2021-2022 PGA Tour Season Preview
It was an incredible 2020-2021 PGA Tour season capped off by 6 major tournaments, the fields on average were stronger than in past years as players loaded up their schedules more than usual with the threat of COVID-19 always looming and threatening to shut down play at any given time, we saw a bunch of first-time champs, the young stars showed us what we have to look forward to in the future, and Patrick Cantlay ended up winning the FedEx Cup for the first time thanks to four wins including the final two playoff events.
Today we will take a look into what the 2021-2022 PGA Tour season holds for us rabid golf fanatics, and the swing season gets underway on September 16th, so get ready for more fantasy golf and tournament action very soon.
Interesting tournaments on the schedule
- Canadian Open – I have gone to a bunch of Canadian Opens in the past and have always enjoyed taking in live golf events, but unfortunately with the pandemic sticking its nose into everything and Canadian restrictions being so tight, the PGA Tour had to cancel both the 2020 and the 2021 editions. Rory McIlroy won in 2019 and was looking forward to defending his championship in 2020, but now he will have to wait until 2022 to do so. St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto will host next year’s tournament for the first time since Carl Pettersson won there in 2010.
- Ryder Cup – Okay, so it’s not an official tournament of the PGA Tour, but it’s one of the most exciting golf events as Team United States takes on Team Europe every two years, but unfortunately, the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. We will have it back later this month at the Whistling Straights – Straights Course in Haven, Wisconsin, and it will be amazing to see. Team Europe won in 2018 and has won the last four of five events dating back to 2010.
- ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP – We got to take in this tournament last Fall, but it had to be relocated from Japan to Thousand Oaks, California, due to pandemic travel restrictions. Patrick Cantlay will get the opportunity to defend his title at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan.
- Hero World Challenge – Tiger Woods hosts this tiny yet elite field event – one that was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, it will be played in December at the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas for the sixth straight time.
- Masters Tournament – We were completely spoiled last season with not one but two Masters since the April 2020 one was canceled and then pushed back to November where Dustin Johnson won – the next one happened in April of this year as it usually does with Hideki Matsuyama winning. We will “only” get four major tournaments for this new, upcoming season, and the Masters will be played in April 2022.
- PGA Championship – Phil Mickelson completely surprised us all by winning last season’s PGA Championship to earn his second PGA Championship win at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. 2022’s tournament will be played in May 2022 at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, its first time playing host since Tiger Woods won the tournament there in 2007.
- U.S. Open – We had two U.S. Open tournaments last season – Bryson DeChambeau won the September one at the Winged Foot Golf Club and Jon Rahm took the June event at the Torrey Pines – South Course. The 2022 U.S. Open will be contested at The Country Club in Massachusetts next June.
- The Open Championship – The final major for the 2021-2022 season will be The Open Championship and it will be played at St.Andrews Links – Old Course in Scotland in July of 2022. Collin Morikawa won this tournament this past July in England when it was hosted at the Royal St. George’s Golf Club.
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Intriguing storylines heading into the 2021-2022 season
- Will Tiger Woods make a return? He got into a serious vehicle accident earlier in 2021 and was lucky to have survived. He was in bad condition but fortunately is making progress in his recovery – whether or not he will play next season is anybody’s guess at this point, but never count Tiger out.
- Will we see a new world’s #1 ranked golfer? Jon Rahm overtook Dustin Johnson twice as the world’s top-ranked golfer during the 2020-2021 season and remains there now. It will be interesting to see if DJ, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, or another player claims the top spot next season.
- How many first-time winners will next season bring? We saw ten first-time champs on the PGA Tour last season – the record came in 2002 when 18 golfers won their first tournament. With so many impressive golfers shooting up the ranks from the European Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour, we could see more than ten next season – Will Zalatoris comes to mind as a player who could hoist his first trophy.
- Who will the major champs be? We typically see the best players on the PGA Tour win the major tournaments – last season saw Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, and Collin Morikawa win them. It was wonderful to see Matsuyama, DeChambeau, Rahm, and Morikawa all win their first majors, it was shocking and exciting to see Mickelson win yet another one, and DJ won “just” his second major.
- Who will win the FedEx Cup? Patrick Cantlay came on strong to win the FedEx Cup last season thanks to taking the BMW Championship and he won the Tour Championship by a stroke over Jon Rahm after starting four strokes ahead of him. Rory McIlroy has won the FedEx Cup twice and so has Tiger Woods – it’s possible we will see Rory win it again for the third time, and there are several outstanding players who could win for the second time including Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, and Jordan Spieth. I’ll predict that Jon Rahm wins it for his first time next season, but it’s wide open with many superb players in the mix.
- Will COVID-19 rear its ugly head again? 2020 saw a bunch of events either get completely canceled or pushed back – from March to June we saw little to no golf and let’s hope that doesn’t happen again. Things have been stable for the last year or so, but we have seen golfers pull out of events before and during tournaments – none more notable than Jon Rahm having to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament in round 3 after leading it and looking to be in full control to win. Cases are climbing in a hurry once again in the U.S. and around the world, and it could impact what happens in the world of golf – stay tuned.
Players who earned their PGA Tour membership cards for the 2021-2022 season
- Stephan Jaeger
- Mito Pereira
- Chad Ramey
- Taylor Pendrith
- Greyson Sigg
- Davis Riley
- Jared Wolfe
- Will Zalatoris
- Lee Hodges
- Adam Svensson
- David Lipsky
- Brandon Wu
- Max McGreevy
- Paul Barjon
- Andrew Novak
- Dylan Wu
- Seth Reeves
- Cameron Young
- Nicky Hardy
- Curtis Thompson
- David Skinns
- Ben Kohles
- Brett Drewitt
- Austin Smotherman
- Joseph Bramlett
- Trey Mullinax
- Aaron Rai
- Bronson Burgoon
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout
- J.J. Spaun
- Hayden Buckley
- Sahith Theegala
- Matthias Schwab
- Vincent Whaley
- John Huh
- Alex Smalley
- Joshua Creel
- Lucas Herbert
- Callum Tarren
- Scott Gutschewski
- Dawie van der Walt
- Kelly Kraft
- Michael Gligic
- Patrick Rodgers
- Kiradech Aphibarnrat
- Austin Cook
- Kurt Kitayama
- Peter Uihlein
- Justin Lower
4 stand out players who lost their PGA Tour membership cards
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Ryan Moore – Can use a one-time exemption for next season if he exercises it
- Jason Dufner
- Byeong Hun An
The 2021-2022 PGA Tour season is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited about it from a viewership, fantasy, and betting perspective. Almost every other sporting league takes a few months off between seasons, but the PGA Tour pretty much plays around each calendar year now which is amazing for the players and the fans. Be sure to watch out for my DFS golf and betting articles starting next week, and thanks for reading!
