Im had a great end to 2024 with top 10s at Open Championship and TOUR championship, as well as a T-11 at the BMW playoff event. He usually starts off the season well in Hawaii, so watch for him in the early part of the season.
Henley quietly had seven top-10s last season, including top-5s at the TOUR championship and Open Championship and T-7 at the U.S. Open. He won't show up on anyone's top-10 player list, but he does have four career wins and is consistently on page 1 of the leaderboards.
JT is higher on this list than his 2023 and 2024 seasons would lead you to believe, but when "on", he is among the top 5 golfers in the world. He has not won since earning his 2nd major title at the 2022 PGA Championship, but a strong fall season raises the hopes of him returning to form.
Theegala did everything but win in 2024 with runner-ups at Sentry and RBC Heritage and a 3rd place finish at the TOUR championship. His record in majors was pretty poor in 2024 or he might be higher as he looks for his 2nd career Tour win.
Among the PGA Tour's best players without a major championship, he is also seeking his first official PGA Tour win. He's won plenty overseas to get him to 11th in rankings, but needs to that stateside win to move up higher. A solid fall on the DP World Tour has him primed for 2025.
The 2025 Ryder Cup captain is coming off a great finish to 2024 that saw him win the BMW, finish 21st in the FedExCup standings and sink the winning putt for the USA in the Presidents Cup. Keegan's goal is to play his own way onto the Ryder Cup team, so this ranking could move up fast.
Cantlay didn't record a win in 2024, but did finish the year with six straight top-25s, including a T-3 at the U.S. Open. The 2021 FedEx Cup Champ is winless since the 2022 playoffs.
The surprise breakthrough U.S. Open title in 2023 led to another Tour win in 2024 at Pebble, runner-ups at API and THE PLAYERS and top-10s at two playoff events. Always a candidate at big events, Clark enters 2025 looking for another top-10 season finish.
With Aberg, it seems to be not a matter of "if", but "when" will his time come. Still searching for a signature win in his young career, Aberg was all around them in 2024, with a runner-up at the Masters, T-2 at BMW and top 10s at THE PLAYERS and the Memorial. Starts the year at No. 7 but a big candidate to end the year in the top 5.
There may not be a more talented player out there than Hovland. What puts him 7th on the list, however, is his shockingly poor 2024 season, which resulted in just two Top 10s. Those top-10s were at big events, the St. Jude playoff event and PGA Championship, which shows his ability to rise against the best in the world.
Morikawa did not raise a trophy last year, the first year without one in his young career, but he did finish runner up at the TOUR championship and the Memorial, two of the more prestigious non-Majors out there. The two-time major winner can easily jump into the top 3 this season with another major title.
After the top 3, you could go in many directions. Matsuyama is 6th in the World Rankings but with a win at the first playoff event last year and an historic win at the Sentry last week, he moves to 4th here.
McIlroy completes the Fab 3 of the PGA Tour. Although the major championship drought did not come to an end, Rory still finished runner up at the U.S. Open, won two events and had seven top 10s last year. He won last month on the European Tour to get the year off to a good start.
In any non-Scheffler historic year, Schauffele's 2024 would've been an easy Player-of-the-Year choice after he became the first player since Brooks Koepka in 2018 to win two majors in one season. The X-Man has 26 top-10s over the last two seasons.
The world No. 1 is coming off one of the best single-seasons of all time, having won 7 times in 2024 with 16 top-10s in 19 events. The wins included The Players, The Masters, Olympic Gold and the TOUR Championship. Until proven otherwise, this is Scheffler's spot and it's not close.
