even a tiny boost to accuracy or timing will reduce risks, and that’s appreciated. It’s a notably game-y idea for what is otherwise such a deep simulation though, and purchasing actual clubs makes no difference. Only the part boosts do.

Moving toward the FedEx Cup means dealing with HB Studios’ weak point: The dismal quality of its attempt to recreate the atmosphere of televised golf. It’s not bad so much as utterly broken in places. Commentators make the wrong calls regularly, such as failing to identify when a ball is or isn’t on the green or whether it’s trailing left or right. Attempts to show replays from earlier in the tournament take excessive time to load in this era of SSDs (and chug further when trying to reach the server sometimes), and when they do show up they frequently don’t actually show anything. Rather than following the ball, these snippets stay on the golfer reacting to an unseen shot, but at least the character models justify that lingering attention. Coming from 2K, whose emulation of NBA broadcasts set a best-in-class example, PGA Tour 2K23’s non-functional delivery annoyed more than helped once I got past the first match’s introduction.

As a side note, the orchestral music playing over the menus painfully adds to the idea of golf being a dull, elitist game. There was room for PGA 2K23 to build energy while maintaining its status, but it didn't take a single opportunity to do so.

The recurring course creator lets people give PGA Tour 2K23 the spark if they so want it. That also helps fill in the course selection’s holes – someone will render an accurate Pebble Beach in no time (with titles like, “Pebbles on the Beach Golf Course”), although as I played before release there was nothing available to download yet. That said, trying to build something offers a pleasant, easy-to-use menu system flush with choices. Better, everything is open from the outset, meaning there’s no need to unlock items to fill the spaces. Yes, a crocodile hiding out by hole 9’s green is just as much an option as placing a hotel on 16.

Even after a year off, PGA Tour 2K23 returns offering minimal progress from its preceding, prior-generation edition. A new three-click swing is an unforgiving mess, it’s somehow worse at emulating the look and feel of televised golf, and the few spurts of personality that’ve been layered on can’t counter developer HB Studios’ penchant for preserving pro golf’s elitism above all, or the apparent terror of breaking from that form. At least PGA Tour 2K23 can define itself through the properly challenging golf sim at its heart and the barebones career mode that stands all but alone in its menus.

More Reviews by Matt Paprocki

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EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 review – serious players have much to master in EA’s return to the virtual fairway

Electronic Arts; PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want

A fter an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, Electronic Arts is back on the fairway, bringing its considerable licensing power and slick sports TV presentation skills with it. Featuring 30 courses, a large roster of current professionals, and a physics model built around the official TrackMan data for authentic ball flight measurement and swing analysis, this game is exactly what you’d expect from EA Sports – comprehensive, packed with options and deadly serious about the sport.

Those hoping for an accessible knockabout are going to be quickly disappointed. The new swing mechanic, which requires you to pull down on the analogue stick to bring the club back, then forward again to unleash your shot, takes considerable time and effort to master. There’s a slight lag between your input and the onscreen swing visual, which makes timing tricky, especially when you’re not going for a full-power shot. Consequently, you spend a lot of matches over-hitting wildly, and this isn’t helped by the fact that the transition on the stick from pull-back to forward has to be precise or your golfer just pulls a practice swing. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there’s no real tutorial mode. Instead you get a Coaching Academy section in the Challenge mode, which has lots of little mini-games based around various elements of the sport – but these don’t provide tips or feedback, so it’s all trial and a lot of error.

In the main Career mode, which lets you create a player then guide them through a competitive year (hopefully ending with a shot at the Masters), you start with hopeless stats and need to earn XP points to build your skills in driving, approach play, short game and putting before you have any chance of winning cups. It’s an RPG element that feels kind of weird within this very serious simulation, and it forces you to spend hours entering lesser tournaments and trying the hundreds of skill challenges to build up your XP and raise your stats. There’s a quick game mode that lets you jump into a round on any course with any player, so you do get to experience high level play from the outset – but if you want to beat Career get ready for a real golfing grind.

When you do start to get the hang of the controls, PGA Tour 2023 becomes an enjoyable and engrossing sim. The visuals are beautiful, with lusciously detailed courses, from Liberty National with its view of the Manhattan skyline to Pebble Beach where the holes edge along rugged cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These courses don’t simply provide aesthetic contrast – they play very differently and require planning. Each hole demands that you tweak your swing, club and shot shaping depending on the shape of the fairway, the lie of the bunkers and myriad other factors. The commentary is also extremely good, with genuinely interesting and helpful observations, and excellent reactions to your play – I managed to land an incredible shot from a bunker 30ft from the flag and there was notable surprise in Rich Lerner’s voice. Together with the slick UI and swooping overhead cameras, EA has done a superb job of simulating modern sports broadcasting.

Alongside the Career, Challenge and Quick Play modes there are also various tournament options, including online matches against friends or the wider community. A range of daily, weekly and seasonal tournaments also allow you to earn XP and items for a limited period before they’re refreshed, so you’ve got lots of reasons to keep coming back. Unfortunately, the game features a loot box mechanic, rewarding in-game achievement with random packages of cosmetic goods and XP boosts. You can also earn in-game money to spend in the game’s outfit store, but those who can’t wait can buy the currency with real cash. Considering the money the Fifa series has made from micro transactions this is hardly surprising, but it sits uneasily in the more austere atmosphere of a golf sim.

This is a promising return to golf for EA Sports. It’s slow of pace, it’s tough to get into, and it’s a little staid and fuddy-duddy at times (most of the background music makes you feel like you’re on hold to a financial service call centre), but the accuracy of the ball physics, the huge range of shots and the highly tactical nature of the play gives serious players the challenge and realism they want. I wish there was a smoother on-ramp for beginners, or a much more basic arcade mode for those who want to thrash through a few holes with pals, but this is a sim after all and when it comes to sport, EA does not mess around.

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review - Hit The Links

• First Released Apr 4, 2023 released

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

By Richard Wakeling on April 12, 2023 at 10:55AM PDT

EA Sports PGA Tour is unlike any other golf game I've played. It still features familiar elements from the series' past--back when Tiger Woods was front and center--such as slow-motion heartbeat moments and climactic power shots. But after an eight-year hiatus from the world of golf simulation, EA has returned to the fairway with a more demanding recreation of the sport that's as much about feel as it is mastering the game's robust mechanics. With 30 courses covering all four majors--including The Masters at Augusta National--EA Sports PGA Tour has a plethora of golfing action to sink your teeth into. It's just a shame there are a few notable issues in critical areas that hold it back from greatness.

The first of these is the game's swing mechanic. If you've played a golf game before, the actual act of swinging a driver or 5-iron will be familiar. You pull down on the analog stick to bring the club back, then push forward again to unleash your shot. This has been a staple in golf games for a number of years now, and there aren't any alternatives at the moment--not until a three-click system is implemented in a later update. The issue with EA Sports PGA Tour is that there's a slight delay between your input and the on-screen visual. Your swing isn't 1:1, so there's an uneasy disconnect where you never quite feel like you're in total control. The general malaise of each swing doesn't help matters either, with the slow, clunky pacing and frustrating lag making it difficult to nail the timing and power of each shot. I eventually grew accustomed to these idiosyncrasies over time, but it never feels quite right and fails to capture the satisfaction that hitting a 300-yard tee shot should achieve.

To compound the issue, EA Sports PGA Tour also lacks any sort of meaningful tutorial. There are tooltips that pop up and cover the basics the first time you play, but these brief snippets barely scratch the surface of everything going on under the hood. Instead, the game has a suite of challenges that happen to include a Coaching Academy. This is the best place to start, even if these challenges still neglect to offer any tips or feedback to help you along the way. What you get is a variety of contextual situations covering different aspects of the sport, from putting downhill to dealing with elevation changes and the multitude of shot types on offer. There's a lot of trial and error involved, but the repetition of replaying each situation does give you a greater understanding of how everything works. It's not a very user-friendly approach, but it sets expectations and is genuinely helpful in an unconventional way, even if it might prove frustrating for some. Plus, completing these challenges also earns you XP that can be used to improve your created character.

EA Sports PGA Tour's career mode sits front and center, starting off with your no-name golfer competing in the qualifying school before moving on to the amateur Korn Ferry Tour. The ultimate goal is to reach the PGA Tour, which can be done either by winning one of the many four-round courses or by placing highly enough in the Korn Ferry rankings come season's end. You can expedite this process by opting for a quick play mode where you only need to play a few holes rather than an entire round, but I think playing full rounds is the way to go. That's mostly because it gives you ample time to fine-tune your skills, learn the courses, and gain a better understanding of the game's mechanics. There's also a palpable sense of progression that comes from leveling up your golfer. Earning XP lets you build your skills in driving, approach play, short game, and putting, while progressing each attribute also unlocks more shot types, giving you additional options when preparing to send the ball careening toward the green.

Fortunately, the Coaching Academy includes challenges for each of the game's myriad shot types, giving you the opportunity to see how each one functions before playing competitively. There's value in understanding the differences between a runner, spinner, or knock-down shot, but knowing when to utilize each one essentially comes down to a matter of feel. In this respect, EA Sports PGA Tour resembles the sport of golf more accurately than any other game. There are a number of variables at play for every single shot, to the point where there's a real thought process behind each swing. You have to choose the right shot type and club for each situation, adjust for wind and elevation, judge how much power you need to put into the swing, and account for the distinct ways each course plays--tweaking your shot shape depending on the shape of the fairway and lie of the bunkers. The game helps to some degree by displaying relevant information such as wind speed and distance, but then you're left to your own devices. This can be frustrating, particularly early on when you're still learning the ropes and your golfer's attributes aren't up to snuff, but once everything clicks, EA Sports PGA Tour plays an engrossing game of golf that can be incredibly rewarding.

