Golfers to follow in 2023: DP World Tour player profiles

Hurly Long

Quick note: Could be close to the complete package by the end of the year

German golf remains firmly on the rise and Hurly Long could be the next young star to complete his emergence by winning on the DP World Tour in 2023.

He'll have to act fast if he's to hold off Marcel Schneider, older and more experienced, and there's talent from the Challenge Tour in Nick Bachem and Freddy Schott, both of whom are exciting. But it's Long who looks most ready to put the benefits of a year on the circuit to use and he's my European golfer to watch for the year ahead.

Many felt he'd be the best of the rookies in 2022, only for Yannik Paul to pip him thanks to his win in Mallorca. The hyper-competitive youngster, something no doubt passed down through his dad, Ted, a former professional turned coach, wanted to get the better of Paul in what had been their own private battle and will be keen to redress the balance as soon as he can in what's a massive year for young Europeans.

No doubt that will fuel him to bigger and better things in the months ahead and having finished 27th on the Race to Dubai, he's laid the foundations to be this year's Adrian Meronk and turn abundant promise into high-class results which, hopefully, include a breakthrough win.

The two are similar in terms of their games, being prodigious drivers of the ball. Long though doesn't have a glaring weakness, as Meronk did this time last year. If he had one, it was his approach play, but having lost strokes in eight tournaments from a run of nine during the spring, Long turned a corner, gaining strokes in 10 of his final 13 measured starts.

While this happened, his putting went the other way, but it's those irons which will determine whether he can kick on, and having produced two of his best displays across his final three starts, all signs point towards the young German having turned a weakness into a relative strength.

So far best known for holding the course record at Pebble Beach, which he achieved during a sparkling amateur career at Texas Tech, Long looks ready to go on and make a real name for himself in the months ahead.

Gavin Green

Quick note: One of the most explosive and talented players on the circuit

Turning 29 on December 28, Gavin Green is one of the more experienced players on the list having won the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2017, and first appeared on our screens some time before that.

Now, this former amateur star looks ready to fulfil his vast potential having played the best golf of his career over the closing months of 2022, even allowing for those exploits five years earlier. Runner-up in Prague and again in Portugal, he was a persistent threat thanks to a combination of long driving, some outstanding approach play (his wedges are borderline elite), and at times a red-hot putter.

Green's game simply doesn't have a weakness, not when it's firing, and there are clear indications that consistency has been added to his repertoire. That really does make him one of the most dangerous players on the DP World Tour, particularly under low-scoring conditions or at courses where he can reach for driver upon driver without fear of what could go wrong.

Adept in the wind as he demonstrated when fifth in Qatar, Green could pop up at any time and it's a shame the season ended when it did, as his turn appeared very close. Don't be at all surprised if he muscles in on a big-money event early in the year, nor if he's a winner at last by the end of it.

Niklas Norgaard Moller

Quick note: Very close to completing the jigsaw; Al Hamra a likely opportunity early in the year

Danish golf continues to punch well above its weight and it'll be fascinating to see how John Axelsen and Christoffer Bring get on in 2023, just as it will to discover which, if either, or indeed both of the Hojgaard twins can make the Ryder Cup side in Rome.

Niklas Norgaard Moller is unlikely to play his way into contention there but it's not out of the question, and at the very least this freakishly long driver of a ball should continue to climb the ladder after a solid but unspectacular debut campaign saw him narrowly keep hold of his playing rights.

Seventh place in the lucrative Dunhill Links ultimately made all the difference and it was impressive the way he stuck to his task there, having managed a best of 10th on two occasions earlier in the year. That means he was a frustrating one to follow, only once hitting the each-way money, but a look at his stats suggests that really ought to change over the coming months.

Moller's power can result in the odd big miss and we saw him completely unravel on the 36th hole of the Made in HimmerLand, missing the cut with a closing 10, but come the end of the year things really did look to be coming together.

Five of his final six driving displays were outstanding and, like so many a modern golfer, he married brazen power with red-hot putting when bagging that big cheque in Scotland.

As is often the case with players whose swing speed is so high, and who are hitting so many wedges, Moller's approach numbers show us where improvement is needed. But there was some promise there, too, and as he continues to mature as a golfer I expect to see him play in the final few groups on a Sunday in the near future.

Tom McKibbin

Quick note: Seems to cope well with lofty expectations which are fully merited, whether from Holywood or not

Having played out of the same Holywood Golf Club as Rory McIlroy and taken the decision to turn pro in his teens, Tom McKibbin has long been a player with plenty to live up to – he was just 13 when featuring in a Guardian article drawing comparisons between the two. And yet that burden does not seem to have hurt him one bit in what's been a seamless transition to the professional ranks.

