2024 PGA Tour Season Review: Scheffler Head and Shoulders Above The Rest

After an uncharacteristic blip at the BMW Championship, Scottie Scheffler resumed normal service by claiming the Tour Championship, a pay cheque for $25m and a season total of a quite astonishing $54m!

It was his seventh victory on the PGA Tour this season, to add to his gold medal-winning performance at the Olympic Games in Paris.

And so it brings down the curtain on another season on the PGA Tour.

And what a year it has been. Scheffler won The Masters. Xander Schauffele shed his nearly-man label by ending the US PGA Championship in a thrilling shootout with Bryson DeChambeau and then added The Open for good measure.

DeChambeau went one better at the US Open after Rory McIlroy’s meltdown with the putter.

PGA Tour Review 2024

But what of the rest?

New stars have emerged, with the likes of  Nick Dunlap, Akshay Bhatia and Jake Knapp winning.

Dunlap became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since a certain Phil Mickelson 33 years ago. He won The American Express, immediately turned professional and then struggled horribly until winning again at the Barracuda Championship.

Bhatia, 22, won his second PGA Tour title at the Valero Texas Open, a year after earning PGA Tour status with his first win, also at the Barracuda Championship. Bhatia made it to East Lake as one of the top 30 players in the FedExCup, along with Matthieu Pavon and Robert MacIntyre.

The European pair had fabulous debut seasons after earning PGA Tour cards via their play on the DP World Tour in 2023. Pavon got off to a wonderful start with his victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, and MacIntyre won twice, first at the RBC Canadian Open and then at the Scottish Open, delighting the fans in his home country, including his father, who was on the bag for his win in Canada.

MacIntyre had spoken of how difficult he found life on the PGA Tour, but that all changed with his life-changing success.

Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s Commissioner, said: “The success of Pavon and MacIntyre is a powerful reminder of our relationship with the DP World Tour.”

Davis Thompson announced his arrival with a victory at the John Deere Classic, as players under 30 accounted for 19 of 38 wins.

This year also saw the return of Jhonattan Vegas to the winner’s circle at the 3M Open.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry captured the Zurich Classic of New Orleans as a team and McIlroy also won the Wells Fargo Championship at his beloved Quail Hollow.

Scheffler Stands Tall For 2024

But head and shoulders above them all was Scheffler, who has enjoyed a year for the ages. He was the first player since the legendary Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six times before July, including The Players Championship, the Masters and four Signature Events. He also shot a final-round 62 to win the Olympic gold medal at Le Golf National in Paris.

The FedExCup Fall, Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 also allowed Billy Horschel and others to play their way their way into the Signature Events in 2025.

In total, 65 players outside the top 50 competed in at least one Signature Event, including every player ranked 51-70. Five of the seven winners from the FedExCup Fall advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs, with three of them competing in the Tour Championship.

For some, 2024 has been a year to forget. Chief among those is Jordan Spieth. Battling a wrist injury all season, he failed to make it to the BMW Championship. He had just two top-10 finishes all year and missed the cut at The Masters. After the St Jude Classic he announced that he would be undergoing wrist surgery and hopes to return to action at the Hero World Challenge in December.

It also came as no surprise that Tiger Woods failed to make an impact. At the beginning of the year he announced that he planned to play one tournament a month in 2024 but his body did not allow him to do so. We saw him in action just five times. He withdrew after the first round of the Genesis, somehow made the cut at The Masters but finished last of those who played all 72 holes and missed the cut at the US PGA, US Open and The Open. In 11 competitive rounds he did not once break par.

Colin Montgomerie led the calls for Woods to walk away from the game but the 15-time major champion gave the Scot short shrift. He turns 49 at the end of the year but you can be sure of one thing - he will be back in 2025.

While the likes of Pavon and MacIntyre took full advantage of their golden ticket, several other DP World Tour graduates found life on the PGA a step too far.

Jorge Campillo, Thorbjorn Olesen and Alexander Bjork gave it their best shot but are all outside the top 125 with just the FedEx Fall series left to save their year. Ryan Fox should be safe but keep an eye on Nicolai Hojgaard in 2025. He may not have won but he showed enough to indicate that he belongs at this level.

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