Much of this is down to the courses themselves. Every single one of the 30 officially licensed courses is staggeringly beautiful and offers an authentic attention to detail, whether it's Liberty National and its view of the Manhattan skyline, the waves crashing against the sand at Pebble Beach, or the alligators lurking in the water at TPC Sawgrass. Almost every course is iconic on some level, and they've all been faithfully rendered and recreated, right down to individual blades of grass. The absence of a course designer is a tad disappointing, but unlike PGA Tour 2K23, it's not something that feels like a necessity because there are already so many 18-hole delights. The courses are the game's main character, providing the kind of variety and depth to stave off any tedium. Mastering a golf game's mechanics is usually the key to success, but EA Sports PGA Tour's courses demand much more from you. Each one plays differently, whether it's the roll of the green or the width of the fairway impacting your decision-making. It genuinely feels like you're playing against the course rather than the shot meter.

The physics model, which is built around the official TrackMan data for ball tracking and swing analysis, is excellent for the most part. However, there are some inconsistencies when it comes to ball rollout. On The Old Course at St Andrews, for instance, the rollout is overly extreme to the point where the ball will roll uphill at pace, even through heavy rough. This forces you to account for situations that shouldn't really occur. Once you land on the green, putting is also equally aggravating for different reasons. Each green contains a grid that uses moving beads to show you the direction of the break. The problem is that sometimes this data is inaccurate and the break is opposite to what the beads are showing. The putt reader alleviates this somewhat by showing the ideal path to the hole, but this is also misleading at times. With no reliable way to gauge the breaks, putting is a lesson in irritation that will only be rectified if these issues are fixed in future updates.

Outside of career mode, EA Sports PGA Tour also features various tournament options for use in online matches against the community. If you want to play against friends, however, stroke play is the only option, and there's a disappointing lack of alternating play for those who want to see each other tee off. A range of daily, weekly, and seasonal tournaments give you another chance to earn XP and items like club specs and in-game cash for a limited time before they're refreshed, so there's an incentive to keep coming back. That in-game cash can be spent in a store of rotating items including various cosmetics, which holds some appeal because the character creator is extremely barebones. Outfitting your golfer in branded clothing can be fairly costly, though, which is explained by the inclusion of microtransactions for those who would rather buy the in-game currency with real money. This isn't a surprising move, but it doesn't exactly vibe with the serene mood.

After almost a decade away from the sport, EA's return to the golf course is a promising one. The range of shot types, courses, and tangible variables make for a methodical and tactical game of golf that's both challenging and rewarding. It stumbles by barely introducing players to its robust mechanics, while a laggy swing and inconsistent putting are notable flaws on what is otherwise a fantastic golf sim. EA Sports PGA Tour represents a solid re-entry for the series and lays down a sturdy foundation for an auspicious future.

• Leave Blank
• Each shot must be carefully considered, taking into account a number of variables
• All 30 courses are wonderfully recreated and each one feels distinct
• Offers a tough but satisfying simulation of golf that's close to the real thing
• The lack of tutorials makes for a rocky start
• Swing mechanics are delayed and create a disconnect
• Putting information is frequently misleading

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Richard Wakeling

• @richardwakeling

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PGA Tour 2K23 is Elden Ring for golf, somehow

Thrilling golf marred by frustrating swinging mechanics and career progression

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I don’t spend much time playing video games whose difficulty is a selling point; if it’s anything like a Soulslike, I’m likely to avoid it. So it’s been a long time since a game has made me swear as much as PGA Tour 2K23 has. I’m not proud that one of those instances occurred when my wife came downstairs to see how things were going, just as I shanked a tee shot — for perhaps the 50th time? I’ve lost count at this point — into a thicket of trees on the left side of the fairway.

From wayward drives that end up in the drink to gimme putts that somehow don’t drop, the analog stick swing mechanic is my greatest frustration in PGA Tour 2K23 . After all, swinging is the main thing you do in this game; it takes 60 to 80 shots, on average, to complete a full 18-hole round.

But after taking thousands of swings across hundreds of holes of golf, I still don’t feel like I have a great handle on my virtual clubs in PGA Tour 2K23 . In other words, I don’t feel like I’m improving — an issue that is compounded because I’m also not getting a meaningful sense of progression for my created golfer in the game’s MyCareer mode.

PGA Tour 2K23 defaults to a control scheme that’s common in golf video games: To swing, you pull down on the right stick and then flick it upward. Here, though, the timing of the second motion (the downswing) is crucial — you’ll pull the shot to the left if you flick too quickly, and push it to the right if you’re too slow.

Downswing timing is the bane of my existence. I’ve enabled many of the assists available in the game’s settings, and have been hoping I’d eventually be able to wrap my head around the swing system. But even on the second-easiest difficulty setting, swinging feels like something of a crapshoot. No matter how many practice cuts I take, I’m liable to hook a shot when I swing for real.

There’s another option now: Fulfilling a long-standing request, developer HB Studios has added a traditional three-click system in PGA Tour 2K23 . It’s much less analogous to a real-life golf swing than, well, the analog stick scheme, but it’s good that an alternative is available.

This is HB Studios’ second effort under 2K Sports, a mass-market publisher. As such, I’m surprised that PGA Tour 2K23 doesn’t feel substantively more accessible than its predecessor, 2020’s PGA Tour 2K21 . Even the three-click swinging is implemented in a way that feels like it’s different for the sake of being different. Rather than simply pressing the button three times, you first hold it down to determine power, and then tap it twice to fine-tune the accuracy. I tried this system and quickly reverted to analog controls, despite my issues with them.

PGA Tour 2K23 ’s MyCareer mode also ends up feeling overcomplicated, although its foundation is solid. When creating your MyPlayer character, you choose one of five archetypes. For instance, Powerhouse players can drive the ball farther than anyone else, but they struggle with accuracy and putting. I’ve stuck with Woodsman because, frankly, I miss so many fairways and greens that I need all the help I can get when recovering from a bad lie in the rough. It’s nice that I can change my archetype if I ever want to, at no cost.

Here, HB Studios’ design works beautifully: The archetypes are meant to offer packages of strengths and weaknesses to support and complement your personal play style. My shots may often land on pine straw or in a fairway bunker, but thanks to the Woodsman archetype and its shot-shaping benefits, I don’t feel like all is lost when they do — and in fact, I’ve managed to save par in many of those cases.

The same customization-based design philosophy applies throughout MyCareer, but it’s less successful outside the realm of archetypes. The experience points you earn by playing tournaments aren’t used to directly upgrade your player’s attributes, like in a typical role-playing game (or in, say, a standard career mode in a sports game). Instead, you get a single skill point every time you level up, and you use the points to unlock and upgrade skills.

To avoid getting too far into the weeds (or woods) here, I’ll just say that almost all of the skills take effect only on a situational basis: They’ll either activate when you’re struggling and deactivate once you regain your form, or activate when you’re doing well and deactivate if you don’t keep it up. And as you level up a skill, it activates more easily and stays active for longer.

While the concept is sound, this setup makes the entire skill system feel inert. The first skill for hybrid clubs, Gusto, seems eminently valuable: When you’re mired in heavy rough, your shots will fly farther. But at level 1 of the skill, it only takes effect if you happen to be hitting into a headwind of at least 15 mph — an exceedingly rare combination of circumstances, in my experience. Because it takes a while to earn skill points, I’m not inclined to waste my precious few points on a skill that I don’t expect to get much use out of, even if there are more desirable ones locked farther along that branch of the tree.

Personalization is also the driving force behind club fittings, the most significant (and concrete) method of improving your performance in PGA Tour 2K23 . Fittings are parts of a golf club — head, shaft, or grip — that you can equip to magnify its attributes. Each one has a level of rarity attached to it, as with loot in a game like Destiny 2 ; the more rare it is, the stronger its effects. Attaching an “uncommon” head to a wedge might boost its power rating by 6 points while also dropping its timing attribute by 2.

Unlike in PGA Tour 2K23 ’s basketball sibling, NBA 2K, you can’t spend real-world money to power up your athlete, thankfully — at least not by buying fittings, since you receive them only as random drops. Virtual Currency, 2K Sports’ real-money currency (called “coins” here), is used primarily to purchase items like licensed clothes and gear from companies such as Adidas and Mizuno, none of which affect gameplay.

However, a pay-to-win element does creep into the game with respect to fittings: It costs coins to equip them to each club. The charge for attaching a legendary shaft to an iron is 150 coins, so I had to spend 900 coins to outfit all six of the irons in my bag. Considering the slow rate at which you earn coins through play — something like 250 coins if you can manage to finish in one of the top spots of a tournament — you may end up staring longingly at a collection of fittings that you’ve unlocked but can’t afford to equip.

