The impatience is what we will continue to laugh about. The endearing, sometimes infuriating, certainly entertaining inability to wait just a little bit longer in our fast-paced world brings joy through the tears.

Our friend Steve DiMeglio passed away last week, and the words are still difficult to type. The former USA Today and Golfweek golf writer succumbed to cancer on Dec. 31 after a two-and-a-half year battle. The news was especially jarring following the Dec. 9 death of another esteemed golf writing colleague, Jeff Babineau.

It was just last month that “DiMegs,” 63, made the journey to the Bahamas for the Hero World Challenge, an event he had circled on his calendar each of the past few years as he battled to stay healthy, a chance to reconnect with friends, caddies and players on the PGA Tour, including tournament host Tiger Woods, who had taken a special interest in keeping in touch with Steve through the ordeal.

Going back to 2007, when DiMegs first started covering golf, our working relationship evolved into a friendship while traveling to various tournaments. At many of them, we were together in search of words from Tiger, who allowed a few of us into his world at various stops along the way, a trusting relationship with one of the world’s most famous people that Steve undoubtedly treasured.

Away from those moments and among the media contingent, the combustible yet lovable DiMegs was notorious for letting loose when an interview transcript arrived late, or a shuttle bus driver got lost or delayed, or some poor soul asked a rally-killing question during a news conference or scrum—always to the amusement and sympathy of his peers. Steve suffered no fools, much to the delight of those who witnessed the various misdeeds.

As was the case many times over the years, Steve and I shared a rental car last month in Nassau, where he wasn’t feeling great but good enough to make it out to the golf course for Tiger’s news conference and practice rounds.

During the journey from the tournament back to the hotel, a rattling clunker on a pot-holed road cut us off in traffic and proceeded to drive too slowly for Steve’s liking, producing a rolled-down window, f-bomb rant and finger-pointing mini-tirade toward some poor Bahamian. The ensuing laughter from behind the steering wheel made it difficult to keep the car on the road.

All of us who knew Steve over the years have dozens of stories like that, some that might have piled up at some tournament while we were eating dinner and he was being admonished for an ever-growing number of empty Bud Light bottles, only to be followed by ordering food for later.

Amid all the needling, Steve established himself with the biggest names in the game, on both the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, along with caddies, officials and executives.

Back in the day, USA Today was the newspaper that dropped at every hotel room door, and Steve was the guy the players knew and read the most, the one they saw working the driving range or walking inside the ropes or there or there to interview them post-round.

There were numerous such player-writer relationships, the one with Tiger getting the most attention due to Woods’s stature and the constant spotlight along with the limited access to him generally. Getting a few minutes with Woods here and there was coveted and didn’t come without a fair amount of good-natured interaction.

Tiger was sharp with the stick on more than a few occasions, not missing an opportunity to chide Steve for his short stature or his diminutive frame or his choice of clothes or his propensity for smoking too much.

But Steve was also prone to give it back, ridiculing Tiger’s driving accuracy off the tee or teasing him about some overzealous fan in the gallery and sometimes needling him about his personal life. That might be considered a line crossed but Tiger loved the abuse and was prone to laughter over it. The fact that Tiger enjoyed the ribbing and rolled with it with speaks to his level of comfort.

Then, when the conversation turned serious, a question would be followed with a thoughtful answer from Tiger that not too many others would get.

But Steve’s relationships went well beyond Tiger, far too many to capture. He was happy to get to visit with Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley and assorted others last month at the Hero, and scores of players reached out via social media in recent days to offer their condolences. He also interacted with dozens of LPGA players and was close with player-turned-broadcaster Dottie Pepper.

In October, I accompanied Steve to New York and now am so glad I did. He learned months ago that he would be receiving the Lincoln Werden Golf Journalism Award from the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. The annual banquet also saw European Ryder Cup captain honored, as well as several others, including outgoing PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh.

In the weeks leading up to the dinner, Steve was concerned that his treatments might make him too ill to attend. On the day of the ceremony, he wasn’t feeling well. But his mood brightened among friends and colleagues, and when it was his turn to accept his award, DiMegs stepped to the podium—and with no notes—spoke passionately about his time in golf and all the people he had come to cover and admire.

Of course, afterward, as the evening dragged on a bit too long for his liking, Steve got antsy. “Can we get these guys to hurry the f--- up?” he huffed, my laughter startling those around us.

The last tournament Steve covered was the 2022 Open at St. Andrews. Steve loved the UK, far more for its legal betting establishments than the food. In all the years we went over there, he never once would rent a car, my long-held belief that he was simply too paranoid to figure out how to drive on the left side of the road—and a fact he was chided about often. This meant more tales of me serving as chauffeur, the poor Brits blissfully unaware of his angst.

A lasting memory is a Ladbrokes betting visit years ago in which Steve had run out of players to back so he decided to place ridiculous wagers on ... virtual dog racing! The idea was absurd but, of course, he cashed in, much to our astonishing amusement.

It was clear something was off that week in Scotland at the home of golf and Steve had been dealing with some undisclosed health issues for the bulk of that year. After returning home, a visit to the doctor preceded a hasty hospital admittance and Stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

Steve went public with it and allowed others to share in his fight. He had been getting good reports from his doctors, his tumors not having spread, blood work looking good. He chronicled all of his chemotherapy visits, which numbered near 60.

While his situation was difficult, Steve remained optimistic. For all the curmudgeonly behavior at times, he faced his illness with courage, hoping others might share in the battle while taking care of themselves, too. And without local family, several members of the PGA Tour communication staff looked after him, helping with groceries or doctor visits.

