New season of Netflix's 'Full Swing' chronicles 2023 Masters Tournament in Augusta

Netflix recently released a second season of it's exclusive golf series, "Full Swing," which chronicles PGA Tour and LIV golfers' personal and professional journeys through the 2023 major championships in real time – with the first episode focusing mostly on the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.

The series, which features notable golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka, focuses mainly on how golfers performed following the news of the groundbreaking and highly contested merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, which is financially backed by Saudi Arabia.

Many PGA players turned down lucrative deals with LIV, citing loyalty to the tour and moral concerns. However, the PGA Tour later announced LIV golfers would be allowed to play in all four majors, so long as they meet the criteria for qualification.

Images of the Augusta water tower on Washington Road, the Exit 6 sign on I-20, and Magnolia Lane flashed across the screen as players discussed playing the biggest event in golf.

An underlying theme of the first episode was Koepka and 18 other LIV golfers' battle to prove themselves at the historic 87th Masters Tournament after receiving backlash from fans for joining LIV.

"The Masters doesn't really need heightening to begin with, it's the biggest event on the schedule and this year, the stakes just seem even higher," said Dylan Dethier, a golf journalist featured in the series. "It's the first time that we've seen guys from the PGA Tour and guys who went to LIV playing in the same tournament – this is LIV versus the PGA Tour and everyone is curious how the respective sides are going to fare."

The week started off with McIlroy announcing he and Koepka would be paired in the practice round.

"The sight of the two of them playing a practice round at Augusta National, the biggest week of the golfing year, when Rory has been the figurehead for the PGA Tour and Brooks Koepka is the greatest modern major champion on LIV ... there's a lot bubbling just below the surface there," Dethier said in the series.

Going into the tournament, McIlroy and Koepka were both tied with four career major championship wins, adding to the feud between players.

McIlroy, who described PGA players being portrayed as "the good guys" and LIV players being portrayed at the villains, started off the second round of the tournament even, tied for 37th place with Tommy Fleetwood. Koepka was tied for first on the leaderboard alongside Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland at 7 under.

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"Everybody kept saying at Augusta, the worst thing that can happen to professional golf is if a LIV player wins a major," Claude Harmon III, Koepka's coach, said in the series. "I was keeping receipts, I was."

After a rough start at the beginning of the second round, McIlroy continued to have an underwhelming performance, ultimately missing the cut.

"It was the best opportunity for me to win a major that I had in a long, long time," he said in the series. "Sometimes it just doesn't quite work out. I was so far from where I thought I should have been."

At the start of the final round, Koepka was in the lead at 11 under, with Rahm, a then-PGA golfer, following closely behind.

Rahm secured the win, while Koepka finished second – tied with Phil Mickelson, another LIV golfer.

"The LIV guys showed at Augusta that they're not going anywhere," golf reporter Dan Rapaport said in the series. "You just had three of the top six in the biggest tournament in the world are LIV guys. It's hard to argue that they're not still incredible players who are capable of performing at a world-class level."

In December, Rahm announced he was joining LIV Golf.

The release of the second season of "Full Swing" came just a month prior to the 2024 Masters Tournament.

Current world golf rankings are as follows, according to OWGR:

• #1: Scottie Scheffler, USA

• #2: Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland

• #3: Jon Rahm, Spain

• #4: Viktor Hovland, Norway

• #5: Wyndham Clark, USA

• #6: Xander Schauffele, USA

• #7: Patrick Cantlay, USA

• #8: Max Homa, USA

• #9: Brian Harman, USA

• #10: Ludvig Aberg, Sweden

Within the last month, LIV Golf formally withdrew its application for world ranking points, according to a report from Golfweek, part of the USA Today Network.

The Official World Golf Ranking rejected LIV's application for OWGR accreditation in October due to the inability to accurately compare events, according to the report. LIV players have been plummeting in the rankings since they joined the league, raising concerns about qualifying for major championships.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: New season of Netflix's 'Full Swing' shows 2023 Masters Tournament