The real bummer here is that I’ve had to spend so many words analyzing all that ancillary stuff, because once I’m playing a hole in PGA Tour 2K23 , most of those nuisances fade away. This is a true-playing golf game — I had a devil of a time with the steep greens at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club, and I’ve found it tremendously satisfying to craft and execute shots . The unforgiving difficulty of the swing mechanics, coupled with the game’s complicated system of fittings and skills, can lead to more frustration than fun. But when it all comes together, and I manage to pull out a birdie just when I need one to hold off a challenger on the leaderboard, it makes for thrilling moments of fist-pumping glory.

Perhaps I’m just too much of a casual gamer for the PGA Tour 2K series. To wit: I played many hours of PGA Tour 2K21 and didn’t remember having trouble with its swing mechanics — but when I booted up that game to check the options, I realized that I had disabled the downswing timing setting. At some point, I must’ve gotten frustrated enough to give up on the challenge (and the associated boost to the rate at which you earn XP). I’d also love to be able to save-scum, but that’s not an option: Due to the integration of VC, this is an always-online game by default, so it saves your progress with each stroke, with no allowances for mulligans.

It seems like my best bet — if I want to more fully enjoy my time with PGA Tour 2K23 — would be to turn off downswing timing. Either that, or it might be time to put this franchise on my personal “I don’t need this stress in my life” list, right next to Elden Ring .

PGA Tour 2K23 was released Oct. 14 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed using on PS5 using a pre-release download code provided by 2K Sports. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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EA Sports PGA Tour Review

2023 marks the first year since 2015 that golf fans have been treated to an EA Sports video game, with Rory McIlroy PGA Tour having been released in June of 2015.

The game features an abundance of aesthetically pleasing golf courses with fantastic graphics and a loaded roster of elite golfers. Augusta National is a playable golf course for the first time in a video game since 2011 and doesn’t disappoint. The tricky green complexes, sloping fairways and pink azaleas make gamers feel like they’re playing in The Masters.

Swing Mechanics

The swing mechanics in the game are a bit tricky to figure out. It took me quite a long time to get a grasp of where I needed to pull the analog stick back to when making a full swing. My approach shots when over the green almost every time forcing me either to club down or make an abbreviated swing.

There are a great deal of new shot types which add realism to the game, but it can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out which shot to use when the basic swing is so hard to get right to begin with. For advanced players, the abundance of shot types should be a welcome benefit.

The difficulty of the swing and figuring out how to use all of the different mechanics to play a round of golf was most definitely the biggest drawback of the game. Simply put, it will take a lot of time and effort to master EA Sports PGA Tour and those looking to pick it up quickly are in for a disappointment.

Career Mode

Career Mode is far and away the best part about EA Sports PGA Tour. While it’s certainly a grind to build your player’s stats and XP up enough to be competitive in the events, it’s worth the struggle. The game has all four of the majors, which is fantastic and truly gives the player incentive to improve and play well.

The choices of new clubs and gear is expansive and offers all of the big brands, but gaining the XP to purchase them in conjunction with the difficulty of the game can be frustrating.

Career Mode also offers players an option to play alongside a computer controlled professional player, which gives the tournament a much more authentic feel. However, playing alongside a pro slows the pace of play down considerably. There’s an option for players to choose Quick Play” which speeds up the round and only gives players the chance to play the most important shots of the tournament. However, there isn’t an option to change a tournament to two or three rounds instead of four.

The Verdict

The Career Mode is enough to make EA Sports’ return to the golf game world successful. Access to all four majors, the ability to play at historic courses like Pebble Beach and Augusta National, and the deep roster of stars makes this game worth buying.

The swing mechanics and overall difficulty of the golf simulation will be tough for players to adapt to, but patience and determination will pay off. Once the time is put in to master the swing and different shot types, the experience feels like the real thing.

EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 is a great start to golf video games on next generation consoles, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement for the series in the future.

Score: 8.1/10

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The original, “Happy Gilmore” is a hilarious movie about a former hockey player who becomes a professional golfer to get his elderly grandmother’s house back from the IRS.

While appearing on the  The Ken Carman Show , Christopher McDonald, who’s better known as “Shooter McGavin” from the movie, said the sequel is in the works.

“I saw Adam about two weeks ago and he said, McDonald, you’re gonna love this. I said, ‘What is it?’ He said, ‘How about that?’ and he hands me the first draft of Happy Gilmore 2.”

“He showed me that and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be awesome’. It’s in the works. Fans demand it. I was very, very pleased when I saw that.”

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Why Kevin Streelman sought USGA approval to use this equipment tool as he leads Valspar after round one

The first round of this week’s Valspar Championship proved to be quite difficult and the first-round leader for the event was a bit surprising.

Kevin Streelman, who missed the cut in four of his past five events, including three in a row, made seven birdies and was bogey-free on his way to a 64 (-7).

“I knew today was going to be solid and then it’s going to be hold-onto-your-shorts here for the next few days,” Streelman said in his post-round press conference. “So trying to just keep a good attitude and have some fun.”

Interestingly, Streelman tried out a new ball marker this week that he had to seek USGA approval for prior to teeing it up.

“It’s kind of cool little new ball marker I’m using that is legal that can kind of give you some visual cues that I think is pretty helpful. I was using that today, which I think kind of helped, as well.”

The marker has a line on it that gave Streelman a visual cue prior to hitting the putt.

Through ten holes in round two, the 45-year-old is at -6 and holds a share of the lead.

The wild reason why Mark Wahlberg was initially denied entry to an Australian golf club

Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is known for his love of golf but received a shock recently when he was initially denied entry to Sydney’s Elanora Country Club.

The reason? His socks. As first reported by the Australian Daily Telegraph , Wahlberg turned up to the club wearing black socks, which is against the Australian club’s all-white sock policy.

Speaking to the publication, the club’s general manager Cathy Neagle confirmed the reason for the denial, saying:  “We have dress standards. They do include white socks.”

Taking to Instagram, Wahlberg mimiked an Australian accent to poke fun at the decision saying:  “Socks not allowed on every golf course in Australia, believe it or not. Some courses require you to wear white socks. These are gym socks, man! What?!”

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg)

However, all’s well that ends well, as Wahlberg was happy to change into white socks to play at the club. 

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Pocket-lint

Ea sports pga tour initial review: hands-off with ea's golfing return.

We've been given a tour around some of the Tour. Here's what we've learned so far.

It's been a fair old while since Electronic Arts dabbled with golf. Even though it was the gaming home of the PGA Tour since the start of the 90s, we've not had a new game from EA Sports since 2015's Rory McIlroy.

In the meantime, HB Studios and 2K Games have capably filled the gap, first with The Golf Club and snagging their own PGA Tour licensing in latter days.

Now though, EA is about to return to the fairway with a new addition to the franchise. And, it's looking like it'll carry on exactly where it left off, albeit with a fair few modern bells and whistles thrown in for good measure.

We've been privy to a hands-off demo of the game and a walkthrough of its features by some of the developers. Here's how it's looking so far.

EA Sports PGA Tour

With 30 courses planned for launch and all the major tournaments, including the Masters at Augusta, EA Sports PGA Tour is shaping up to be a thorough title for enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. From what we've seen so far, it's also looking superb thanks to the adoption of the Frostbite Engine. We can't wait to get our own hands on it soon to see if it's up to par.

• Stunning course mapping
• Great attention to detail
• 30 PGA Tour courses to play on
• All the majors
• Too soon to tell

EA Sports PGA Tour is the publisher's biggest golf game yet. It is exclusive to current-generation consoles - PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S - and PC, which means there have been few compromises on graphical fidelity. From what we saw streamed in an online demonstration, anyway.

The development team has switched to Frostbite for the graphics, which not only renders player models (real-world and created) in great fidelity - much like the latest FIFA, Madden and NHL games - but it presents the 30 included courses in sometimes photo-realistic detail.

That's because every course was mapped using multiple methods - by helicopter using LiDAR technology, through high-resolution camera drones too, and by taking thousands of photos on the ground. Augusta even gave the developer access to its tree health system, which accurately maps every flowerbed, tree and other types of flora to ensure they are placed in exactly the same position in the game as in real life.

Impressively, this level of minute detail doesn't just help the look of the game but the feel. The bumps on the ground are in the exact same spot - as are the imperfections on the fairways and greens. And so, we were told, that when a ball interacts with the course, it will move across these minor spots in the same way it would for real.

That is further improved through the use from two other third-party data sources - the PGA Tour's ShotLink and TrackMan - which not only gave the team real-world mechanics for ball movement, thanks to storing many thousands of shots from the PGA Tour itself, but also player motion and behaviour that has provided the animation specifics for each licenced professional in the game.

EA calls its new stroke engine Pure Strike and it enables gamers to take shots in a more fluid, natural way.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

The gameplay that we viewed showed a new swing arc that is used for the accuracy and power of a shot. The power is determined by a small line on the arc that you meet during the backswing (using a thumbstick). The speed of the follow-through is important too and reminds us a little of the mechanics in PGA Tour 2K23. However, EA hasn't gone full simulation with its effort. There is still the option for boost and other gamified elements of its previous titles in the series.

One major new feature is that, as well as club selection, you also get the choice between types of shot each time - from a pool of 20. And each club in your bag will have their own assigned shot types that you can customise. In previous years, the clubs from different manufacturers would have their own stats - this is gone, but the shot types can still make one driver feel different to another, say. You can adjust depending on your play style, therefore, which is inspired by the pro golfers and their experiences on the real Tour.

It's this mix of realism and fun that we're looking forward to testing more when we get our own hands on the game.