In the back of my mind, I always expected he’d get back out on the golf course where he’d never been able to control that big sweeping hook and inevitably would be incredulous he was not being given a 4-footer on the last green with the entire match on the line. That, unfortunately, did not happen.

After parting ways following the Hero, we made plans to visit sometime this month before the Tour schedule became hectic and again in March at the Players Championship, just down the road from his home, where he’d again get to visit with all of his friends in the golf world.

Instead of seeing him that week, we plan to celebrate his life and career. In honor of Steve, perhaps we will do so as irritably and quickly as possible.

A Tour Championship overhaul

It has become clear that the starting strokes format used at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship since 2019 has caused enough consternation to make changes to it.

The problem is coming up with a format that all can agree on.

Good luck with that.

The Athletic reported on Friday that plans are in the works to change to a “bracket-based” format as soon as this year, which would mean some form of stroke-play or regular matches to crown a FedEx Cup champion.

The Associated Press reported that getting it approved in time for this year is not a done deal.

And based on comments from players who competed at the Sentry in Hawaii, there is no consensus on format, certainly not on match play.

“Golf is normally played over four rounds, it’s hard to play one vs. one and say you’re the better player, because day by day it’s not about just today, it’s not about just tomorrow, it’s an accumulation of your four rounds,” Collin Morikawa said. “But when you put together a season, it’s tough, because you can say one season was better than another just because of one tournament that all comes down to. You got to look at the whole.

“But sometimes golf needs that pressure and you need a way to put it out there, that’s why I think there’s a middle ground. I think the one now can be improved.”

The Tour has struggled with the concept of what it really wants for a season-ending tournament.

Scottie Scheffler, who won the FedEx Cup in August at East Lake in Atlanta, scoffed at the idea that it is a seasonlong race when there is so much volatility that can occur in one tournament that decides the outcome. At the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude, he made his feelings clear.

“I think it’s silly,” Scheffler said. “You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament. Hypothetically we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at the Players (where he won despite a neck issue), I finish 30th in the FedEx Cup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the seasonlong race?”

No, it’s more of a season-ending playoff format. Which is why the Tour could do itself a favor by putting more emphasis—and more bonus money—on the seasonlong winner and viewing the FedEx Cup playoffs as just that—playoffs.

That is when match play—which has typically been loathed by television partners—could make more sense. Or some sort of knockout format after stroke play.

“I’m pretty much open-minded to explore anything but I’m unsure about that,” Adam Scott told Golfweek at the Sentry after reports surfaced about a chance to a bracket-style event. “It’s hard to see where match play fits into pro golf. We play the whole season one way and then have the final week be head-to-head match play, I mean, we can have a look at it, but you’d have to kind of sell me on that just a little more.”

Scott, 44, is a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board which suggests he will have some say in the matter. And the ideas have yet to reach that stage. Scott believes the old format—which saw a Tour Championship winner and a FedEx Cup winner based on the season-long points—determined.

Many times, it was the same player, but not always. It’s hard to believe it was a bad thing in 2009 when Phil Mickelson won the Tour Championship and Tiger Woods was crowned FedEx Cup champion.

In 2017, however, Justin Thomas expressed annoyance over not winning the Tour Championship which was captured by Xander Schauffele—despite winning the FedEx title and a $10 million bonus. His reaction was testament to the tournament title mattering.

A year later, the Tour announced the starting-strokes format for 2019. Had it been in place in 2018, Tiger Woods would not have captured his 80th PGA Tour title at the time.

“It’s just my point of view that the Tour Championship has been a legacy-type event and that’s kind of been lost in the FedEx Cup,” Scott said. “It went from two tournaments, two trophies in that one week to now just one trophy and I understand why, because it was getting confusing, but there seems to be a feeling like it’ll be nice to kind of reestablish the Tour Championship as that kind of legacy-type event.”

So it is good to see there is serious movement about change. But where that goes does not seem close to being resolved.

The PGA Tour opener

Hideki Matsuyama won the Sentry in record-setting fashion, setting a PGA Tour scoring record of 35 under par—or nearly half of the 72 holes under par.

The first PGA Tour event of 2025 was more or less a soft opening with a few players not there, several of them who also play on the DP World Tour and will be in the Middle East this week, next week or both, including Rory McIlroy.

Scottie Scheffler, the reigning PGA Tour player of the year and No. 1 in the world, missed due to a hand injury suffered at Christmas that required surgery. He has targeted next week’s American Express in LaQuinta, Calif., for his return.

Then there is No. 2 Xander Schauffele, the two-time major winner from 2024 with 14 top 10s, who did play the Sentry but was never a factor.

Schauffele had started working early last year with swing coach Chris Como and despite some struggled to attempt ended up contending often and winning the PGA Championship and the British Open.

After the Tour Championship, Schauffele played only at the Presidents Cup and the Zozo Championship and took some time away to recharge. He found he also had some swing issues to sort through.

“I would say everything I was working on with Chris last year is still not, you know, it feels like my swing, but it’s still something that’s a little bit uncomfortable,” Schauffele said in Hawaii. “As long as I’m producing good shots I feel the confidence to keep moving in the right direction, and obviously got a lot of confidence after some results last year. But some of the same stuff, getting the club in certain positions and trying to move the correct way, so a lot of the same, to be honest.”

Schauffele opened the tournament with a 72, which must have felt like 80 considering the crazy low scoring. He shot 66-67 on the weekend to finish tied for 30th—and 18 shots back of Matsuyama.

He is scheduled to be part of the first TGL matches Tuesday night along with Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick, who make up his New York team. They are facing Wyndham Clark, Shane Lowry and Ludvig Åberg.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Remembering Steve DiMeglio, a Golf Reporting Giant Close to Tiger Woods and Many Others.