Joel Dahmen completed simply inside the highest 125 to maintain his PGA Tour card for 2025.
Getty Photos
Examine in each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the most popular subjects within the sport, and be part of the dialog by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we talk about Maverick McNealy’s first PGA Tour win, the FedEx Cup Fall winners and losers, the very best programs you’ll be able to play and extra.
Maverick McNealy closed the 2024 PGA Tour season with the primary victory of his profession, beating three others by a shot on the RSM Traditional on Sunday. What took the previous top-ranked newbie so lengthy to get his first title on Tour, and do you anticipate it to snowball right into a breakout 2025?
Jack Hirsh, affiliate tools editor (@JR_HIRSHey): That looks like a loaded query. Successful is tough on the PGA Tour. We’ve seen quite a few top-ranked amateurs get to the PGA Tour and by no means win, and we’ve additionally seen lots who’ve gone on to have hall-of-fame careers. Whereas he was coping with an damage final 12 months, he nonetheless performed higher in 2022 than he did this 12 months, even with the win. I say it’s possible he wins once more, however I don’t anticipate him to abruptly grow to be a top-10 or top-20 participant.
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): He’s form of distinctive the place he’s by no means been a star however has by no means actually struggled to maintain his PGA Tour card. He’s simply been… fairly good: strong off the tee, not so nice into greens and an excellent putter. It was a matter of time. It’s not a fluke he had a lot success on the collegiate stage. The primary one’s at all times the toughest. He’d positively be a breakout contender for subsequent 12 months.
Alan Bastable, government editor (@alan_bastable): Golf’s a humorous outdated sport. Mav had six high 10s this season but additionally 13 missed cuts or withdrawals. Forecasting what gamers are able to from one week to the following is almost inconceivable. What a month for Mav, although! He helped mastermind the Tour’s lately introduced revamp of its FedEx Cup factors distribution system, and now he has his first Tour title. If solely he’d lobbied the Tour to dole out extra factors for the RSM…
Final week we discovered (formally) that come 2026, solely 100 gamers will earn full-time PGA Tour standing. However for 2025, that magic quantity remains to be 125, and we realized these gamers on the season-ending RSM Traditional on Sunday. Which participant who made it simply inside (or exterior) that minimize line was essentially the most notable to you?
Hirsh: Must be Joel Dahmen, who put collectively a Sunday 64 to complete No. 124 within the FedEx Cup. Dahmen has struggled with adjusting to his newfound fame since being a key determine within the Netflix “Full Swing” docuseries. Having him on Tour makes for a way more entertaining, compelling and relatable product, so having him wrestle to get into fields beneath the previous champion class wouldn’t have been a lot enjoyable. I nonetheless assume his greatest years are but to come back.
Berhow: Yeah, onerous to argue with Dahmen, since he was the most important identify inside just a few of that No. 125 spot. Two different younger former faculty standouts, Parker and Pierceson Coody, each landed on the unsuitable facet of that line, too.
Bastable: Should say, I didn’t foresee anybody within the Creator Traditional subject making a run at a Tour card, however that’s what Wes Bryan did, narrowly lacking out by three spots. When Bryan took warmth for enjoying in that hit-and-giggle occasion for influencers earlier this 12 months, he tweeted, “Are there really ppl mad that I’m taking part in on this occasion? I’ve filmed 100+ lengthy kind youtube movies over the past two years…missed virtually each minimize on the pga tour…and hardly apply.” Not precisely a recipe for Tour success. However Bryan nonetheless discovered a approach to keep related till an MC this week doomed his card hopes.
We’ll spend extra time subsequent month unpacking the 12 months that was on the PGA Tour, however off the highest of your head, what’s the one massive factor you realized or will bear in mind concerning the 2024 PGA Tour season?
Hirsh: Truthfully, {that a} Tiger-like run remains to be potential. I feel I had began pondering that the era of youngsters who received into golf due to Tiger Woods had made the game too deep for anybody to essentially go on a run of victories like he did almost 20 years in the past. Scottie Scheffler disproved that concept this 12 months. No, he didn’t win a number of majors like Woods did accomplish that usually, however till Scheffler’s 2024 nobody had gained seven instances in a Tour season since Woods in 2007. And it’s not like Scheffler’s competitors was weak, both. Certain, LIV Golf has taken away Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Jaco Neimann and others, however Scheffler was profitable in opposition to Xander Schauffele, who gained two majors himself, week in and week out. Let’s not overlook about that gold medal win, too.