We were also told that the old three-click shot method of yesteryear will make a return as a playable option, but wasn't active for our demo.

Putting has changed a bit this time around - perhaps even more so than the main shot system. You get a suggested line to give you a decent read of a green (although that can be turned off in settings) but the putting meter is certainly different to before. You have a smaller swing overlay that suggests power and works more like the main shot arc. Again, it's something we have to try for ourselves before we can give you more on how it works.

Licenced to thrill

Perhaps the most impressive part of EA Sports PGA Tour for us so far is the amount of licenced content in the game. The 30 courses, the clothes, clubs and shoes, the different tournaments, including all the majors, and a healthy selection of PGA and LPGA professionals to play as and against. There is also a great cast of commentators that use dynamic phrasing to make the presentation feel just like a TV broadcast. They've even recorded unique voice clips for points of interest on course that you may never hear - such as if you bounce a ball off a specific fence, which cues a sentence about that actual event.

As well as the licenced players, you can also create your own, of course, with an in-depth editor and the choice to set him onto the path of greatness by either entering amateur tournaments first, the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA Tour itself. And, if you want to play as a woman, the Amundi Evian Championship is there for the taking too.

In short, EA is ensuring that while it has taken a seven-year leave of absence from golf, it is coming back with its most expansive offering yet. It's certainly not doing things by half.

First impressions

It's hard to give a genuine opinion on a game we've not physically played ourselves, but everything we've heard and seen so far shows much potential. We've really enjoyed 2K's rival title (and still do), but can't help admitting that we've missed the traditional EA Sports PGA Tour games over the last few years. Plus, we're really looking forward to playing in The Masters at Augusta and this will provide the only opportunity to do so. We await it with bated breath.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC from 24 March 2023.

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EA Sports PGA Tour review – Masters-ful golf sim

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After years in the rough EA returns with a new PGA Tour golf game that brings back the glory days of the Tiger Woods era.

Golf, that most traditional – some would argue staid – of sports, offers a window into a bygone age. At least, it used to, before an attempt at a modernising, disruptive coup was launched in the form of the LIV Tour, a rival to the PGA and European Tours (the latter now renamed the DP World Tour), offering over-the-top rewards for its rebel players.

So far, the traditionalists have held firm: despite some high-profile defections, the LIV Tour has failed to acquire much credibility. A similar scenario is playing out in the field of golf games . For over a decade EA’s PGA Tour games, most of them headlined by Tiger Woods, dominated the field but the last entry was the poorly received Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015. In the meantime, 2K has also started its own line of golf games although last year’s PGA Tour 2K23 was equally disappointing.

This new EA Sports PGA Tour, which doesn’t share its name with any particular golfer, is clearly an attempt to regain its former glories, and sales success. The end result is the best golf sim in a very long time and a considerably better game than would-be rival PGA Tour 2K23.

EA Sports PGA Tour is not only relentlessly high-tech – no golf-game has ever looked or felt so startlingly like the real thing – but demonstrates impressive attention to detail throughout. For example, when you jump into its flagship Career mode, which casts you as a rookie on the PGA Tour (although you can opt to start on the amateur or Korn Ferry tours), it’s impossible to ignore how closely its gameplay mimics the real-life PGA Tour TV coverage.

There are 30 of the most iconic PGA Tour venues at launch, along with the likes of St Andrews’ Old Course, and all the remaining courses for the year’s majors will be added post-launch – so we’re promised. They all look stunning; no golf-game has ever got so close to photorealism. Nor sounded so good: the commentary is equally good with the team familiar from PGA Tour coverage reminiscing about Arnold Palmer as they would in real life, while you negotiate your way around the Bay Hill Invitational.

In terms of feel, EA Sports PGA Tour also gets it absolutely spot-on. You have to think very carefully about how to adjust your approach to shots from different types of rough, bunkers, pine needle-strewn paths and the like, just as in real life. There’s one proviso, though, as EA Sports PGA Tour doesn’t give you an option to control your swing via button presses, instead insisting that you use the more modern method of aping a swing via analogue-stick movement.

However, you can assign your swing to either left or right sticks, and there is a vast array of shots on offer via thoroughly intuitive modifiers that easily let you apply draw or fade, or take high and low approaches according to wind conditions.

There are many elements to EA Sports PGA Tour; as well as Career, you can jump into Quick Play which boasts a number of matchplay formats, play online against random people, set up private tournaments with your mates, or take on Challenges which range from coaching to recreating classic real-life moments from previous PGA Tour events – via skill-testing designed to show off the equipment of potential sponsors.

Yes, EA Sports PGA Tour includes lootboxes, it is, after all, an EA Sports game. But at least it doesn’t aggressively spam you to spend real-life money on them, confining them primarily to the Challenges section as rewards for demonstrating your skills. Amongst the virtual tat they bring (depictions of clothing and equipment from real-life golfing equipment brands) you also get XP which helps generate skill points, but none of it is necessary to progress.

EA Sports PGA Tour has a role-playing style skills tree which, like the rest of the game, manages to be deep and complex without causing confusion. Its skills are split into the likes of driving, approach, short-game, and putting, and there’s also a crucial power category which lets you beef up all aspects of your game, which eats up big chunks of skill points.

On each branch of the tree, as you progress, you unlock new, ever more exotic types of shots, which come in particularly handy when you find yourself in tricky situations. A consequence of the skills tree’s presence is that if, say, you jump straight into a PGA Tour season in Career mode, it seems quite hard at first. You won’t be able to drive over 300 yards until you’ve upgraded your core power considerably, nor will your short-game include trick shots so, for a while, you’ll struggle to get close to flags from, say, the rough or greenside bunkers.

Roughly every other event you enter, you will level up and earn skill points. So with the Career mode’s emphasis on qualifying for the Masters (which takes place as EA Sports PGA Tour goes on sale) you should have levelled up sufficiently to compete by the time it comes around. The coaching section in Challenges comes in handy, too, walking you through the considerable subtleties of the control system.

Another aspect of the Career mode which works well is that it doesn’t force you to play entire four-round competitions unless you choose to, but by default splits PGA Tour events into individual days, in which you play a mere selection of the holes. So you might, for example, have to pull off a few birdies to make the second-day cut and if you do, you’ll then be presented with the third day as if it were a new event. That format brings a sense of narrative thrust, and makes you feel as though you’re improving very rapidly, as your golfer’s attributes and array of shots improve with alacrity.

You can, of course, spend hours tinkering around with the physical aspects of your golfer, to make them look as much like you as possible. There are plenty of options for creating female golfers, as well as depictions of real-life LPGA golfers in the game, but it currently only has one LPGA event – albeit a major: the Amundi Evian Championship.

EA Sports PGA Tour is, quite simply, one of the best golf games we’ve ever played. It’s certainly the most technically accomplished, it plays beautifully, and it looks and sounds incredible. Like all the best golf games it also has a soothing quality to it, even if you do find that you tend to crack under the pressure and make frustrating mistakes.

When you find yourself in contention at The Players’ Championship, say, it’s incredibly exhilarating, and as you transform from a weedy 220-yard driver with no short-game into a Masters contender, there’s a huge amount of satisfaction to be had.

If you’re a golf enthusiast with a modern console, EA Sports PGA Tour is pretty much an essential purchase, especially given that its Career mode is geared towards letting you vicariously enjoy the thrill of contending in the Masters. And even if you wouldn’t dream of playing a round of golf in real life, it’s such a professionally put together and deeply enjoyable game that you would do well to check it out.

EA Sports PGA Tour review summary

In Short: Slick, high-tech, and impeccably well designed; this is the best golf game of the modern era and the new standard for others to aspire to.

Pros: Looks incredible, with great commentary and clever RPG-style skills progression. Great Masters-centric Career mode, nuanced control system, and nicely judged challenges.

Cons: Unaccountably lacks the LPGA Tour. No traditional control system option. Sadly, includes lootboxes.

Score: 9/10

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X, and PC Price: £69.99 Publisher: EA Developer: EA Tiburon Release Date: 7th April 2023 Age Rating: 3

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EA Sports PGA Tour Reviews

Slick, high-tech, and impeccably well designed; this is the best golf game of the modern era and the new standard for others to aspire to.

Read full review

EA Sports PGA Tour captures the intricate nuance of golfing. However, the systems struggle with what a user can reasonably decipher from a mere analog stick, leading to a frustrating experience. EA Sports PGA Tour is a game at odds with whether it wants to compete with rival 2K’s realism or veer closer to its own more arcade roots, and in the process, lands its first drive on this new round in the rough.

EA returns to the world of golf with a challenging and rewarding title that's let down by a couple of inconsistencies and an underwhelming swing mechanic.

As a comeback, EA Sports PGA Tour performs well enough to compete with PGA 2K23 on fairly even footing. The inclusion of all four majors, the solid ball physics, the wider arsenal of shots, and the long list of official courses are impressive, though the presentation can be flat, laggy, and rough. If EA decides to turn this into an annualized sports franchise, the next installment will need to revamp the character creator and rework the user interfaces. Despite the game's flaws, though, I can still see myself casually playing it throughout the year alongside other sports games like MLB The Show 23. It’s been a while since we’ve seen two established developers battle each other within the same sport, and I’m all for it. At the very least, golf games will be made all the better from the competition.