A high-class amateur who won various elite titles as a junior golfer and would've had his choice of US colleges had he decided to go down that route, McKibbin has instead breezed through his maiden Challenge Tour campaign with seven top-10 finishes, even finding time to add another on the DP World Tour at his new home course Galgorm Castle along the way.

Since getting his full status for the first time he's made it count, playing four events, making four cuts, securing three top-20s, and his first hole-in-one at this level. It seems everything he touches turns to gold and it's no wonder someone like Padraig Harrington is happy to further raise the bar of expectation by declaring him a likely winner in the very near future.

At some stage there will be bumps in the road, but the thin-framed youngster gives the ball an almighty wallop, he hits a lot of greens, he's tidy around them, he putts well and, crucially, he's wiser than his years. Comparisons with Rory will continue, but I prefer to draw a line to Matt Fitzpatrick, who was similarly promising in his early DP World Tour starts and had won by the end of his first season. Watch this space.

Richard Mansell

Quick note: Will have learned a lot in 2022 and Hero Cup is a fine way to begin the new year

No such list would be complete without Richard Mansell, surely the most promising English player who hasn't yet won a DP World Tour event and one who has recently been added to the Hero Cup line-up.

He's come close, notably when leading the Dunhill Links by four only to shoot 76 on Sunday, the very first time he'd held the lead in any high-level professional tour event. In the circumstances, with Ryan Fox and Alex Noren nipping at his heels, it's easy to excuse a round that unravelled during the front nine.

Mansell will learn from that and while outside the top 10 in four subsequent starts, a third-round 61 in Mallorca offers further proof of his talent, and the fact that his previously questionable putting appears to have improved.

All told, Mansell managed six top-10 finishes in 2022, despite beginning the campaign with limited status, and he now heads into what's really his first full season with the benefit of experience behind him. In that way he's even more reminiscent of Meronk than Long is, and he's a similarly excellent driver who should have more chances to get off the mark in the months ahead.

Two top-10s in two starts in the Dutch Open mark that one as an ideal opportunity and evidence along with the Dunhill Links of his versatility, but really he's an ideal type for a parkland test where his ball-striking isn't hostage to fortune.

Might he succeed Meronk in Ireland and claim some big scalps in doing so? And might he yet become an outside contender for the Ryder Cup?

Julien Brun

Quick note: Might struggle when driver is key, but every other aspect of his game is of a very high standard

It's easy to make a list like this all about potential world-beaters but I reckon Julien Brun is at the beginning of a long and distinguished career in Europe, where his solid, adaptable, all-round game will make him a persistent threat.

Brun showed as much during a consistent rookie season which ended with him just outside the top 30 in strokes-gained total, his lower ranking on the Race to Dubai down to the fact he didn't quite convert good golf into big cheques, two poor Sundays in particular costing him plenty of pounds and points.

Expect him to do better as he gets more comfortable as while he turned 30 back in the spring, he is still lacking in experience having spent some time in the wilderness, rediscovering the game that made him the best French amateur in the sport a decade ago.

Brun got his second taste of final-round contention when finishing third in Mauritius and didn't do a great deal wrong during that Sunday alongside proven winner Antoine Rozner, on what was his first appearance in 10 weeks.

There's plenty more to come in 2023, especially on shorter, more technical courses where his crisp iron play and sharp short-game can make up for the fact that driver is his weakest club.

Marcel Schneider

Quick note: On course to establishing himself as one of the most complete, reliable players in Europe

If Brun is looking for a blueprint to follow then it can be found in the shape of Marcel Schneider, who came into his own this year at the age of 32.

Schneider has for a long time looked that bit too good for the Challenge Tour but when he returned to the DP World Tour with six missed cuts from his first six starts, it appeared as though he would confirm himself to be in limbo, too good for one but not good enough for the other.

That couldn't be further from the truth and he's proven it with 14 top-30 finishes from May to November, during which time he never once finished between 31st and last of those who made the cut: he was either gone by the weekend, or able to ensure a high finish, and that's a great quality to have.

Schneider signed off the season with 34th place in the high-class DP World Tour Championship and having marked himself down as a genuine class act, ranking 11th in strokes-gained total – that's one place behind Min Woo Lee, one ahead of Victor Perez.

Having gained strokes in each and every department, his approach play improving notably throughout the summer months, Schneider looks set to continue his progress in 2023. So far it's been quiet, but the numbers say he's one of the best players in Europe now, and that means making some noise.

Kristian Krogh Johannessen

Quick note: Sophomore with so much talent; surprise package in Italy perhaps?

Before Viktor Hovland came along, Kristian Krogh Johannessen was the bright young thing in Norwegian men's golf, and at 27 he remains a player of serious potential – one who should be ready to go and contend in 2023.

