Golfers to follow in 2023: PGA Tour player profiles

The equivalent DP World Tour piece was in some ways easier than this one to write, in others more difficult. Why? Because there is so much more depth to the PGA Tour, so much more we know about the players thanks to websites like Fantasy National, DataGolf, and the PGA Tour's own.

And while that means trawling through amateur form books and Instagram accounts isn't necessary, it also makes it hard to offer something insightful.

Last year, what would we have said about Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris? The best maidens on the PGA Tour? Undoubtedly. Likely winners in the season ahead? Absolutely, and it would've been fatuous to overlook them out of fear of stating the obvious in a piece designed to identify exactly those characteristics.

As we prepare for the resumption of the 2023 season, a similar predicament has to reach the same conclusion: this piece will have to begin with a few words on the best maidens on the circuit, all of whom you're likely to know plenty of already. The next handful who follow are hardly off the radar of week-to-week golf punters, either.

In a bid to add a little something more, I'll therefore break from the remit of this feature – to identify potential winners among those yet to have done so – to add three players who for varying reasons appear well set to make hay in the months ahead. First, though, to those who smack you in the face.

The 'inevitables'

Cameron Young

Voted Rookie of the Year by his peers and in landslide fashion, Cameron Young did everything but win in his rookie season. Five runner-up finishes tied the most of any player in 40 years, and they included the Open Championship plus February's Genesis Invitational at Riviera, one of the strongest PGA Tour events of the season.

Second in strokes-gained off-the-tee (and, relatedly, third in distance), it's clear where Young's chief strength lies, and already we have to rank him one of the top four or five drivers of a ball in men's golf. With a neat short-game and flashes of world-class approach play, the basic rule is already established: when he putts well, he plays well.

Inconsistencies in that department are likely to remain but Young, who deservedly earned a Presidents Cup debut in September, isn't far off being the complete modern golfer and at 25, he has plenty of scope to keep on improving. LIV Golf rumours probably won't go away but providing he remains on the PGA Tour, chances are he'll be shedding that maiden tag soon enough.

Sahith Theegala

While Young went about things in an understated way, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but talking with the press at times, Sahith Theegala became a fan and media favourite with his own series of near-misses, not least when a little unfortunate in the Phoenix Open.

Also close to winning the Travelers, where this time he and his caddie were more to blame for a mishap on the 18th hole, Theegala can't have been far away from Presidents Cup inclusion himself, and with fifth place in Japan and second in the RSM Classic to his name, he's already more than halfway to last season's top-10s total, and that's without mentioning a welcome win in the QBE Shootout alongside Tom Hoge.

Although less consistent than Young, certainly in the long-game department where his driver occasionally goes missing, Theegala missed just two solo cuts from Sawgrass through to East Lake and will make his Masters debut in the spring, where he's sure to enjoy plenty more support at the type of classical course he really seems to relish. A big run at a big price wouldn't surprise me.

Davis Riley

I'm loathe to label players as 'frustrating', especially ones so young, as everyone's experiences are different. If you backed Davis Riley at a huge price when he finished second in the Valspar, chances are you're more inclined to take a favourable view of this enormous talent who went on to enjoy a golden spring before a less impressive end to summer.

Following seven top-15 finishes in a run of nine from March to May, including that opportunity in Florida and another missed in Texas, Riley has undoubtedly gone a little quiet and there's cause for concern off the tee, where he's put in a couple of shocking displays since the new season began in September.

However, this textbook swinger of a club does everything really well on his day (he produced a top-three performance in each key statistical category at some stage during his debut season) and it's arguably a sign of how well he's progressing that six cheques in seven appearances since the new one began goes down as underwhelming.

My message is that while Young sets the bar high among this group of players, Riley, perhaps even more so than Theegala, looks like he'll close the gap in time. He has so much potential and when the penny drops, comparisons with Justin Thomas will seem entirely appropriate.