EA Sports PGA Tour is a good golf simulation that marks the return of the series after years of absence from the green, even if EA Tiburon hasn't managed to make a "hole in one" despite offering satisfying gameplay. The realization of the courses and the physics of the ball is truly remarkable, while the pleasant visual appearance clashes with some technical defects linked to an imperfect use of Frostbite. Overall, EA Sports PGA Tour is an enjoyable gaming experience, designed primarily for golf enthusiasts.

Review in Italian | Read full review

EA dazzles with its re-entry onto the fairways with EA Sports PGA Tour, which is comfortably the best golf game in years.

EA's return to the course is a surprisingly understated and supremely accomplished golf sim

The controls can be tough to get the hang of, but the visuals are stunning, the commentary impressive and the play itself gives you all the challenge and realism you could want

A technically solid game that has some pretty glaring issues with presentation, I still found myself going back to play round after round. It's challenging and rewarding, even if it's not the best entry in the long history of golf titles.

As golf games go, this is the most fun I have had in a while. It's a massive improvement over recent years' titles. The career mode is both addictive and rewarding, it's full of contact and the presentation is both cinematic and beautiful. A few issues will not get in the way of what I think is the best golf sim around at the moment. Let's hit the greens, people!

I wanted to love EA Sports PGA Tour. Though I find myself as disappointed as Bart Simpson was when he got Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge for Christmas. The initial gameplay showcase had me as excited as a kid in a candy store. There’s no denying it’s a gorgeous game. Course flyovers and commentary are also superb. But these fleeting moments of brilliance make PGA Tour’s missteps all the more frustrating. Until EA gets under the hood and performs the mountain of work required to get it up to snuff, I’ll be sticking to PGA Tour 2K23. At least that game works.

EA Sports PGA Tour is a game that fails to unleash its full potential. It offers a considerable amount of content and a rather realistic game structure, with some graphical bugs and some ques-tionable choices in the game modes (especially in the Career) that slow down its race to success. This is a good starting point which that could improve along the way.

EA Sports PGA Tour proves what the publisher is capable of at its pomp: this is a jaw-droppingly beautiful sports game, with a sublime selection of licensed courses and a surprising amount of depth. Its demanding swing mechanic is slightly let down by a sluggish frame rate, but its single player is boosted by a strong sense of progression – and in multiplayer there's tons to do. This is an impressively strong effort overall, and a sign of good things to come ahead of the company's other anticipated comeback, EA Sports College Football.

EA Sports PGA Tour bring you to the field again after a long stand by, but now it's time to come back to try to be the best Golf player around the world. With impressive physics and amazing modes to get fun and a bunch of content. The king of the Golf is back.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

EA Sports returns to virtual courts with a visually stunning PGA Tour.

Golf – and therefore EA Sports PGA Tour – is not a simple game, but my feelings towards it can be expressed simply. It feels like playing the sport, and it’s hard to ask for much more than that.

Despite competition from PGA Tour 2K23, EA Sports PGA Tour manages to set itself apart with polished presentation, tight mechanics, and impressive visuals. While a shortage of customisation options is disappointing, there's no arguing with the overall quality that EA's return to video game golf has to offer.

EA Sports PGA Tour is somewhat, par for the course, in many ways what I expected, retaining much of the previous few entries while adding more gameplay options and better simulation than ever before.

It has its fair share of issues, but there's more than enough in EA Sports PGA Tour to keep newcomers and golf pros occupied. It's a solid step forward for the EA Sports golf titles, and a welcome return to the course.

With so many ways to test your skills and so many gorgeous courses to explore, EA has bounced back with a long-awaited PGA installment that seems entirely focused on pleasing the fans. There's so much to do and so many challenges to conquer that any golf fan should be preoccupied and satisfied with this game for quite some time. And when courses look this gorgeous, playing a virtual 18 holes at your favorite location will never get old. I'd say EA is more than deserving of a resounding golf clap.

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EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ Deluxe Edition

About This Game

• The world’s most exclusive courses — The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

System Requirements

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Ryzen 5 1600 / Core i5 6600k
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Radeon RX 570 /Geforce GTX 1050 Ti
• DirectX: Version 12
• Network: Broadband Internet connection
• Storage: 100 GB available space
• Processor: Ryzen 7 2700X /Core i7 6700
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: Radeon RX 5700 XT / GeForce RTX 2060 Super

Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/legal for details.

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EA Sports PGA Tour game review

Published: 26 June 2023

After eight years out of the game, EA Sports are back on the virtual fairways with the visually stunning PGA Tour 2023 game.

EA Sports have spent nearly a decade away from the game of golf, which left many gamers and golf lovers skeptical of what the 2023 PGA Tour game would bring to the table. Since 2015 it seems EA Sports have had their thinking caps on, finding new tech to innovate their game, including real-life golf data and shot tracing analysis.

The challenging, realistic gameplay is thanks to a range of game mechanics that set PGA Tour 2023 apart from the rest of the field. ShotLink data, which has tracked and recorded every professional golf shot since 2001, partners up with Trackman and innovative Pure Strike gameplay to give players more than 20 shot types to personalize how they play the game.

With full customization, players will get the chance to make their very own mini-me before nurturing them to success and enhancing the crucial skills needed to win on the PGA Tour. They’ll take on the best golfers in the world in the bid to become a Major champion, sliding the Green Jacket over their shoulders, or lifting the Claret Jug aloft on the 18th green at the Home of Golf.

EA Sports PGA Tour: Key Gameplay Features

• Home of the Majors

PGA Tour 2023 is the exclusive home of the Majors, including the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the US Open, and The Open. You’re able to compete in the PGA Tour’s best events in the season-long chase for the FedExCup and conquer the top Amateur Championships around the world.

The world’s most exclusive courses

The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning fidelity with Frostbite so you can immerse yourself in visual beauty and more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

Pure Strike powered by ShotLink

Powered by official PGA Tour ShotLink and TrackMan data, Pure Strike gives golf fans all the tools they need to realistically attack every hole on every course the same way the pros do. It incorporates the three parts of every golf swing which is highly accurate to a player’s backswing length and speed of follow-through.

True-to-Life Course Visuals

EA Sports PGA Tour presents the most realistic visuals in any golf game thanks to state-of-the-art equipment, depicting courses exactly as they appear in real life. Creating precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses.

The Players Championship and FedExCup Playoffs

The Players Championship and all three events of the FedExCup Playoffs will be in the game, and players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the playoff events. As part of the career mode, top golfers at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to win the FedExCup.

Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship

In partnership with the LPGA, players can compete at The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s five Major Championships, and have the opportunity to play as several female athletes. TG columnist Iona Stephen is part of the EA commentary team as the first female on-course announcer in the game, bringing her experienced insights from both playing professionally and working in golf broadcasting. 

Your career, your way

Create and customize a golfer, then develop your skills so you can master each course and learn to attack every hole like a pro. Enhance your skill set for driving, approach, short game, or putting, depending on your style, then compete to become a Major champion, and take on the PGA Tour’s best events in the season-long chase for the FedEx Cup. 

• Course Dynamics

‘Unique Course Dynamics’ backed by a rigorous course tuning process from tee to green ensures no two golf courses play the same. Every fairway, green, and rough is meticulously scanned, handcrafted, and uniquely tuned to simulate the individual nuances of different courses and terrain variables like undulations, ground cover, and grass type.

• Ball Behavior

‘Revolutionized Ball Behavior’ delivers next-gen responsiveness so once your shot lands, the golf ball spins, bounces, dribbles, and rolls as it would in real life.

Utilizing ShotLink powered by CDW, the PGA Tour’s proprietary real-time scoring system since 2001, golfers will authentically be replicated with accurate player ratings, skills, and magnified true-to-life in-game events. 

TrackMan Data

Insights implemented by TrackMan, a world leader in 3D ball flight measurement and swing analysis, is a critical component to authentic gameplay utilizing a myriad of stats including club tuning, flight trajectory, landing position, and much more.

EA Sports PGA Tour 2023 Game

PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S, PC

Best Golf Video Game

The gameplay is crisp and the new ball mechanics, which see the ball react to the clubface, and roll differently depending on spin and landing areas on the course, really are impressive. Hard and mistimed low golf shots will bounce fast and run through the fairways or greens, with high soft shots landing and spinning.

As in real life, putting can be the most frustrating and unforgiving thing in the game. With little to no help, reading putts can be so difficult, especially when the putting guide doesn’t always seem accurate to the hole!

Having a game that is so realistic is fantastic but a bit of leeway for beginners in an easier game mode would be great. You have the challenge section, which I love, but when it comes to quick play, there are no real arcade modes for someone wanting to relax with mates. All of that said, when you do master the game it becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable!

What EA Sports have achieved is a game that’s perfect for gamers and golfers who love career modes and are in it for the long haul. You’re able to use your pro in every game mode, whether you’re competing against the pros to win a Major or trying to beat challenges from The Masters, which makes the experience unique.

The customization feature makes the game very personal to each player which I found great, but there could be more skin, hair, and facial feature options. Customized players’ on-course reactions are also a little static when compared to the already available players.

Overall, this is a great return to the world of golf games for EA and after a few updates/patches I’m sure the game will be even better. If they can add another mode aimed at beginners and casual gamers with some more guidance and faster-paced arcade modes, it would bump the rating up further.

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About the author

Will Shreeve-Peacock Golf Equipment Writer

Will Shreeve-Peacock is a golf equipment writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in golf shoes, GPS watches, rangefinders, and training aids.

