The 2023 PGA Tour golf season was the 108th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the 55th season since separating from the PGA of America, and the 17th edition of the FedEx Cup. The season featured 54 official events, including four major championships, four World Golf Championships, and the Ryder Cup. The season also marked the final year of the wraparound format, as the tour returned to a traditional calendar-year format in 2024.
The season began on September 15, 2022, with the Fortinet Championship in California, where Max Homa claimed his fifth PGA Tour title with a two-shot victory over Jon Rahm. The season ended on November 19, 2023, with the Tour Championship in Georgia, where Viktor Hovland won the FedEx Cup and the $15 million bonus with a three-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler.
Some of the highlights of the season were:
Jon Rahm won four times, including his second major championship at the U.S. Open, where he birdied the last two holes to edge out Louis Oosthuizen by one stroke. Rahm also won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the Memorial Tournament, and the BMW Championship. He became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 to win four PGA Tour events in a season.
Rory McIlroy ended a two-year winless drought with a one-shot victory over Collin Morikawa at the CJ Cup in South Carolina. McIlroy also won the Masters Tournament, completing the career grand slam, and the WGC-HSBC Champions in China, becoming the first player to win all four World Golf Championships.
Keegan Bradley won his fifth PGA Tour title and his first since 2018 at the Zozo Championship in Japan, where he held off Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im by one stroke. Bradley also finished runner-up at the PGA Championship, where Phil Mickelson became the oldest major champion in history at age 51.
Cameron Smith won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, setting a PGA Tour record for the lowest 72-hole score at 34-under-par. Smith also won the Genesis Invitational in California, where he beat Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay in a playoff.
Tom Kim, a 23-year-old rookie from South Korea, won his first two PGA Tour titles at the Shriners Children’s Open in Nevada and the RBC Heritage in South Carolina. Kim also qualified for the Ryder Cup, where he partnered with Sungjae Im to win three points for the International team.
Viktor Hovland won his first major championship at the Open Championship, where he shot a final-round 65 to beat Dustin Johnson by two strokes. Hovland also won the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where he defended his title from 2022, and the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Scottie Scheffler won his first PGA Tour title at the Players Championship, where he beat Jon Rahm by one stroke with a birdie on the 18th hole. Scheffler also finished second in the FedEx Cup standings, earning $5 million, and was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
The season also saw some controversies and challenges, such as:
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect the tour, forcing some events to be canceled, postponed, or relocated. The most notable changes were the Ryder Cup being moved from September 2022 to April 2023, and the Olympic Games being moved from July 2022 to October 2023.
The emergence of LIV Golf, a rival tour backed by the Saudi Arabian government, caused some tension and uncertainty among the players and the PGA Tour. Some players, such as Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, and Sergio Garcia, joined LIV Golf but did not resign their PGA Tour membership, while others, such as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Xander Schauffele, declined the lucrative offers from LIV Golf. The PGA Tour initially threatened to ban or penalize the players who joined LIV Golf, but later reached an agreement with the Public Investment Fund and the European Tour to create a new entity to serve the best interests of each entity.
The PGA Tour announced record prize money for the 2023 season, with increased purses for elevated events, such as the Players Championship, the Genesis Invitational, and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The tour also reduced the number of players competing in the FedEx Cup playoffs from 125 to 70, making it more competitive and rewarding for the top performers.