Year end performance reviews
Each week, we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.
Various player awards are trickling out now that the 2024 season is over. Player of the Year honours to Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda seem like a slam-dunk but we’re wondering which player had the best year? You can use whatever criteria you like. Nominees include Scottie Scheffler with seven wins including The Masters and the Players Championship, the Olympic Gold Medal and $62 million in earnings; Nelly Korda with seven wins; Xander Schauffele with two majors; Rory McIlroy with two wins on the PGA Tour and two more on the DP World Tour plus his sixth European Tour Order of Merit (Race to Dubai); Lydia Ko with the Olympic Gold Medal, the AIG Women’s Open and induction to the World Golf Hall of Fame; Nick Dunlap for two PGA Tour wins as a 20-year-old rookie including one as an amateur; or Bernhard Langer for another Champions Tour victory at the age of 67 after time off for Achilles surgery and recovery and 18 consecutive years with a win.
Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): My heart says, “pick Langer, Jim!” But my head says “how can you possibly not choose Scheffler, for one of the greatest seasons in golf history? So, waytago, Scottie. I hope that at least 50% of that $62 million is being donated to worthy causes.
Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): There were a lot of good stories this year, but for me, Korda, sorta, takes the cake on her year. Six wins is a career, never mind doing it in just two months. Her year was consistently excellent.
Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: Lumping them all into the same bucket isn’t a fair comparison. Scheffler and Korda are undoubtedly the male and female MVPs in their respective Tours. Surely, we aren’t going back to 1950 when Sam Snead won 11 times and Ben Hogan won one, albeit in the US Open. One of the greatest accomplishments occurred this year, even though it didn’t happen to the MVP. Bernard Langer won on the Champions Tour for the 18th consecutive years with a victory and for the 47th time. I hope he can keep going for another three victories. A recognition of accomplishment has to go to Gary Woodland for competing after his bout with brain surgery.
TJ Rule, Golf Away Tours (@GolfAWayTJ): It’s hard to not pick Scottie for the dominant season he had, but if I was a player, the season I would have wanted to have was Lydia Ko’s season. An Olympic Gold to finish off the collection and stamp her ticket to the World Golf Hall of Fame, and probably best of all, winning an Open at the Home of Golf. Despite having less wins than Nelly and Scottie, I think her year was more special overall.
Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: Huge and tainted money has so sullied the golf landscape that no traditional golf fan gives a fig if Scheffler got 62 million units of any currency. The top feeders have enough for their grandchildren’s children, so who can afford to spend any thoughts on them? Sure, by wins and bank deposits (have to be offshore) the nominees had great seasons, but they’ve already had quite a few. But a guy like Dunlap had a life-changing year. That was the best year this year: it changed his life. He may go on to be a 7-time winner one year and bank (banque?) otherworldly sums, but this will always be his best ever year.
Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysMag): If professional golf picked an All-Star team, those players would all be on it. But finding the best of the best is tougher. Usually, it’s just about wins and majors, so Scheffler’s season stands out as the best statistically. However, performing above expectations, is another defining metric, and in that regard, I think Nick Dunlap had the best year. As Quinn says, it was life-changing. And so far removed from any expectations he might have had.
On the flip side of question #1, which player had the worst year in 2024? Too many nominees to list but look for a player that vastly underperformed expectations or maybe just blew it when they had a chance.
Deeks: This is a pretty random choice, based simply on going down the PGA Tour Official Money list. But remember Bill Haas? Winner of 6 events on Tour, including a $10 million payday about a dozen years ago? He finished 2024 at 199th in the standings this year, with 10 missed cuts out of 14 events, and a grand total of $98,084 earned. His life may be full and occupied with other endeavours, but if he’s still thinking he is or can be an A-list player, I’d have to say the bus has left the station. There may be many other tales of woe out there with other players, but I tend to forget them five minutes after they happen, just like my own game.
Loughry: Most disappointing year? It’s Spieth or Fowler for me, neither really even sniffed anything all year, and barely had any round that was worth noting. I expect more of Spieth over Fowler, but both struggled this year in Majors and regular play.
Schurman: Three players appear to be laden with gold-filled saddlebags: Spieth, Fowler, and Webb Simpson. They will have to make a turnaround soon, or their peers will set the bar for keeping your card so high that none of these are going to make it.
