Ranking the best exhibitions and events in golf's offseason during the holidays

This no. 1 ranking comes with a caveat: Tiger and Charlie need to play every year for the PNC Championship in Orlando to remain a big draw. That hope may be fading from both sides of the equation. Charlie, an American Junior Golf Association All-American, is entering the serious phase of his development as a potential college recruit who hopes to eventually turn pro. Unfortunately, dad's long-term prognosis isn't looking too optimistic after another of his countless back surgeries. The duo will miss this year's PNC, but hopefully they can return in 2026 to boost interest again.

The return of the Skins Game is big news for golf. Even though I didn't watch this year - I was traveling for the holidays - I look forward to many more years of this iconic event. The original Skins Game, which ran from 1983-2009, definitely helped spark my interest in the game growing up in cold-weather Michigan. Seeing the best golfers compete in sunny Greater Palm Springs in those days gave me hope that winter might feel just a little shorter.

Remember when The Match was new and exciting? The original 2018 version between Tiger and Phil was so anticipated that the streaming service set up to broadcast it collapsed. As the years have gone on, the show has lost its audience by introducing too much chaos in the form of 'celebrity' announcers and call-ins. With the return of the Skins Game and the launch of the Optum Golf Channel Games, could 'The Match' have run its course? The most recent broadcast, its 11th edition in December 2024, featured McIlroy and Scheffler vs. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau as a sort of PGA Tour against LIV Golf throwdown. While the premise was good, the result left fans disappointed. Not many realize that the Golf Channel Games is being produced by the same people behind The Match, so in essence, this new format, if it goes well, could be its identity moving forward.

For a course in the Bahamas, Albany sure lacks those postcard ocean views that two current Korn Ferry Tour venues (Abaco Club and Sandals Emerald Bay) and a former LPGA Tour venue (The Ocean Club on Paradise Island) deliver when they're on TV. The ace in the hole for the Hero World Challenge, though, is host Tiger Woods. Getting Tiger in the NBC booth to talk golf was gold this past weekend. It was almost as compelling as watching him play. Golf fans have seen so little of Tiger the person that it was refreshing to see him laugh and joke with Kevin Kisner, his Jupiter Links Golf Club teammate in TGL. Give us more, Tiger.

Featuring mixed doubles teams of one PGA Tour pro and one LPGA Tour player, the Grant Thornton looks and feels different from anything else on either tour's calendars. Unfortunately, with the PGA Tour schedule rumored to be condensing by 2027, could this exhibition be on the chopping block?

The good news for the Skechers World Champions Cup supporting Shriners Children's - where three teams of PGA Tour Champions legends (Team Europe, Team USA and the International Team) battle for supremacy - is that the event has been competitive (unlike the Presidents Cup) the two years it's been held. The Americans won in 2023 and the Europeans this year. The bad news is this year's competition was overshadowed by the DP World Tour's visit to Royal Melbourne, plus the fact that the World Champions Cup doesn't have enough history or intrigue to register as a must-watch... yet. Maybe a few more years, a player dispute or a rules controversy will spice things up for added attention.