Berhow: Scottie Scheffler won’t ever return to Louisville.
Bastable: Yeah, the Scheffler PGA fiasco will go down because the one of many wildest sports activities tales of all time, however nonetheless, this 12 months could be remembered extra for what occurred off the course. Or, extra the purpose, what didn’t occur. And that may proceed to be the case till the PGA Tour and PIF lastly strike a deal. The drawn-out negotiations have sucked a lot oxygen out of the room. Complete bummer.
Additionally full is the 2024 LPGA season, with Jeeno Thitikul profitable the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Nelly Korda tied for fifth to place a bow on a spectacular seven-win marketing campaign. Fast: Will Korda match or surpass that season-win complete once more in her profession?
Hirsh: I’ll go forward and say it: sure! For as unbelievable as Korda’s season was, it was additionally form of bizarre. She missed three cuts randomly in the midst of the season that included two majors, she took two months off between her first and second wins, she let possibilities to win the Open and Olympics slip away and he or she additionally handled some damage. So long as her mechanics keep intact, I might see her profitable in bunches like this for just a few extra years.
Berhow: Sure. And boy, that sounds loopy to say, however I got here to that conclusion in my head fairly shortly. I feel she will be able to preserve getting higher — as Jack talked about, she had some bizarre issues occur this 12 months too — and I’d not be a bit shocked to see her do that once more.
Bastable: Buzzkill Bastable says no. Seven wins is staggering, and the tour is barely getting deeper, that means victories will grow to be more and more tougher to come back by. As Jack notes, Nelly’s additionally been susceptible to accidents; profitable in bunches requires staying wholesome.
Final week, GOLF launched its newest rating of the Prime 100 Programs You Can Play, an inventory stuffed with celebrity layouts accessible to any Common Joe. For those who have been creating the final word public-golf street journey with this record in thoughts, the place are you taking our readers?
Hirsh: I’ve used this area earlier than to shout-out my former hometown of Bend, Ore., and I’ll do it once more. Bend is represented on our newest Prime 100 Programs You may Play record with Pronghorn’s two programs, but it surely has a lot extra to supply. Sunriver’s Crosswater course as soon as was within the high 15 of our rating and I consider it is likely one of the most lovely inland programs I’ve ever performed. The record goes on and on with Tetherow, Brasada Ranch, Black Butte Ranch and extra. Inside 90 minutes is a fully improbable hidden gem within the mountains referred to as Tokatee, which is on GOLF’s record of America’s greatest golf programs for beneath $100. And whereas a five-hour drive to Bandon Dunes could seem lengthy, it is likely one of the most scenic drives you’ll be able to take.
Berhow: The straightforward reply is to spend a while kicking round Pebble Seaside or Pinehurst, and so on., and taking part in all of these crazy-good — and sometimes spendy — tracks, however I’m gonna use my homer card as properly and decide a extra Midwestern journey that gained’t damage your pockets quiet as a lot and isn’t as apparent. Play a kind of elite Wisconsin programs (Whistling or Sand Valley or Erin Hills, and so on.) however then cease off for a price play at Lawsonia, then head to Minnesota (which I’m shocked didn’t get one nod on our Prime 100 You Can Play record) and go approach up north and double up at Giants Ridges’ two programs earlier than driving to close by The Wilderness at Fortune Bay. It’s an awesome space that’s dwelling to a few of the higher public programs within the state, and until you might be courageous sufficient to journey that far, quite a lot of out-of-staters don’t even find out about it.
Bastable: No, Josh, the straightforward reply is, actually, Bandon Dunes, which has 5 programs within the high 25. Bonus: the one street journey you want fear about is attending to the resort. A much less apparent rec: the Tampa, Fla., space. Three Streamsong Prime 100s, the brand new unfold at Cabot Citrus Farms and the Copperhead course at Innisbrook are all inside two hours of each other. Not a foul haul!
