20 Questions For 2020

The New Year brings new questions that will shape the game in the coming 12 months. Here we present 20 key questions for 2020.

- Kit Alexander, Nick Harper, John Huggan Rob Mcgarr & Nick Wright

1.BROOKS VS RORY: WHO COMES OUT ON TOP?

It’s been a long, long time since we’ve had a decent rivalry in golf. Tiger Woods’ dominance of the sport deprived us of all that fun. You have to go all the way back to Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to find an evenly-matched rivalry. Greg Norman and Nick Faldo’s ‘spicy’ relationship gripped us but their head-to-head encounters rarely ended well for the Australian. Woods and Mickelson had potential but Tiger had eight majors in the bag and was out of sight before Lefty had even got off the mark. And the Big Easy found it hard to get Woods out of his head long enough to become anything more than a minor irritant to the American.

Koepka and McIlroy, however, ticks all the right boxes. Both players have won four majors and are of a similar age. McIlroy is 30, Koepka 29. Both are refreshingly open and honest. There are some nice contrasts, too. McIlroy was a childhood phenom while Koepka was a late bloomer who played satellite circuits before earning his PGA Tour card. Rory is adored worldwide while Koepka’s relationship with fans and media has been a slow burn.

McIlroy’s resumé may be deeper with 17 PGA Tour wins to Koepka’s seven, but the Irishman’s fourth major, the 2014 USPGA, came before Koepka even joined the Tour, as Koepkas was quick to remind us. “I’ve been out here for five years. Rory hasn’t won a major since I’ve been on the PGA Tour. I just don’t view it as a rivalry,” he recently said.