The last 12 months had a bit of everything – a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and much more. With 2026 on the horizon, our writers look at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.
no. 15 – Impeller motion with zero torque
no. 14 – ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ takes the golf world by storm
no. 13 – Joaquin Niemann’s big 2025 (and decisive 2026)
no. 12 – JJ Spaun kills Oakmont
no. 11 – Online invitation
no. 10 – Jeeno Thitikul’s year of records
Stories of 2025 No. 9: Tiger Woods’ next role
One of the oddities—and, from a landscape and lodging perspective, one of the real joys—of covering professional golf is that the sport’s most iconic figure speaks reliably once a year, at a relatively cool, limited-course golf tournament in a quiet corner of the Bahamas.
And so the week after Thanksgiving I flew to Nassauwhere (with all due respect to Hideki Matsuyama) the main event of the World Hero Challenge was Tiger Woods’ pre-tournament press conference, his first public give-and-take in months. He showed up two minutes early, stayed for half an hour and gave us a window into how he envisions his future in professional golf. He is still recovering from another back operation and he hinted at another return to the game – but for the first time in Woods’ extensive injury history, the assembled media seemed equally interested in his golf-related activities. FAR from the course. Woods was sharp and measured. He connected his past with the future. And he was, for her, extremely close. The line I keep coming back to is this:
“I know I’m not saying much, but I’m trying to say as much as I can because there are a lot of moving parts to this and it changes all the time,” Woods said, speaking about the future of the PGA Tour. Re-read the first half of that sentence: that’s a half-apology for not saying more, which I suspect Woods did only once during his competitive development. But this is a different era for Woods, and for his place within the PGA Tour ecosystem, and for that Tour’s new frontman, Brian Rolapp. Rolapp was also in the Bahamas, golf’s exciting new outsider teaming up with golf’s awesome insider. For Woods, professional golf is everything. For Rolap? It’s his next business challenge.
Below is what I wrote from the Bahamas on what could be a complementary crash.
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FINAL QUESTION of Tiger Woods’ Tuesday press conference at the World Heroes Challenge produced an unexpectedly poignant response.
“You are chairing the Future Races Committee,” began a reporter. “I would like to know, personally, what is your motivation to contribute so much to the power of the PGA Tour?”
It’s a central question for the present and future of men’s professional golf. Woods has enough money, prestige and time to do just about anything, of course — but he’s chosen to fill his days with Zoom calls and strategy meetings in an effort to reinvent a tournament in which his competitive days are numbered. Is Woods careless with his time? No one thinks so. But no one knew how carefully he had thought about his decision to moonlight as a golf bureaucrat. Not until Woods answered the question.
“Well, the PGA Tour gave me an opportunity to follow a childhood dream,” he said. “I had a chance to hit my first ball in my first PGA Tour event when I was 16. I know that was 33 years ago, but I’ve been involved with the PGA Tour ever since.
“A little kid from Cypress, California, growing up on a par-3 course, had a chance to play against the best players in the world and get to No. 1 in the World. I had a chance to be involved in a lot of different things on our tour. This is a different opportunity to make an impact on the tour.
“I did it with my golf clubs, hit a few shots here and there and I was able to do that. Now I’m able to make an impact in a different way for other generations to come. Not just the generations I played against, but the generations to come. As a 16-year-old looking for a place to play, maybe hoping to play the PGA Tour.”
Woods’ monologue hit on a theme we haven’t heard much of lately: That the PGA Tour isn’t a product that needs (again) optimization and (banging its head on the table) profit maximization. He asked us to remember that the PGA Tour is also something else entirely: A place where childhood dreams come true.
As Woods reminded us, his first Tour appearance came 33 years ago. He’s about to turn 50, which means he’s lived two-thirds of his life as a PGA Tour golfer. Anyone who has watched Tiger Woods play golf a lot – we are all old. Multiples and fractions all look incredible. Like this: Woods has lived more than half his life since he first hosted the Hero World Challenge; he started his first limited-overs invitational at the age of 24 … 25 years ago. In this year’s field, only Akshay Bhatia – who turns 24 next month – is younger than Woods at that time. Tom Lehman won the Williams World Challenge 2000. He is now 66 years old. Again, we are all old.