He has a degree in journalism from Sheffield Hallam university and four years of experience working in golf retail with  American Golf.  Will was part of the sales and fitting team, making him the perfect man to review golf equipment.

Trained by a range of manufacturers, including  Titleist  and  TaylorMade , to enhance his product knowledge, Will has all of the skills required to recommend the perfect equipment for amateur golfers.

Will started playing golf more than a decade ago at Thorney Lakes Golf Club, Cambridgeshire and is now a member at Burghley Park Golf Club in Stamford, Lincolnshire. His handicap index is 5.8, largely thanks to his scratch-standard short game.

Away from golf, Will enjoys going to the gym, cooking, spending time with his friends, and watching his beloved Manchester United.

Will uses a  Cobra LTDx Driver ,  Cobra LTDx 3-Wood ,  TaylorMade P790 2-iron ,  Callaway X Forged 18 Irons (4-PW) ,  Wilson Staff Model Wedges (52°, 58°) ,  TaylorMade White smoke IN-12 Blade putter  and the  TaylorMade TP5x Golf ball .

When he’s not testing golf shoes, he chooses to wear FootJoy Hyperflex or Under Armour Charged Phantom. He uses a Shotscope Pro L2 rangefinder and his favorite ever training aid is the PuttOut Pressure Putt Trainer and mat.

You can contact Will via  email  or follow him on  Twitter  here.

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Join the GOLF team at Pinehurst this May

EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is a golf game unlike any other

EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is out now.

Didn’t score Masters tickets this year? Still trying to cope with the fact you might never peg it at Augusta National? Those things might not change, but you can still visit Augusta … virtually.

For the first time since 2013, Augusta National is back in video game form with the latest release of EA Sports PGA Tour.

EA Sports, known for its popular Madden NFL and FIFA titles, is relaunching its popular golf series in 2023 for the first time since 2015 — and it’s bringing back the home of the Masters as part of it all.

Augusta National hasn’t been in the game since 2014, the last time the series was released under the “Tiger Woods” name. Augusta is one of 30 different courses now available on the new game, with more courses — like major hosts Oak Hill and Los Angeles Country Club — coming online as those majors get underway.

EA’s return to the golf world means that golf gamers have the option between two PGA Tour-licensed golf games for the first time. 2K Sports released its third PGA Tour-licensed game, PGA Tour 2K23 with Tiger Woods, last fall.

The EA game was officially launched on Masters Friday, and we at GOLF have been putting it through the wringer to see if it’s a worthy golf simulation game. Here’s what we learned.

What we liked

Graphics and Aesthetics: In the run-up to the release of the game, the EA Development Team credited significant advancements in video game visual technology with bringing the series back from its nearly decade-long hiatus.

They weren’t kidding. Not only do the courses look stunning — EA producer Ben Ramsour told GOLF a screenshot of Augusta’s 13th green was mistaken for a photograph — but also the swing animations have finally started to appear lifelike.

You can really see EA’s attention to detail with the equipment highlighted in the game. From Callaway and TaylorMade drivers to Scotty Cameron putters, most of the game’s most modern offerings are available to users. And it all looks like the real thing. EA even brought insane detail into recreations of the trophies from golf’s majors, which brings us to the next item…

The four majors : Unlike the 2K games, EA Sports PGA Tour features exclusive rights to all four of the men’s major championships, meaning that the majors are now playable in career mode. That also goes for the U.S. Amateur, as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. You can also play in the LPGA’s Evian Championship .

Each major has a unique broadcast package, with specific lines of dialogue from the broadcast team — a solid grouping that reunites Rich Lerner with Frank Nobilo, Notah Begay III and Iona Stephen. Nick Faldo even handles a spine-tingling intro for the Masters.

Career mode : You have three options of where to start your career: as an amateur in either the U.S. Am or the ANWA, a pro playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or by skipping those steps and heading straight to the PGA Tour.

I chose to start as an amateur, winning the U.S. Amateur to qualify for both the Masters and U.S. Open. My player made the cut on the number at Augusta (I have yet to break 71 there, more on that in a bit) and then earned a solid top 10 at the U.S. Open. Eventually, I’ll have to tackle Korn Ferry Tour Q-School before advancing up the ranks into the world of the PGA Tour.

As you play rounds or challenges, which can range from easy to very difficult, you earn XP to level up your golfer and earn skill points to improve your ratings and add shot selections to your repertoire.

Gameplay and shot types: Finally, a golf game has done justice to the stinger and the knockdown, two of my favorite shots. You have to level up your golfer enough to unlock these speciality shots — at which point you need to learn how to use them — but it’s fun to see a game actually delve into shot-making.

I’ve been playing on a custom difficulty in between the two most-difficult settings, “Tour” and “Simulation.” This means my shots are penalized or rewarded for timing, my clubs are recommended to me by carry distance, not total yardage, and I don’t get putt previews or shot trails. In the past, I’ve found golf video games were too easy in the mid-difficulty levels and far too difficult at the harder settings. With the latest EA offering, I’ve found a balance that allows me to shoot some “normal” scores that a pro would shoot on a real course.

The actual swing mechanic works nicely into the user interface. Some people have noticed some lagging in the timing, but it rarely impacts me significantly.

That said, Augusta National is hard. I mean, seriously hard, especially around the greens. I have yet to break 71 there and it’s mostly due to the crazy slope in the greens. That makes not only putting difficult but also chipping and approach shots.

Thanks to new ball flight and ball behavior settings, shots seem to react like they would at ANGC. Miss the tiny plateau in the upper right corner of 6 green? You’re going all the way back to the front left corner. Come up short on 9? You’ll be rewarded with a fun 50-yard pitch. Go long of the Sunday pin on 18? Good luck with that putt.

As expected, you also won’t get the same kind of spin at say, Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews, where the ball bounces and bounds like a true links course. These tendencies are independent of what the course setting is too. “Tournament” conditions at St. Andrews will naturally be firmer than at Augusta, but green speeds in Georgia will be quicker.

What could be better

I’m no video game expert (I only ever buy golf and basketball games at this point) but here’s what I, as a golfer, would like to see.

Short game: Short shots have always been the toughest to replicate in video games for some reason. Thanks to the new ball behavior, putting from off the green is finally reasonably accurate. The game also added a spinner shot, basically a lower pitch that checks, which I found myself using most of the time once I unlocked it. However, I still find myself using the flop shot at times I wouldn’t in relief simply because it spins way more than it should, even out of the rough. Also, where the spinner checks a little, the regular pitch and chip shots don’t. It would be very hard to recreate Tiger’s chip-in from the 2005 Masters.

Real-world weather : I believe the previous EA games had access to real-world weather that would allow you to play courses in real-time conditions. I would love to see that again as the tournaments I’ve played had random wind directions and speeds each day. Plus, the PGA is in May now — no way there’s perfect weather all the time!

Parting thoughts

The graphics and actual shot types make this game a must-have for any golf-loving video gamer or a video game-loving golfer. But then again, a golf game with Augusta National might be enough to earn “must-have” status alone.

After Tiger Woods’ 2K23 game came out around the same time this one was teased, I thought more people would gravitate toward 2K thanks to Tiger’s name (which was part of the success of EA’s previous games ).

But EA deserves a big chunk of the market share with this game. They knocked it out of the park with a vastly superior experience both from a visuals and gameplay standpoint. Would I love to play with Tiger in this game? Yes — but I’d argue having access to some of the best venues in golf is more important. I’d also love to figure out how to use EA’s graphics on a golf simulator, because the game has some of the best golf visuals I’ve ever seen.

EA Sports PGA Tour is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox S|X and PC; the standard edition costs $69.99 and the deluxe edition costs $84.99.

EA Sports PGA Tour

Latest in lifestyle, the secret to making a nashville hot chicken sandwich worthy of the music city, 'happy gilmore' sequel 'in the works,' according to one of original film’s stars, what jon rahm revealed dissecting masters champions dinner menu, here's when you can start posting scores for your handicap in 2024.

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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EA Sports PGA Tour brings true golf authenticity back to the fore

Fairway to heaven - EA's return brings all four majors, proper RPG golf, and more

The return of an EA golf game has its surprisingly vocal community very excited, and with good reason: EA Sports PGA Tour looks incredibly promising. Over the seven years since the last EA game, there's been a bit of a hole for golf fans. The Golf Club series and more recent 2K titles have gently scratched the itch, but for many, there's always been something missing. From what I saw at a recent preview for EA's upcoming return, that looks set to change. Proper golf games are back.

Ever since the teaser trailer for EA Sports PGA Tour, narrated by Jordan Spieth and showing Augusta National, the messaging was clear: only in EA's game can you play the major tournaments, and become a true hall of famer. "We want to put you on the first tee in the shoes of a major champion," says lead producer David Baker. "Everything we've built, more than any other game before, has been designed to make you feel like a major championship golfer." Owning this territory and being the only game to offer all four majors – the most-requested feature from fans – immediately puts it above its predecessors. The last EA installment, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, only had two of the majors, and PGA 2K23 's major schedule is also light and a bit disappointing.

Tiger Uppercut

This approach to offering the best courses and tournaments extends to offering 30 'bucket list' courses at launch. Each one has been meticulously surveyed for their recreation. Using EA's Frostbite engine, these courses look fantastic, serving up the new-gen visuals committed swingers have waited for. The landscape designer in me loves the fact that these courses aren't just dev-made or researched. They've been made by liaising with geologists, utilizing low-flying helicopters, and the Masters' private database. Each tree is correctly placed, and each color of Azalea is right for the Augusta National course at the time of the Masters.