Denny McCarthy

As a soon-to-be 30-year-old who relies heavily on his putting, Denny McCarthy wouldn't necessarily be a natural fit into any such list of mine. Long-term success is driven more by the long-game than the short, and having been the best putter around for some time now, only twice has he ended a PGA Tour event three shots off the winner. Both instances saw him fly home from off the pace, and never has he finished closer.

That speaks to a player who has flattered to deceive and one whose ball-striking just isn't quite good enough under the gun. Last season, McCarthy ranked a career-best 31st in strokes-gained total, but he was the 146th best driver and 131st best iron player on the circuit. Those numbers don't usually get it done, and the good putters who don't do much else tend not to last.

All that being said, he looks to be improving, 2022 was undoubtedly his best season, and under the right circumstances he really ought to be a threat. Perhaps such circumstances will arrive for him and for punters in the Honda Classic, where he was third in 2021 but could still go off at a big price if suffering a poor west coast swing on greens which tie one hand behind his back.

Taylor Pendrith

Though less experienced, despite having played Presidents Cup golf in September, Taylor Pendrith is something of the anti-McCarthy: a late bloomer (he's 31) whose prodigious driving and relentless ability to hit greens has been undermined by iffy wedge play and problems with putter in hand.

Still, he did superbly to earn that wild card selection given that he missed a chunk of his long-awaited rookie season through injury, and it only took a decent week on the greens for him to be the one asking questions of a red-hot Tony Finau in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Pendrith was second.

As you might expect for a Canadian, those good putting weeks seem most likely to come on bentgrass and the middle of summer should be the best time to catch him, at courses where he can unleash that driver to its full effect. Before then, Torrey Pines is a definite fit (16th there last year when in poor form) and if he can cope with bermuda greens, an improved display at Bay Hill would come as no surprise, either.

Although not one who has been totally convincing under the gun, his awesome ball-striking should earn him a few more cracks at impressing on Sunday and it will be a surprise if he doesn't at some stage join the list of Canadian PGA Tour winners, whether this season or a little further down the line.

Ready to peak

Wyndham Clark

If you take one name from this list of maidens, make it that of Wyndham Clark. That's not to say I expect the massive jolt of improvement required to make him truly world-class, nor that he'll so much as qualify for majors let alone contend for them. But he does have the look of a player ready to take the next step up the ladder by winning on the PGA Tour.

Clark has always been highly touted and it's easy to see why. One of the longest drivers on the circuit, he was among its deadliest putters early on in his career, and this one-time decorated amateur is a good wedge game away from breaking into the world's top 100 and surely higher still once that barrier is breached.

Over the last 18 months he's really started to make his length pay off the tee, but it's small improvements in his approach play that catch the eye. Clark signed off 2022 with form figures of 16-29-16-10 and while no strokes-gained figures were recorded for the first in that sequence, he gained strokes in the other three – the first time in his career he'd put together such a run.

That reminds me a little of Sam Burns and while I won't be arguing that Clark can catch up with him, I do think 2023 could be his best year yet. It will begin on his favoured west coast, where he has a good record in The American Express, a 61 to his name at Scottsdale, 17th and eighth from two trips to Riviera, and the potential to build on promise at both Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines.

Patrick Rodgers

It seems clear now that Patrick Rodgers, a one-time Stanford stud who was every bit as promising as Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, is not going to be an elite collector of titles. But while it's frustrating that he remains a PGA Tour maiden, I do think we underestimate the achievements of players like him, who made so much noise as amateurs that the bar of expectation is almost guaranteed to be set too high.

Rodgers has, by every measure other than silverware, enjoyed a fine PGA Tour career already – and he's only 30 years old. He's made upwards of 200 starts, only once lost his card (narrowly, and he got it back immediately) in seven full seasons, and six times has finished in the top three. He's a quality operator.

But there's scope for him to do better still. Rodgers made his last seven cuts to end 2022, a run he's only twice bettered, and like Clark began to show signs that his iron play might have turned a corner. Last season was the first he ended with a positive strokes-gained approach figure, and after a strong start to the new one he might be on course for career-best statistics in what was his area of weakness.

