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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BLAINE, MINNESOTA – JULY 07: Matthew Wolff of the United States poses for a photo with the trophy after winning the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities on July 07, 2019 in Blaine, Minnesota. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
BLAINE, MINNESOTA – JULY 07: Matthew Wolff of the United States poses for a photo with the trophy after winning the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities on July 07, 2019 in Blaine, Minnesota. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

4. The young guns take over

The PGA Tour got a good look at the next generation of star players near the end of the 2019 season.

At the beginning of the season, Matthew Wolff, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland were all still in college. By the end of the year, Wolff and Morikawa were PGA Tour champions while Hovland was earning his card for 2020.

Wolff was the NCAA champion at Oklahoma State this year before turning pro and taking his rather unique swing to the PGA Tour. He made an immediate impact, winning the 3M Open in July in just his fourth career start. Morikawa finished a shot behind in second place, but the Pac-12 champion from Cal-Berkeley wouldn’t have to wait long to join Wolff in the winner’s circle. He won the Barracuda Championship three weeks later in his eighth career PGA Tour start.

Hovland, meanwhile, turned pro coming off shooting the lowest score by an amateur in U.S. Open history at Pebble Beach, the same course he won the U.S. Amateur the previous summer. While he didn’t win a tournament, the Norwegian finished in the top-20 in his last four events, including his first top 10 finish at the Wyndham Championship in August. Since he turned pro, Hovland had a better strokes gained: off the tee mark than Rory McIlroy and trailed only Adam Scott in strokes gained: approach.

Wolff and Morikawa earned a two-year exemption on tour with their wins, while Hovland earned his card through the Korn Ferry Tour finals. Hovland admits that seeing his college teammate Wolff and Morikawa succeed gave him extra motivation to join them on tour.

“It definitely helps,” he said before the start of the Greenbrier this week. “Seeing them perform so well and knowing that I have played well against them and beaten them a couple of times as well. So that just gave me a little bit more confidence knowing that, okay, it’s a little scary thing playing on the PGA Tour, playing against the best in the world. But if we’re playing good, it’s good enough.”

Wolff and Morikawa qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs, with Morikawa reaching the second week before finishing in 59th. All of them still have their entire career in front of them; of the three, Morikawa is the oldest at 22. The PGA Tour will be seeing a lot of these three players in 2020 and beyond.

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