Player of the Year and the softer side of Phil Mickelson

GM. This is Easy Pars. The golf newsletter that hopes you had a fantastic New Year — and are now ready for more pro golf!

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

• Scheffler wins 2023 POTY…

• Rory and Phil grow up?

• A tale of two LIV players (and how they celebrate holidays)

Scheffler wins a one-man race?

Imagine a player who had great stats all year, 4 wins on the PGA TOUR, including The Masters.

But there’s one problem. You joined a rival league for like a bajillion dollars.

Some are thinking the Player of the Year choice is a snub to Rahm, who had a phenomenal year on tour. Others think the decisions to go with Scottie over Rahm pushed Jon over the edge to sign the LIV deal.

Which do you think it was? Here are 3 options to consider.

Option one: PGA chose Scottie over Rahm

PGA: “While you, arguably had the better year, we’re giving the repeat POTY to Scheffy.”

Rahm:

Option two: The PGA got wind of the deal, influencing their decision

Was it more like the PGA heard about the negotiations going down and knew they weren’t going to have Rahm in 2024?

It would be really embarrassing for the 2023 POTY to be the newest recruit for the rival, right?

Option three: Scottie deserved to win back-to-back POTY

Look, Scheffler had a great year. Won twice, made nearly every cut, a ridiculous number of top 10s.

Maybe he earned it outright?

Opinion: We tend to think Rahm found out and that was the final straw. Why? Well, the 2024 LIV season is about to start and Rahm doesn’t have anything officially announced, team-wise.

Suggests to us that the decision may have been down to the wire. Obviously conjecture.

Now, it’s time to find out what you think. Which option:

They finally found the high road.

Both the PGA and LIV have each enjoyed a prominent person who doesn’t hold back their (often negative) feelings — Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson.

Their passive aggressive (and sometimes openly aggressive) rhetoric have made it into many of our own emails.

But now, they seem to have turned over a new leaf.

Rory spoke extensively on judging the players who jumped ship to LIV too harshly.

If you’ve been following along, since 2022 really, this is a tectonic shift of opinion for the Irishman.

But then, Phil, who's no stranger to saying what’s on his mind, followed this quote with his own olive branch banger.

2024 is a year to build bridges? We’ll see.

Cam and Brooks celebrate in wildly different ways

While Rory and Phil are taking a turn for the gentlemanly, the past couple of weeks aren’t without controversy.

So, over the Christmas/New Year season, Cam Smith got married (congratulations!).

A day later Brooks Koepka rang in the New Year in a much different way, with nearly explicit images of the event posted on the internet — of him and his wife.

You’ll have to check out Barstool’s Twitter/X to see the video.

Meme of the Day

😂😂

The PGA letting Rahm know they know like:

That’s all we have for the first issue of 2024! Today begins The Sentry and the official start of the 2024 PGA season.

We. Can’t. Wait.

And if you remember, our predictions for 2024 are already coming true! The PGA/PIF deal was indeed delayed.

We’ll be back early Monday with the Sentry results and other the other raucous golf higlights.

Later gator,

E.