However pretty the settings, gameplay is paramount. Thankfully, EA appears to understand this. "While the game looks and reacts ultra realistically, at the end of the day, it's a video game," says producer Ben Ramsour. "The core mechanics have to be approachable, easy to learn, and fun." On first impressions, the golf swing mechanics, and shot-making underlying the 'Pure strike' system, look excellent. It channels authentic, smooth, and fun swing play with impressive nuances and shot craft.

Just like the courses themselves, this is all underpinned by real-world data. There are 20 shot types, unique trajectories for the ball based on clubs and shots, and redesigned ball behaviors – all contributing to a total of more than 1300 unique physics profiles. These then culminate in providing "unique golf swings that have a fluid feel, and lead to realistic outcomes on every golf shot". Given that swing mechanics are informed by ShotLink and Trackman data – genuine tools that real-world pros and players use – there could be no better virtual recreation of a golf swing, especially with the number of dedicated shot types and shaping options available to players.

"Every time you approach the ball, you don't only choose your club, but also the type of shot you want to hit," says gameplay designer Craig Penner. "These shot types add a wonderful new layer of depth to every shot, so that as your mastery and understanding of each shot type grows. You'll start to think and plan your way around the course just like a pro."

There's solid potential for the game's deep and multi-layered golf mechanics to elevate it well above that offered by the 2K games. The mix of specialist shots and shaping tactics looks greater already, and even the way it's presented appears purer and closer to real golf. For example, there's a swing arc that tracks the path of the club neatly but also shows you where you deviate from it; something that sits very nicely in terms of real-life golf simulation. Naturally, in real life, the swing arc is open to error and alteration, especially as you improve at the game, so seeing this as something that can change based on your play, and not just rely on a 'line on a ball' graphic in the HUD, is very welcome.

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Nine-iron man

The same level of thought and authenticity is also present in the career mode. Often the standout of previous EA golf games, the depth and intricacies of taking your created player - male, female, or gender-neutral – from the toils of being a hack entering the amateur tour, all the way to winning majors is back with a vengeance. While 2K's series offers a simple career, and 2K23 saw some boosts to that, your player could still bomb 300-yard drives from the off. In EA Sports PGA Tour, you gradually improve and progress your player by spending earned XP, learning and adding new shot types to your arsenal, and by enhancing your skills. The choices you make can be meaningful to your game and also crucial to getting you in a position to master particular courses. 'Course Fit' is a feature that measures a course's demands against your skill level to give an indication of the level of challenge, and a blueprints system helps you tune your equipment too.

Those who prefer their pitch and putt to take place online are also well served. You can play social unranked matches with similarly skilled players, with friends to ensure level playing fields, or social modes offline for more casual play – be it match play, alternate shot, or other modes. You can play competitively too. This ranked matchmaking is designed "to test your skills in numerous game types, including nine and 18-hole parameters", Baker describes. Such online tournaments will be "limited-time events for players to go in by themselves and submit a score to a global leaderboard."

At the end of such an event, the game gives you a final rank earning you rank points based on finishing position. A particularly intriguing multiplayer mode that caught my eye was where you play holes simultaneously with other players – up to 16 of you – with all the sounds and shots flying everywhere at the same time.

Modern sports games such as FIFA 23 and NBA 2K23 are all about live content. EA is keen to keep up with the Woodses in a similar vein. It's planning more courses that mirror real-world tournaments. A three-click swing action is also in the works, and there will be other promising updates like regular challenges inspired by real-world events. "As new history is made at current tournaments, we can rapidly craft challenges to mirror what players are watching in the real world," says Baker. If there's a hole-in-one at a particular event, then players of EA Sports PGA Tour will be challenged to recreate it. Along with a ton of extra gear, attire, and clubs that are coming throughout 2023, there's going to be more 'game' coming after release to get our teeth into.

Maybe I have some rose-tinted glasses on, yearning so much for the halcyon days of Tiger Woods 2005, but the early signs of EA Sports PGA Tour are excellent. It looks like the "'proper golf RPG" and journey fans have yearned for is back for good. The handicaps of the last few years have seemingly been conquered, and EA Sports PGA Tour should please both new and long-term fans down to a tee.

EA Sports PGA Tour is one of the new games for 2023 worth watching, and it's set to release on March 24 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

Rob is the Deputy Editor of sister site, TechRadar Gaming, and has been in the games and tech industry for years. Prior to a recent stint as Gaming Editor at WePC, Rob was the Commissioning Editor for Hardware at GamesRadar+, and was on the hardware team for more than four years, since its inception in late 2018. He is also a writer on games and has had work published over the last six years or so at the likes of Eurogamer, RPS, PCGN, and more. He is also a qualified landscape and garden designer, so does that in his spare time, while he is also an expert on the virtual landscapes and environments of games and loves to write about them too, including in an upcoming book on the topic !

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Scottie scheffler makes pga tour history with 2024 players championship win, title defense, share this article.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler refused to relinquish the Players Championship trophy.

It didn’t matter if he suffered from neck pain, or if he fell as many as nine strokes off the pace in the third round, Scheffler made no excuses. He persevered until his neck improved on Sunday and fired a final-round 8-under 64 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to edge Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele, three of the top-10 players in the world, and become the first player to repeat as champion in the 50-year history of the Players.

“It’s tough enough to win one Players,” said Scheffler, whose final-round 64 tied for the lowest for a Players champion, joining Fred Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard in 1998 with his five-shot comeback. “So to have it back-to-back is extremely special.”

The Players, at long last, has a back-to-back winner for the first time. The two active PGA Tour events with the longest droughts without back-to-back winners are Colonial (Ben Hogan, 1952-53) and what's now called the Wyndham Championship (Sam Snead, 1955-56). — Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) March 17, 2024

The final round played out under glorious sunshine at the Pete Dye-designed masterpiece and turned into great theater on Sunday. Schauffele, the reigning Olympics champion, entered the final round with a one-stroke lead and remained in front with six holes to go thanks to a splendid short game. But he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 to drop two back. He bounced back with a birdie at 16 but missed a golden opportunity from 7 feet at 17. When his second shot at 18 flew 62 feet past the hole to the back ridge of the green, he placed his hands on his knees in disappointment as if he knew he’d let the title get away. Schauffele, who closed in 70, is winless the last six times he’s been in the final pairing.

“When I went to bed last night, it’s not exactly how I envisioned walking off the 18 th green,” Schauffele said.

Harman, the reigning British Open champion, rallied from an opening-round 72, and made four birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at No. 7 to join the fray. He closed to within one with a birdie at 15 but managed just pars on the closing three holes. His 17-foot birdie putt to force a playoff at 18 never had a chance and he closed in 68.

“I had my chances,” he said, “just didn’t cash in.”

Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, made bogey at 14 and fell to 17 under, but he added a birdie at 16 and stuffed his approach to 4 feet at 17 for another one. His 17-foot birdie putt at 18 was the last-ditch effort to force overtime and it caught the left lip and cruelly spun out the right side. Clark covered his mouth with his right hand in disbelief.

“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” said Clark, who shot 69. “It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”

Scheffler, who was warming up on the range in case of a playoff, heard a collective groan from the gallery that said it all. He won for the second straight week but this one was a pain in the neck – literally. On his second hole of his second round, he strained his neck while hitting a long iron that required two separate mid-round sessions with his personal physical therapist to continue and shot 69.

“I told my wife Friday night, I don’t see him playing this weekend,” said Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott. “His mobility was maybe 10 degrees.”

The 27-year-old Scheffler received treatment on his injury after the round, which also radiated pain to his right shoulder, and woke up the next day feeling a touch better. It hurt to finish his swing and he took one more club on most shots. As he put it, he “slapped it around,” somehow closing with four birdies in his final five holes on Saturday to stay in the trophy hunt.

“He found a way, which is what the great players do,” Scott said.

Scheffler said he felt “close to normal” on Sunday, though Scott isn’t buying it. On the range before the final round, Scheffler, who wore two strips of KP tape on the left side of his neck, asked Scott to check his alignment.

“When he opened up to hit the shot and looked at the shot, his hips opened up 20 degrees. He couldn’t turn his head (left),” Scott said. “I didn’t know how today would go. Adrenaline is a crazy thing.”

The juices were flowing when Scheffler holed out from 92 yards for eagle at the fourth hole. Scheffler clenched his fist, then slapped hands with Scott who flashed six fingers to Scheffler, noting it’s his sixth hole out of the season. Scheffler followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on 5. He caught fire around the turn making four birdies in a five-hole span beginning at No. 8.

“Maybe this could be our day,” Scott recalled thinking.

It didn’t hurt that Scheffler played bogey-free over his last 31 holes. At No. 11, Clark eyed the leaderboard for the first time all day and there was confirmation that Scheffler, who’d beaten him the week before too at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, had made his move. He chuckled and said, “Of course.”

Schauffele noticed the charge in front of him, too. “Just another week,” he said.

“He’s the best player in the world, and this is a championship golf course,” Harman said.

Indeed, Scheffler is going to be a pain in the neck to beat for some time. Scheffler splashed out of a pot bunker to a foot at 16 to set up his final birdie and reach 20 under, the lowest winning score at the Players since Greg Norman’s record 24 under aggregate in the 1994 Players.