When any player addresses the major problem in their game and offers evidence that they've found a fix, we ought to be interested. When it's a player with the ability of Rodgers, it's hard not to be excited about what lies ahead for one of the most likeable people on the circuit. Even if we have been here before.

Nick Hardy

One of the most promising members of the 2022 rookie class, Nick Hardy couldn't kick on from a solid start to the season and was struggling for form when injury struck at the Zurich Classic. It turned out to be the catalyst for a strong summer and might just be the reason he kept his card.

Hardy was forced to rest for a month, returning to finish second in his home state on the Korn Ferry Tour. From that point onwards he took off, first hitting the ball really well in elite company in Canada, then leading the US Open on his way to 14th, and keeping the run going with his first PGA Tour top 10 in the Travelers.

More good golf followed even if things petered out a little and he was unfortunate to have to head to Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where he breezed through all three starts to earn back his status for the year season ahead. And in finishing fifth in his second start of the new campaign, Hardy confirmed himself a prime candidate to climb the ladder this year.

A strong driver whose approach play so far this season has been of a high standard, he could pop up anywhere and will no doubt be on many a radar in the Sony Open, where six rounds so far have all been par or better, with an average of 66.67. Bermuda greens could be the issue in theory but he's putted them well in both previous visits, Waialae among a handful of courses he's played more than once.

Lee Hodges

Although a bit of a disappointment at the RSM Classic to make it two missed cuts to end the year, Lee Hodges remains on an upward trajectory and the type to compete in a low-grade event – just as he did last January in The American Express.

Hodges is a tidy operator who drives the ball straight and well, hits plenty of greens and, while he's some way down the putting stats, that's more because his bad weeks have been really bad. His good ones, such as when finishing seventh in the CJ Cup (15th in putting) and mid-pack in the Charles Schwab (11th), have been good enough.

Watch for the Alabama man on shorter courses and perhaps ideally when the wind blows a little. And while his embryonic putting stats suggest we should be cautious about ascribing a bermuda preference for someone raised in Alabama, his best finishes since the AmEx came in Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee. That's not insignificant and we might just have to wait until the spring.

Robby Shelton

Promising college players are ten a penny, but there's a higher echelon reserved for those who really do have everyone talking. And that's where Robby Shelton was before he turned professional.

Two wins in each of his latest two Korn Ferry Tour seasons are evidence that he has made a good transition to the pro ranks, where he's simply a cut above that level, and he now looks the type to put previous PGA Tour experience to use, especially now that he's made six of seven cuts to lay the foundations this season.

Three top-10s across the 2019/20 campaign is a target he should clear and while yet to better his third place as an amateur in the 2015 Barbasol Championship, I could see that changing. Shelton has long been considered to have an intangible edge to go with his obvious physical gifts, which make up a game that gets better after the tee shot.

If he can drive the ball to a decent level, he should be seriously dangerous at times. Expect him to blast out of the blocks at some stage and look for this prolific birdie-maker to thrown down a Sunday challenge from off the pace. That's if he's not right in the thick of the action entering the final round, which is well within his compass.

Sam Ryder

Having recently turned 33 and only just cracked the top 70 in FedEx Cup points in what was his sixth season, Sam Ryder doesn't have the scope of the other names on this list. However I really do like the fact his first five campaigns all saw him scrape together enough points to finish between 100th and 112th in the standings, which means he's spent basically his entire career under serious pressure.

On the back of his best season yet, Ryder might just feel ready to climb the ladder from a relatively low perch, and he has the tools to do so. Chief among them is undoubtedly his approach play, and again it's a fair achievement to have gained strokes in this department every season, with early signs suggesting he'll extend that record to a perfect seven in 2023.

Eighth in Mexico, two top-10s in the Honda Classic near to his Florida home, third in the Barbasol and seventh in Japan all align well with his overall profile and so does one of his classier displays, when close up in the Workday Charity Open at a course known to favour quality iron players.

If you asked me now for a selection for the Puerto Rico Open or the Corales Puntacana, it would be Ryder, a rock-solid pro who still has improvement in him. He might just be good enough to leave that level behind, though.