Johannessen has already shown he can compete on the DP World Tour, finishing third in Denmark back in September, and while his 2019 rookie campaign wasn't what he'd hoped for, he still showed promise when leading in Spain and contending in Germany.

Down on the Challenge Tour in the interim, he's been a model of consistency, winning this year in Italy in the middle of a 10-event stretch of top-30 finishes, before that step up in Denmark. After that he was on the fringes at Wentworth, too, and while his putter has done much of the work, every part of his game has fired at some stage.

Three cuts made from three starts to begin the new campaign sets him up nicely and the only caveat in terms of early expectations is that he's seriously lacking experience in the Middle East and Asia. Perhaps then we'll have to wait for a return to Europe to see the best of a player who ranks towards the top of this list in terms of pure ability and has bags of scope to improve.

Tapio Pulkkanen

Quick note: The more drivers the better and a big threat under resort conditions

Wherever Gavin Green went in 2022, Tapio Pulkkanen was close behind, and that speaks to the fact that here we have another player who relishes the opportunity to thrash his driver without fear of reprisal.

Pulkkanen, again like Green, began to add consistency to his list of capabilities towards the end of the campaign, with six top-30 finishes in his last 10 starts, a run which included finishing third in both Prague and Portugal, each time just behind Green.

That he was able to hang around in the Open de France and the Made in HimmerLand, played at courses where driver often has to stay in the bag, suggests Pulkkanen is developing into a more rounded player and he's certainly one who has had enough looks now, having been inside the top five entering the final round five times since last May.

In Portugal his closing 64 was never going to be enough behind a runaway winner and he did stumble a little both in the Middle East and when blowing a good chance to win the 2021 Czech Masters, but the quiet Finn is learning all the time and is one to remain interested in at courses like Albatros and Al Hamra, where driver is a must.

He could pop up in good company too, perhaps in Dubai or in May's Italian Open, but the very best opportunities come at the places where he's shown his hand already. Don't be afraid to back him at shorter prices returned to those favourite haunts but also consider both events in Germany in June, while I've a sneaky feeling he would go well in the Barbasol if failing to qualify for the Scottish Open.

Freddy Schott

Quick note: In among a strong group of German talent, he might be the real diamond long-term

It's admittedly still very early days for Freddy Schott, a 21-year-old who began the year without full Challenge Tour status and ended it with a DP World Tour card in his pocket.

A winner in Denmark during what was a golden summer, he slipped down from first to ninth place on the Road to Mallorca as a stressful year seemingly caught up with him. Perhaps then it's little wonder that three starts on the big tour have so far yielded very little, and he'll start almost from scratch when returning to action in 2023.

That means the first target is to keep his card and there's absolutely no guarantee that he will, but this powerful youngster has both the talent and mentality to climb to the top of a promising wave of young German players, even if the likes of Long and Paul set the bar high.

Note that he shares a performance coach with Marcel Siem, who has spoken very highly of Schott, and the impression I get is that this is the young German player who many hope will emerge as the heir to fellow Düsseldorfer Martin Kaymer's throne.

Nick Bachem

Quick note: One to follow for the first-round lead on easier set-ups

Schott and Nick Bachem are good friends and the latter also merits inclusion on this list. I selected both as players to follow in 2022 and while Bachem didn't quite manage to get his card through the Challenge Tour, he made no mistake at Q School to ensure he'll join Schott on the main circuit as another big-hitting talent with boundless potential.

Bachem was a three-time winner on the Pro Golf Tour before turning professional in 2021 and was at the top of the tree in terms of German amateurs before doing so. He's since shown himself to be capable of exceptional scoring, winning a low-key 54-hole event in 27-under back at the start of the year, although it wasn't a big surprise that he proved just that bit too volatile to get his card via the second-tier circuit.

Instead, he produced a remarkable display at Q School, where he shot 76 in round one but responded with rounds of 61, 69, 65, 68 and 66 to finish sixth. To put that into context, nobody who shot 77 or higher so much as made the cut in Spain, and there were only two other rounds of 61 all week, in a massive field and over six rounds.

It'll be difficult to earn enough points to keep his card from a Q School category and much will depend on making his big weeks pay. It was therefore a shame that he was unable to build on the round of 64 which marked the beginning of his DP World Tour career in Joburg, but that surely won't be the last time we see him threaten the first-round lead.

Ryo Hisatsune

Quick note: Rapid progress has been impressive and already a probable contender aged 20

A late addition to the list, Ryo Hisatsune earned his spot with a comfortable week at Qualifying School before immediately making an impact on the DP World Tour, such that he's currently ninth on the Race to Dubai.

Second to runaway winner Cameron Smith in the Australian PGA Championship, Hisatsune went the other way on Sunday when mid-pack in the Australian Open, then played well at the weekend for 27th at Leopard Creek. After that jet-setting introduction, perhaps it's little wonder that he was caught out in the wind of Mauritius as his year ended on a low note.

