In the years after Tiger Woods’ decline from dominance, McIlroy emerged as golf’s next superstar by winning four majors between 2011 and 2014. But the Northern Irishman has yet to claim another major victory since then, and despite starting the 2023 season as the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer, the long wait for another major championship gnaws at him. 

McIlroy became somewhat of an unofficial spokesman for the PGA Tour by routinely criticizing LIV and those who joined the Saudi-owned league. But he took a softer stance as the battle between the two entities played out — which ultimately led to the announcement of a merger — while his game suffered.

McIlroy searches for some measure of redemption late in the season by hoping to lead Team Europe to victory at the Ryder Cup. 

Thomas burst onto the scene in 2017 by winning five PGA Tour events, including his first major at the PGA Championship. The Kentucky native started 2023 as the world’s No. 9 ranked golfer, but during Season 2 of Full Swing endures a disappointing year. That left him in doubt to be selected to participate in the Ryder Cup, where he previously thrived and served as a fiery leader of Team US.

Thomas is ultimately chosen to compete by his close friend and US team captain Johnson despite finishing behind several other candidates in the points system. Thomas tries to justify his selection by leading the Americans to victory. 

One of golf’s most popular personalities, Fowler is known for his loose demeanor and vibrant fashion choices on the course. 

The Californian entered 2023 on a near four-year victory drought and has yet to win a major. He turned down a lucrative offer from LIV to continue plugging away on the PGA Tour — and finds himself playing his best golf in years during Season 2 of Full Swing, meriting a selection to play for Team US in the Ryder Cup.

An 18-time PGA Tour winner during the 2010s, tied with McIlroy for the most during that decade, Johnson brought legitimacy to the LIV project as the first elite name to switch allegiances — and he was reportedly paid $150 million to do so.

“I knew I was gonna get shit for it. But if I had to do it over again, I’d make the same decision,” Johnson says in Episode 2.

Clark’s first five years on the PGA Tour resulted in zero wins — and countless public fits of frustration that planted seeds of doubt about his future. The Colorado native’s game turned around after he started seeing a sports psychologist in December 2022. This echoed a similar positive change he experienced by seeing a therapist after his mother died of breast cancer while Clark was in college.

Clark goes on to claim his first three PGA Tour wins in Season 2, including a landmark major win, and he qualifies to play for the US team in the 2023 Ryder Cup.

Dahmen has been on the PGA Tour since 2017 but has just one career win on the top circuit. Nevertheless, the testicular cancer survivor’s name recognition increased exponentially after being featured in Season 1 of Full Swing. His self-deprecating humor and fondness for bucket hats won him many fans. 

During Season 2, amid growing frustration with career-worst results on the course, his support system pushes him to confront his declining mental state while he adjusts to his newfound fame and fatherhood.

Kim is the closest thing golf has come to having a prodigy on the scale of Tiger Woods in recent years. Born in South Korea, Kim turned professional at age 15 on the Philippine Golf Tour, became eligible for the PGA Tour in 2022, and soon stamped himself as a rising superstar by becoming the first player since Woods to win two events before turning 21.

Kim has yet to take the sport by storm like Woods did in major competitions, however, and he’s often playfully teased by his older compatriots as he finds his footing stateside. But the polite yet defiant youngster, whose English name is derived from Thomas the Tank Engine, is eager to prove himself.

Fitzpatrick enters 2023 flying high after his first major victory at the US Open, which boosted his credibility and level of fame, while his younger brother, Alex, toils away in the second-tier European Tour.

The Englishman played in his first Ryder Cup for Team Europe at age 22 and again at 27, but went winless in his first five matches over those two appearances. He entered 2023 as a core member of the European squad aiming to take back the Ryder Cup in Italy.

In June 2022, as his older brother Matt was being congratulated over text by the likes of Michael Jordan for winning the US Open, Alex Fitzpatrick was just joining the professional ranks in Europe. 

As a member of the Challenge Tour, the second-tier European tour, Alex has a long way to go to match his brother’s accomplishments. It’s a heavy burden for someone to carry — but it’s also a strong motivation.

A PGA Tour fixture, Bradley entered the year eager to make up for past Ryder Cup failures. He played in the competition twice before but both times resulted in US losses, and he hasn’t appeared in the tournament since 2014. Bradley’s last action there was a singles defeat that clinched a victory for Team Europe, which the New England native defines as the lowest point in his career. 

Bradley broke the scoring record at the 2023 Travelers Championship en route to his sixth career PGA Tour win, but still failed to place in the top six of Ryder Cup qualifying and was left to sweat out the fate of his selection as a potential captain’s pick.

Rose turned pro at age 17 after tying for fourth place at the 1998 Open Championship as an amateur. He initially struggled to match that impressive showing but eventually reached the world No. 1 ranking in 2018.

A six-time Ryder Cup participant who grew up in England, Rose qualified for the competition via a captain’s pick for the first time in 2023 after drawing motivation from being passed over several times before. Rose served as a sort of elder statesman and source of experience for a young Team Europe.

The winner of the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open Championship, Johnson was the first-time captain of Team US for the 2023 Ryder Cup after representing his country in the international competition five times, winning once in 2016. Though he didn’t actually tee up as captain, he was tasked with trying to steer the 12-man US team to victory on European soil for the first time in 30 years. 

The most important of his duties was picking six Americans for the team who didn’t automatically qualify in the top six of a points system based on the year’s results. That put him in the difficult position of balancing how much to weigh the accomplishments of players who jumped to LIV Golf, such as Brooks Koepka, against those who stayed on the PGA Tour in more competitive environments.

The 2011 PGA Player of the Year, Donald won the Ryder Cup as part of Team Europe all four times he played between 2004 and 2012. The Englishman replaced Henrik Stenson as Team Europe captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup after Stenson was removed from the role over his defection to LIV Golf. 

Team Europe hasn’t lost consecutive Ryder Cups since 1993, which is also the last time they lost on home soil. So after Team U.S. won in 2020, the onus was on Donald to helm the team that made sure neither of those streaks were broken against an American team featuring more star power.