Rule: On the men’s side, can I still say Tiger Woods? OK, him aside, I’d have to say Jordan Spieth. He had a resurgent 2022-23 and then fell off the map again this year. And on the women’s side, what happened to Danielle Kang? Once a dominant player on tour, she had a terrible season on the course, barely making cuts. Hopefully each of them rebound in 2025.
Quinn: They were the face of American golf, and now they’re not. Were they put on too high a pedestal, too many TV ads, too many endorsements, made too rich too young? Jordan Speith and Justin Thomas were the red, white, and blue’s future but suddenly have played their way into it’s past. Week after week it was disheartening to read where they finished.
Mumford: Brooke Henderson had an ok year for a journeyman player, but I imagine her expectations were higher and included at least one win and maybe another major. The biggest frustration though would have to be Rory McIlroy. Despite two wins on each Tour, his only critical measure is in the majors and while he came close, the tally still sits at zero for the year, four for the career and none in the last ten years.
It was reported last week that PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had been paid $23 million in 2023. His income for 2024 could be even more. Monahan is certainly making the top players happy with huge purse increases, Signature events and smaller fields. But that’s all at the expense of second tier events, lower ranked players and fans. Hard to say if his performance is worthy of that enormous pay package. What grade would you give Monahan if you had to evaluate his performance?
Deeks: The money paid out in professional sports, and professional golf, is just obscene and has been for decades. I’d love to know what Jay Monahan has done or achieved to earn this kind of pay. I’d give the guy a C+ grade just for still being in the job, but a D- for not having done anything but find all kinds of extra dough for his “clients” and shrink the opportunities for young players to have access to all that money. If I were King of the Tour, I’d pay him a million and expect him to be grateful.
Loughry: Jay has really choppy waters to navigate, but the grade he deserves depends on the audience. If you’re a top player, you’re probably giving him an A-. Non-top players, fans, and most sponsors/partners would give him a failing grade, unfortunately. I think the fans are the ones who will take time to heal and come back or support at any substantial capacity. But that’s not who Jay serves directly. I don’t think Jay’s legacy will go down as the best PGA Tour Commissioner they’ve ever had, but he was also dealt a pretty tough hand to play out.
Schurman: As the reward for incompetence, stupidity and guessing how to serve the greed of those necessary to support you grows, so does their compensation. It seems as though certain people are destined for rewards far before their level of contribution. Monahan has divided every major golf association around the world. In a time when huge growth was available due to Covid, he managed not only to destroy that, but he continues to ride Tiger into the sunset. There should be Junior programs in at least 100 new countries, including developmental tours (male & female). What do we have instead? The top 25 players own private jets, as JM has tripled his income over the past 4 years. BTW He flies the PGA TOUR’s private jet. I would have fired him as soon as he failed to communicate with Greg Norman just to turn over that stone, if only to see what was on the other side.
Rule: Not knowing the inner workings of his deals with the Tour and their sponsors, and just looking in from the outside, he gets a failing grade from me. I’m still not sure why he’s held on to his position and not been replaced. He obviously has the trust of someone, and perhaps he proves me wrong by getting the Tour back on track and making nice with the LIV guys in 2025.
Quinn: Man, 23 large doesn’t get you what it used to! Imagine picking up that kind of coin while being roundly and globally criticized for the job you’re doing, or not doing. So, the LPGA Tour commish has to resign after that enterprises’ stumbles while racking up record $$ numbers, but Monahan keeps getting that kind of money (not even oil money!) to oversee what could well be the demise of the organization that is so massively overpaying him? In such a bizarre world, only someone like Drumpf could be president.
Mumford: Years ago, Babe Ruth was asked how it felt to make more money than the President of the United States. “Well, I had a better year than he did”, Babe replied. Monahan made more money in 2023 than all but a few of his players when you factor in FedEx Cup bonuses and PIP money. Did he have a better year than Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm or Viktor Hovland? His earnings included a $12 million bonus. Was that for being the biggest hypocrite on the planet and launching the nebulous Framework Agreement? Or delivering a better fan experience? Even if none of that were important, should the Commissioner make more money than the best players? Monahan is vastly overcompensated on any logical basis. I’m surprised the players tolerate it.