Stars in the making

Davis Thompson

Without question one of the most promising young players on any golf tour, Davis Thompson looks a likely Rookie of the Year candidate. He's already made a solid start, making four cuts from four until a poor start cost him at the RSM Classic, and there's so much untapped potential within this University of Georgia graduate.

While at college, Thompson won the prestigious Jones Cup en route to the top of the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and it would've been a surprise had he not won on the Korn Ferry Tour last season. In fact his campaign was a tad underwhelming with eight missed cuts and a general lack of consistency, but believe it or not I suspect it all just felt a little bit of an inevitability and firmly expect him to improve again in the coming months.

Tall and powerful, Thompson might just do as Young did and establish himself as one of the best drivers on the circuit. In fact, potential Young parallels can also be found in the way the latter took off only when he reached the highest level in the men's game, and in a year we might be looking back on 12 months of rapid acceleration from a top-10 player of the future.

Alex Smalley

Alex Smalley made it to the BMW Championship in his debut season and, having ended the year with back-to-back top-fives, is an obvious candidate to continue his progression.

The 26-year-old cracked the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings courtesy of his excellent finish to 2022, with a field-leading tee-to-green display at the RSM Classic showing what he's all about: quality approach play in particular, and driving which is above average in both distance and accuracy.

That he's managed to establish himself having effectively bypassed the Korn Ferry Tour makes Smalley's profile all the more impressive and he's one to have on the radar virtually anywhere he goes, with an eye on what's already a promising coastal record.

Will Gordon

Unlike many of his fellow Korn Ferry Tour graduates, Will Gordon has plenty of valuable PGA Tour experience, including in the mix. He's now made 50 starts at this level over a three-and-a-half-year period, and along the way he's been third behind both Dustin Johnson (2020 Travelers) and Russell Henley (2022 World Wide Technology Championship).

Gordon is similarly long to Thompson if a little less accurate, and it's that driver which should continue to power his success. Another top amateur golfer who was always likely to breeze through the Korn Ferry Tour, the fact that his win in Boise came on a quirky course under tricky conditions bodes well, as he'll be at his best when able to go out and attack off the tee.

Two rounds of 62 already this season and seven cuts made in seven set Gordon up for a massive year. If you can get him on a good putting week you'll surely be paid out in some form, as this superb ball-striker has every other box ticked.

Taylor Montgomery

The flat stick isn't a problem at all for Taylor Montgomery, who led the field in strokes-gained putting on his debut as a cardholder and has backed that up since. Denny McCarthy might have an heir to his throne, and Montgomery has the added advantage of giving the ball a rip off the tee.

With a dozen top-10 finishes since March, three of them since he graduated to the PGA Tour, Montgomery has been one of the sport's form players and while yet to win as a professional, his blend of big hitting and deadly putting might sort that out.

Based in Las Vegas, he could be one for the opening months of the year and is certainly on the radar for Torrey Pines, having not only played well there in 2022 but also when making the cut in the 2021 US Open.

Justin Suh

Winner of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to cap a fine campaign which lacked only silverware to that point, the only surprise when it comes to Justin Suh is that he hasn't yet made an impact as a full PGA Tour member.

He'd done so before, finishing eighth in the Shriners and contending for the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, and this former college star has the long-game required to establish himself among the game's elite in time – even if he's yet to really show it this season.

Suh ranked fifth for greens hit and ball-striking last year on the Korn Ferry Tour, seventh in total driving, and his win came in front-running fashion at a big, PGA Tour-standard course where strong driving is paramount. It's not a stretch to imagine him rubbing shoulders with the best in the months ahead, with Christmas having given him time to properly digest a fabulous year and reset.

Kevin Yu

Another top amateur golfer, Kevin Yu's transition to the PGA Tour has been more straightforward, with two good efforts preceding third place in the Bermuda Championship.

