Fansided

5 storylines to watch in the 2020 PGA Tour season

By David Salituro

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 18: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the fifth tee during the final round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 18, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
MEDINAH, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 18: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the fifth tee during the final round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 18, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland look on from the eighth tee during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 25: Brooks Koepka of the United States and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland look on from the eighth tee during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 25, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

2. The budding Rory-Koepka rivalry

His fellow PGA Tour players gave Brooks Koepka a gift on Wednesday. No, they didn’t vote him as the PGA Tour Player of the Year. That honor went to Rory McIlroy.

But for Koepka, who turns every slight into a chip on his broad shoulders, not winning the award could prove to be a godsend. It will make him mad, which it should, and when he’s mad, he’s proven to be unbeatable.

Koepka saves his best golf for the majors. In 2019, he became only the fourth player in history to finish inside the top-four in every major, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. He won the PGA Championship for the second straight year, was runner-up at the Masters and U.S. Open, and was fourth at the Open Championship. In regular tour events, though, Koepka was less than stellar. In his last five non-major events, four times he was outside the top-20.

McIlroy, meanwhile, had a terrific season in every event except the majors. He made the top 10 in 14 of 19 events he played. He led the PGA Tour in strokes gained: off the tee and tee-to-green. His total strokes gained was the fourth-highest of the ShotLink era and the best since Tiger Woods in 2009. He won three events, the same as Koepka, including the Players Championship and the season-ending Tour Championship.

In the majors, however, McIlroy had a disappointing 21st-place finish at the Masters, barely finished in the top-10 at the PGA and U.S. Open, and missed the cut at home in the Open Championship. The difference in major results between the two was a big reason why Koepka was expected to win player of the year.

The close race between the two is just the beginning of what could become the next great rivalry on tour. McIlroy and Koepka faced off twice this year in the final group on Sunday, with Koepka winning the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in July before McIlroy won the FedEx Cup at East Lake. Both are in the prime of their careers. It’s the sort of head-to-head rivalry that golf fans expected from Woods and Phil Mickelson, without the need for a contrived, made-for-TV match. And if Koepka uses the slight of not winning player of the year as motivation in 2020, so much the better.

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