Season Grades: Scheffler Dominates, Spieth Implodes and Thomas Searches

The Tour Championship is behind us and, except for the Presidents Cup and a couple one-off appearances in lower-tier events, golf’s top stars are shutting things down until 2025.

Like it did last year, the retooled FedEx Cup season starts in January instead of the fall. While Korn Ferry Tour players, journeymen and others battle for status on the big Tour, the top guys rest until the new year.

That makes it a great moment to look back at this year to take stock of where some of the game’s best currently stand. I know LIV is not finished with the year but I think we have more than enough results to hand out some grades.

Here is a ranking of 15 star players (on the PGA Tour or LIV) and how they fared in 2024. If I didn’t feel they qualify for “star status” I left them off the list.

1. Scottie Scheffler (A+)

The only letdown for Scheffler is that he only came away with one major victory.

Scheffler earned $62 million on the course this year, destroying the season record (per round, he made more than $800,000!). That is more than half the on-course money Tiger Woods earned in his entire career.

The Texan had seven Tour victories plus an Olympic gold medal. While his Masters win is the most meaningful to his legacy, we’ll remember his Sunday charges at the Players Championship and the Olympics.

2. Xander Schauffele (A+)

You rarely see two A+ grades in a season but you have to award two this year.

Schauffele became the first player since Brooks Koepka to win two majors in the same season. He was also the first player since Jordan Spieth to have his first two major victories come in the same year.

Schauffele’s reputation has changed rapidly. He is firmly the No. 2 player in the world with no qualms.

3. Bryson DeChambeau (A)

Just based on the first three majors alone, DeChambeau deserves an A.

He got into the mix at the Masters, came one stroke shy at the PGA Championship and then finally broke through at the U.S. Open.

His LIV results were just OK given a player of his caliber but a lot is forgiven if you win a major. It’s also worth mentioning how much his stock rose outside of tournament golf.

4. Rory McIlroy (A-)

It’s a lofty standard to set but I think McIlroy will be disappointed in his season.

He won three times—including a victory over Schauffele in the Wells Fargo Championship—and had six other top-five finishes. The ability and drive are still there.

But we will mostly remember his late mental collapse in the U.S. Open and then throwing away an Olympic medal with a tragic mistake on the 15th hole of the final round.

5. Hideki Matsuyama (A-)

Well, this one snuck up on us.

Matsuyama won two big events with the Genesis Invitational and FedEx St. Jude Championship to go along with a bronze medal in the Olympics.

Five other top-10 finishes cemented Matsuyama’s place as one of the top players in the world, although he will need to perform better in the majors to be considered in the same class as those above him on this list.

6. Collin Morikawa (B)

In a strange statistical oddity, Morikawa played slightly better golf in 2024 than he did during the start of his career when he won two majors—but this time around, he didn’t win a single time.

Morikawa recorded seven top-five finishes and only missed one cut the entire year. He was very strong in the majors, never finishing worse than T16.

Hyper-consistent and clearly among the top few players in the world, Morikawa is due for some victories in 2025.

7. Tommy Fleetwood (B)

Consistently a top-20 player in the world over much of the last decade, Fleetwood had a nice 2024 highlighted by a Dubai Invitational win, a silver medal in the Olympics and a T3 at the Masters.

Fleetwood is quietly up to No. 8 in the Data Golf rankings, which represents arguably the best statistical play of his career outside of 2018.

He still hasn’t won in the U.S. yet so that is the next step for him to take.

8. Jon Rahm (B-)

I’m going to give Rahm a slight break here.

Although his major season was a nightmare for a player of his caliber, Rahm has started to revive his game with a LIV victory and a strong performance in the Olympics where he blew a late lead. He is still the No. 3 player in the world according to Data Golf.

I’m thinking Rahm needed some time to emotionally adjust to LIV. We’ll see better play out of him in the majors next year.

9. Patrick Cantlay (B-)

Cantlay, who has won eight times on Tour, has not captured a victory since August 2022.

He had a handful of solid tournaments this year, including a T3 at the U.S. Open. Getting into major contention is a step forward for Cantlay, a player who has a miserable major record throughout his career.

For that reason, I’ll leave him at a B- rather than a C+.

10. Cameron Smith (C+)

Lost in all the LIV-Tour nonsense is how Smith went from 2022 Open Champion to an afterthought.

While he had three runner-up LIV finishes and a T6 in the Masters, Smith struggled in the other three majors and has exited the golf fan’s focus.

He should be in the prime of his career right now. Smith needs a better major record than what he’s put together the last two seasons.

11. Brooks Koepka (C+)

Yes, Koepka won twice on LIV. That’s still not enough to excuse his horrid major record this year.

Other than 2022 when he was clearly injured, Koepka has never suffered a worse major season than this one. He never factored into any of them, his best finish being a T26.

It’s hard to give him anything more than a C for that performance.

12. Justin Thomas (C)

I’m cautiously optimistic that Thomas will get things going in the right direction.

It’s concerning that he hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship and his inability to get into serious contention throughout the year was tough to watch.

However, I’m encouraged that he fought his way into the Tour Championship. His iron play seems to be getting closer to previous levels, as he improved from 39th to 11th in Strokes Gained approach.

Thomas does feel a lot like Clemson football at this point—respectable but a long way off from the pace set a few years ago.

13. Max Homa (C-)

It was a pretty substantial step back for Homa, a player who came into the year with six Tour wins and a ton of momentum.

His highlight came at the Masters when he finished T3 but Homa had a rough summer and didn’t even make it into the Tour Championship. He’s down to No. 86 in Data Golf.

It’s hard to say how concerning this is for the long-term but golf is a lot better off when he is contending.

14. Viktor Hovland (C-)

Despite winning the FedEx Cup last year, Hovland took on a swing change that led to some short-term bruises.

He did have a couple of random moments where everything clicked—he almost won the PGA Championship and played well in Memphis—but those were his only top-10 finishes of his season.

Hovland is too talented to be down forever. I would be stunned if he didn’t return to better form next year.

15. Jordan Spieth (D+)

One of our top articles of the year at MGS is this story I wrote on how Jordan Spieth is a shell of the player he was earlier in his career.

Things only deteriorated after that article. Spieth went 19 tournaments with only one top-10 finish (a T10 at the Valero Texas Open).

He just underwent surgery on his wrist, an injury that has proved troublesome the past few years. Hopefully, he comes back healthy next year because Spieth is deep into JAG (Just Another Guy) territory.

Do you agree with these grades? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: Justin Thomas made the Tour Championship but has failed to win since May 2022. (GETTY IMAGES/Kevin C. Cox)

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