Quickly establishing himself as a fine driver of the ball, Yu should prove even more effective on longer courses than that one and thanks to that college pedigree, like Suh and one or two others he has the benefit of having played in a handful of big events prior to this season, including when fifth in the Australian Open.

Kept busy over Christmas having headed home for the Taifong Open in his native Taiwan, Yu is a player I could see going really well in The American Express or in the Phoenix Open should he play in them. The latter in particular has to be on the radar given that he lives in Scottsdale having played his college golf at Arizona State.

Carl Yuan

His swing isn't necessarily for the purist and perhaps explains an up-and-down profile, but Carl Yuan looks a prime candidate to become the first Chinese player to win on the PGA Tour – although compatriot Marty Dou might have something to say about that.

Yuan topped the regular season points list on the Korn Ferry Tour having not only won the Louisiana Open, but bagged seven other top-10 finishes, before adding another when fifth behind Suh in the final event of the campaign.

Long off the tee, he's gained strokes in that department in all five PGA Tour starts since graduating, but it's his approach work which really catches the eye. Gaining strokes in four of his five starts, he ranked fifth and seventh in the final two events of the year, while also showing improvement with the putter.

You'd have to be worried that he ranks 207th in SG: around the green, but that's the best weakness to have if you have to have any.

Proven winners

Cam Davis

Winner of the Sandbelt Invitational to cap a big 2022, I love the way Cam Davis has quietly climbed the ladder. After an excellent amateur career, first came the Australian Open, then a Korn Ferry Tour win, then a PGA Tour win, and now he's a Presidents Cup player with eyes on the world's top 50.

A big-hitter whose putting has improved along with his wedge game, Davis has all the tools and has started to showcase them across a range of courses, though it must be said he does appear to have a preference for a classical, tree-lined test, such as the one he won on in Detroit in 2021.

Having impressed under the gun in the Presidents Cup where he was sent out for all five sessions on debut, he can be forgiven for his defeat to Jordan Spieth in the singles, and simply looks a player ready to kick on. If he's not inside the top 50 having gone close to winning at the very least by this time next year, I'll be disappointed.

Jason Day

The PGA Tour could do with a resurgent Jason Day after losing two of its best Australians to LIV Golf, and the signs are that's what they'll get in 2023. Day was undoubtedly one of the biggest eye-catchers around from summer onwards and those three-figure prices of the Shriners may not return for a while.

Other than a low-key end to the year in the RSM Classic, a relaxed tournament where big names often flatter to deceive, Day did everything right throughout October and November. Form figures of 8-11-21-16 prior to Sea Island came courtesy of good driving, quality approach play and a return to form with the putter, which blows hot and cold now but has scope to improve again.

Day's iron play, together with his famed fitness issues, has long been a weakness but that's turned around since July, and he's gained strokes in eight of his subsequent nine measured starts. Keep doing that and this long, high hitter ought to hit the ground running this year, with several of his favourite events coming up soon.

Keith Mitchell

At 82nd and 83rd in strokes-gained total at this early stage of the new season, the final slot was between Keith Mitchell and Corey Conners, and I'll go with the one whose average starting price is highest. Both, though, should pay their way in 2023.

Mitchell does risk spending his entire career in the category of sleeping giant, the sort of player everyone close to raves about and whose underlying numbers speak to a game which could achieve far more than a solitary PGA Tour title (albeit a very impressive one) back in the 2019 Honda Classic.

More likely is that he doubles up at some stage, owing to his long, brilliant driving, flashes of red-hot putting, and approach play which has a potentially beneficial volatility to it – for punters at least. In fact that's what sets him apart from the more reliable Conners, who operates at a consistently higher level, but lacks that x-factor to suggest we might see him hole everything for four days at some stage.

Mitchell has that in his locker on the greens and while those approach play stats are poor, they too show spikes: he ranked sixth in Houston having been near to last on his previous measured start. Getting him on the right week won't be easy, but following him blind might be profitable. Otherwise, focus on bermuda greens and hard courses, or else just the former. He'll have those at the Sony Open and further chances in the spring.

Now read the DP World Tour equivalent...