Hisatsune is only 20, as a good but unspectacular junior career was given up in pursuit of the pro tours, and his rise through the grades has been rapid. Wins on the feeder tour in Japan came easily – three in three months last year – and he's enjoyed a fine first campaign on the main circuit, ranking second in greens and 10th in scoring and doing everything but win along the way.

There's likely to be a bump or two in the road given the speed of his ascent, and it's possible we look back in a year at a player who would've benefited from an extra 12 months on the Japan Tour, but given his age and his achievements he has to go down as one of the most promising players on the circuit already.

The aforementioned Bring and Axelsen finished alongside Hisatsune at Q School and could so easily have made the list, but the Japanese is the one whose transition was smoothest and that bodes well ahead of 2023.

Marcus Helligkilde

Quick note: Take two should go better granted clean bill of health this year

Winner of the 2021 Challenge Tour Grand Final, Marcus Helligkilde had to wait until July for his first top-10 finish of a DP World Tour member, and that came over on the PGA Tour in the co-sanctioned Barbasol Championship.

Helligkilde had revealed at the start of May that persistent back and shoulder pain had been the reason for his slow start and after wisely taking time out to undergo treatment, he returned to keep hold of his status, sealing his card for 2023 when making it three top-10s in seven events in finishing eighth on home soil.

Three missed cuts in five to finish the season come with caveats, as two were big-money, strong-field events and the other was at Valderrama, and there were more good signs during a mid-pack finish at the Portugal Masters before an extended winter break.

Expect Helligkilde to improve in 2023, his power-packed driving and tidy short-game somewhat reminiscent of compatriot Moller, meaning that he too will need to make strides with his irons if he's to stick around at this level in the long-run.

Short-term, that blend of power and bursts of hot putting make for an ideal player to follow, one who will suffer enough bad weeks to ensure big prices, but has the tools required to do real damage when everything clicks.

Santiago Tarrio

Quick note: Short, technical courses will bring out the best in this old-school ball-striker

Some will have been disappointed with Santiago Tarrio's 2022 campaign, given that he'd enjoyed such a strong 2021 on the Challenge Tour and shown himself capable of contending at this level along the way.

Ranking 81st in SG: total and 88th on the Race to Dubai, his was the epitome of solid, unspectacular golf, seldom featuring towards the very top of the leaderboard, but ultimately keeping his card with the minimum of fuss.

Why then does he make this list? Because I think the season he's just had is in keeping with his profile, one of patience and sacrifice as he stepped away from the sport in his late-teens to earn the money he needed to pursue his career in the long-term. Tarrio has had to do things the hard way and I suspect he'll draw great encouragement, and learn the lessons he needs to learn, after what was a good year all things considered.

It's also encouraging that he did all this without the help of his putter, in the process marking himself out as a very specific type of golfer: accurate off the tee but unable to overpower a course, and a deadly iron player who can perform miracles with a wedge. To oversimplify things a little, he's Adrian Otaegui without yet having cracked it on the greens.

I don't expect him to show up often, but give Tarrio a short, technical course and happen across a good week with the putter, and you could land yourself a winner at a big price. More so than most, I feel comfortable profiling him and that should mean we're able to pick and choose our moments rather than forecast a high finish on the Race to Dubai, which might remain out of reach given his skillset.

Instead, it's eyes out for Kenya should he travel there in March, and if not we might have to be patient and wait for summer when there are several courses which could well suit. Patience has been the name of the game for Tarrio and it could be rewarded in 2023.

Gary Hurley

Quick note: Looks one of those players who will just take to life on the DP World Tour

He'll turn 30 in January and the slow-burning Gary Hurley might just make it a year to remember by building on a fine start to life on the DP World Tour.

Rewind to his 29th birthday and Hurley was without Challenge Tour status, instead confined to the satellite Alps Tour circuit where he made solid progress before winning in Spain. That guaranteed his Challenge Tour card for the following year but he won't need it now, having gone off to Qualifying School and earned full status on the DP World Tour.

Given that he's spent most of the last five years missing cuts on the Challenge Tour, you might expect him to struggle badly at the higher level, but I'm not so sure. From the lowest of lows, during which time he considered quitting, this former Walker Cup player has rebuilt his game and now looks capable of fulfilling his potential, in turn offering a reminder that there's no one path to success in professional golf.

Finishes of 35th, 32nd and 14th in his three starts so far mean he's got money in the bank for the year ahead and while all came in pretty weak company, I see them as proof that he's really found his feet as a golfer. Given his top-50 pedigree as an amateur, perhaps he's a player who will prove particularly well suited to the DP World Tour grind, and already we've seen that he can compete at a good level.