“The guys I played with when we first had the World Challenge in the early 2000s, they’re all — I’m the youngest,” Woods said. “I’m about to turn 50, so those guys are all on the Champions Tour or even retired from the game of golf. They don’t play anymore.”
A look around the media center served as a reminder that Woods’ longevity isn’t just about the players — he’s outlived just about everyone. Journalists, tournament officials, industry trends. How many newspapers had golf writers covering that first event? By my count, this time there were zero.
Time wins and time changes. But that’s what makes Woods’ new role so interesting. The self-described last member of the old guard is now responsible for leading a coalition taking a bulldozer — or at least a pair of sharp scissors — to the tournament schedule and structure as we know it. The ultimate insider seems ill-equipped to rethink the current structure, but that is Woods’ directive as chairman of the new Future Competition Committee, whose stated goal is to create an “optimal competitive model” for professional golf.
“I mean, to be honest with you, we started with a blank slate,” Woods said. “What would be the best product we could create? What would it look like?”
Enter his partner in revolution, new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.
In past generations, tournament commissioner candidates were evaluated on an unofficial rubric of traits such as “golf background” and “golf handicap.” Rolapp, who was the NFL’s No. 2 before taking the Tour’s top job this summer, is woefully unqualified by those metrics, but the envy of the sports world almost everywhere else. In this strange time in golf, Rolapp’s lack of golf experience is treated as an advantage rather than a handicap. His outsider perspective means he has a fresh set of eyes. He and Woods are an unlikely pair — but as the ultimate insider and outsider, perhaps they’re also perfectly complementary.
On Tuesday evening in Albany — the exquisite and exclusive Bahamas retreat that serves as Hero’s host — Woods and Rolapp led a pitch meeting for players on the progress of the Future Competitions Committee. The subtext was clear: the two tournament leaders would address the future.
Since his hiring, Tour pros have repeatedly described Rolapp using two words — “impressive” and “direct.” Due in no small part to a general distrust of tournament leadership since the surprise LIV peace accord of June 2023, players make these two attributes sound like a ringing endorsement. The FCC’s plans have not been finalized, but an informal survey of players on Wednesday gave positive reviews of their process and delivery. Rolapp is transparent. He makes things look simple. He is aware of the power of tradition, but is not personally attached to it. He is a laser-focused pragmatist. And every player on the ground was reportedly present at the meeting, a small but critical show of credibility.
Scottie Scheffler praised Rolapp’s wit and work ethic.
“I’ve been very pleased with the conversations I’ve had with him, the things I’ve heard,” said the world No.1. “I think they’re looking at things the right way and I’m excited about some of the changes they’re looking to make.”
Keegan Bradley appreciated his urgency.
“I think Brian is trying to make changes right away and he definitely has a big vision to make the Tour the best it can be,” the Ryder Cup captain said. “I really like the fact that we’re not waiting, because it’s not ‘we’re going to change in three, four years.’ No, we’re going to do it next year.”
What about Woods’ rating?
“Brian has been fantastic,” he said. “What he’s done so far in a short time with his leadership skills and his personality and the way he handles situations, his composure, his wit, his directness, his transparency, all the things that we were looking for and needed on tour – he’s delivered in spades.”
Now comes the hard part: Action.
Rolapp has met one-on-one with dozens of Tour pros, either in person or over the phone. There are concerns about change on the horizon, but many players are cautiously optimistic. After all, there is a widespread sense that the Tour has operated inefficiently for decades — the product of another old guard that honored traditions even when they didn’t always make sense. Why is every event owned and operated by someone else? Why isn’t the Tour in Chicago or Boston or Seattle or New York? Why IS tour in Memphis in August? When you have Signature Events and Alternate Events on the same schedule, what does that do? really mean to win a PGA Tour event? Some things could use simplification. Some traditions could use a shake. Time wins and time changes.
That’s why Tiger Woods became a bureaucrat, and that’s why he cares about Zoom’s calls: Because he knows the old guard is eventually replaced — even when the old guard is Tiger Woods.
But the childhood dream continues.
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