Scheffler became the seventh man to win the Players multiple times, joining Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods. It marked Scheffler’s eighth wins in 26 months, and he’s got an iron-clad hold on world No. 1. But Scheffler isn’t the type to let any of it go to his head. He recalled that just last month he hit a tee shot at the Genesis Invitational and a fan yelled out, “Congrats on being No. 1 Scottie. Eleven more years to go.”

That’s all it will take to match Woods’s reign at the top of the mountain of men’s professional golf. He did note that he already matched Woods with two wins at the Players. After the trophy ceremony, Scheffler was prepping to take photos with his family and gripped the golden trophy loosely with one hand. His sister, Callie, offered to help him, but Scottie would hear none of it. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” he said.

He most definitely does – and for a second straight year.

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2024 Valspar Championship leaderboard, scores: Stewart Cink tied for Round 2 lead; Justin Thomas one off pace

Justin thomas is chasing and currently the favorite to win the event.

An unlikely co-leader rose to the top of the board at a Valspar Championship complete with Jordan Spieth adventures (more on that below), Justin Thomas ups and downs, and one of the more surprising missed cuts on the PGA Tour so far this season.

After 36 holes, 50-year-old Stewart Cink co-leads the event a 6 under after shooting a 4-under 67. He leads the field in approach play after two days and is looking for his first win on the PGA Tour since the 2021 RBC Heritage.

He'll have a few problems in the form a five-way tie at the top, as well as a bevy of younger horses just behind him, but a 50-year-old Cink winning the week after the Players Championship would be one of the more shocking (and compelling) golf stories of 2024 to date. 

Let's dive in on Friday's second round and what to expect over the next few days. 

The leaders

T1. Stewart Cink, Kevin Streelman, Chandler Phillips, Brendon Todd, Mackenzie Hughes (-6)

What a crew this is. Cink was actually 7 under with seven holes left in his day and looked like he might run it to 8 under or better, but he played the last seven in 1 over, including a bogey at the last that kept him from taking the outright lead. Still, this is a stunner. 

Cink has two top 10s in his last four starts ... but both of them were on PGA Tour Champions. He only has one top 10 on the PGA Tour -- a T7 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship -- since the start of the 2022-23 season. In a season of strange longshots winning PGA Tour tournaments, Cink might honestly be the strangest long shot that could do it.

His approach play has been exceptional, though. Even though his driver has been shaky (mostly because he's 133rd in the field in distance off the tee), he's crushing greens and is gaining nearly 3.0 strokes per round on approach shots alone. If that continues, we might actually get a 50-year-old champion this week at the Valspar.

"It feels great," said Cink. "Being in contention feels the same way no matter where you are, to be honest. Obviously, the field is a little different here at Valspar than it was the last time I teed it up at Cologuard in Tucson on the PGA Tour Champions. But it still feels the same, and I didn't have a very good finish there. I was ... to say in contention would be like understating it. I should have won the tournament, and I didn't finish it off. I had a little bit of a meltdown.

"So I'm just thrilled to be right back at the top of the leaderboard to test myself out again this week, because that's really what you want at the start of the year," he continued. "You want to get in contention as much as possible and let the chips fall. You start trying to control too many things out there, it doesn't work out in your favor. So, I get another chance to learn some really great lessons and maybe some hard lessons this week again."

Other contenders

T6. Ben Martin, Keith Mitchell, Lucas Glover, Peter Malnati, Seamus Power, Scott Stallings, Adam Svensson, Justin Thomas (-5)

Obviously, J.T. is the big name here at the 5-under group. He got it all the way to 7 under as well before dropping two shots at the par-3 13th hole on a water ball. Other than that shot -- which came up 25 yards short of the hole and in the water -- he's been hitting it quite well this week (he still gained strokes on approach play on Friday) and is poised to win his first event since the 2022 PGA Championship.

"Yeah, I think my finish on 18 kind of sums it up," said Thomas, who made bogey at the last to fall out of a tie for first. "I truly just feel like I completely lost my concentration and what was going on and just hit a terrible iron shot there. 

"Yeah, it was weird. I mean, I think we got very lucky with the weather," he continued. "I know those guys had a lot of wind this morning, we had some this afternoon, it just was very gusty and it made that back nine very challenging. But, yeah, I scrambled really well and I hit a lot of really, really quality golf shots. I picked a bad time to have the worst shot of the tournament so far, but I'm in a great place with two days left."

Presumably, the "worst shot of the tournament" was a reference to that shot on No. 13 that came up well short of the pin and the green. But J.T. scrambled well at other times and held a 2-under round together, in the instance below with one of the great flop shots you'll see.

It doesn't get much better than this. @JustinThomas34 showing off some brilliant touch around the greens. pic.twitter.com/8tuFnOjyLX — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 22, 2024

Sam Burns MC

Of course I picked Sam Burns in my one-and done this week, and of course he misses his first cut of the year at a place where he has traditionally thrived (and won multiple times). Of course. Burns' success so far this year had been terrific ... until this week.

Jordan Spieth adventures

🤌🤌🤌 pic.twitter.com/dCMlJPm1CH — Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) March 22, 2024

Spieth also missed the cut after a wild second day that included some interesting exploration. He shot 74 when even 73 would have helped him play the weekend. It certainly did not help him that the morning wave experienced a golf course that played a shot more difficult than it did in the afternoon.

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It hasn’t been easy for Jon Rahm. He’s one of the three best players in the world, but above all, he’s one of the biggest golf nerds and obsessives around. So since his massive move to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf league in December, he’s had to watch the PGA Tour events he carries such reverence for on TV. And that also meant not having a chance to defend his titles at the Sentry, the American Express, and the Genesis Invitational.

“I’m not going to lie,” Rahm said Tuesday, during a video conference with reporters. “For everybody who said this would be easy, some things have been, but not being able to defend some titles that mean a lot to me hasn’t.”

But the one event he will be able to defend is the most important, and The Masters is coming next month. Rahm, 29, won the tournament at Augusta National last year for his second career major and to jump back to No. 1 in the world. After four wins in three months, Rahm didn’t win again in 2023 and left for LIV at the end of the year.

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This year’s Masters will be his first event back against many of the top players in golf. It is an opportunity to remind the sport where he stands in the pecking order as current world No. 1 (since May 2023) Scottie Scheffler has gone on a dominant run to hold the top spot with back-to-back wins the last two weeks in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.

Rahm, the type to wake up early before his kids and rewatch old tournaments on YouTube, was watching Scheffler’s comeback win at the Players . And he of course nerded out discussing it, talking about how impressive Scheffler’s 20-under-par score was and why TPC Sawgrass is such a good test because the course requires complete balance and leaves players with no way to hide.

“I hope I get to tee it up at The Players again,” Rahm said. “It would be a bit of a sour taste if my last ever start at the Players was (a withdrawal) because I was sick.”

The Champions Dinner, served in honor of Mr. @JonRahmOfficial . #themasters pic.twitter.com/r9oalTrFtf — The Masters (@TheMasters) March 19, 2024

Missing PGA Tour events and playing against the best fields was a consistent theme in Rahm’s comments, although he steadily said he’s enjoyed LIV events, the team format and going to locations like Hong Kong. He joked that he knows Scheffler’s form and doesn’t need to tee up with him to inform his opinion. But he acknowledged the added relevance to majors over either tour’s events.

“I think that’s what’s making this Masters and many other majors going to be so much fun, not only for me and for players but for spectators, is for all of us to be able to play together again and showcase what we’re capable of,” he said.

Much like his European Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy, Rahm advocated for a union between the leagues. And like McIlroy, he used the parallel of the European soccer model with different national leagues but then the Champions League and Europa Leagues standing above all others and bringing the best clubs together.

“I think there’s a way of coexisting,” Rahm said, “and if there’s some type of union, I don’t know what that looks like, but again, I just want to be able to see the best in the world compete against the best in the world, whatever that looks like. I think there’s room for all of us, and there’s room for the game of golf to get to the next level and have more viewership options.”

Rahm led off his news conference by going into great detail on his menu for the Masters champions dinner, leaning on famous Spanish chef and friend José Andrés to co-create the menu an honoring Rahm’s Basque culture including tapas, spicy Basque chorizo and chuletón, “which is basically a ribeye that is seared on basically a regular grill with a bit of coal.” All of which can be served with some Txakoli wine.

In the lead-up to the Masters, Rahm said his game is in a really good place but not quite where it was last year. His preparation will be slightly different, since he didn’t play the week before last year’s Masters but will be playing in LIV’s Miami event from April 5-7.

“I think I counted, last year I had eight starts before the Masters,” he continued. “This year is going to be five. Last year I didn’t play the week before the Masters. This year I am. But I’ve done it in the past and done well. It’s hard to say what’s better or not. It’s a little different.”

Required reading

• Scottie Scheffler hurt his neck. What happened next proves that he’s now golf’s big star
• Can Jay Monahan actually bring the PGA Tour back together?
• ‘Full Swing’ review: Netflix’s golf series gets the big moments right

(Top photo of Jon Rahm: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)

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Brody Miller covers golf and the LSU Tigers for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A South Jersey native, Miller graduated from Indiana University before going on to stops at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Indianapolis Star, the Clarion Ledger and NOLA.com. Follow Brody on Twitter @ BrodyAMiller