After a nearly seven-week hiatus, the 2024 PGA Tour season begins Thursday at the Sentry in Kapalua, Hawai’i.
The sport still remains divided, as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue to negotiate the details of a potential alliance that would unify the fractured sport.
It will be hard to ignore the division surrounding men’s professional golf this week, as defending champion Jon Rahm will not be in Hawai’i to defend his title. On December 7, the reigning Masters champion became the latest star to jump to the LIV Golf League. He signed a multi-year contract worth more than $300 million.
Here are the PGA Tour Power Rankings ahead of the first tournament of the 2024 season:
A three-time winner in 2023, the reigning FedEx Cup champion looks poised to win his first major championship this year. He finished in the top 13 in each of the past four seasons, including a tie for second at the PGA Championship. He went 3-1-1 in the Ryder Cup, helping lead the European team to a 16½-11½ victory. Hovland plays in the Sentry and has committed to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, WM Phoenix Open and Genesis Invitational.
Despite his struggles with the putter in 2023, the world’s No. 1 golfer had 17 top-10 finishes in 23 Tour starts without missing a cut. He earned two more official victories at the Phoenix Open and the Players and earned a record $21 million. Scheffler’s victory at the Hero World Challenge showed that his work with putting coach Phil Kenyon is paying off; he avoided a triple putt in 72 holes in the Bahamas.
Will a less stressful 2024 campaign be for the four-time Grand Slam champion? After leaving the PGA Tour board of directors, McIlroy appears more committed than ever to ending his nine-plus year drought without a major title. McIlroy will skip the Sentry again and start the new year with two events in the Middle East: the Dubai Invitational from January 11-14 and the Hero Dubai Desert Classic from January 18-21. He is the defending champion in the latter.
Homa picked up two more wins during the 2022-23 season, finishing first at the Fortinet Championship in September 2022 and the Farmers Insurance Open in January 2023. He had a relatively quiet summer before a string of top-12 finishes in each one of his last six starts in official circuit events. He tied for 10th at the Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in England, his best finish in a major, and finished in the top 10 in each of the three FedEx Cup events. He then earned his first victory outside the United States at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa on November 12.
Schauffele didn’t get a win last season, but otherwise played spectacular golf. He had two runner-up finishes and 11 top-10 finishes in 23 starts. He didn’t miss a cut. Schauffele last won at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open almost 18 months ago. The 30-year-old looks poised to win his first major championship in 2024. He has 11 top-10 finishes in majors in his career and has not finished outside the top 18 in his last seven starts in majors.
The normally stoic Cantlay was in the spotlight frequently in 2023. He was at the center of controversy at the Ryder Cup in Italy over reports that he wanted to be compensated for his appearance. Cantlay denied the reports. Then his caddie, Joe LaCava, got into an altercation with McIlroy on the 18th green. Cantlay also sits on the PGA Tour’s policy board for the first time and denied trying to wrest control of negotiations with the Public Investment Fund. from Saudi Arabia. He has not won for more than 16 months.
Morikawa ended a 27-month drought without a victory on the PGA Tour by capturing the Zozo Championship in Japan on October 22. The two-time major winner will return to Kapalua, where he blew a 6-shot lead early in the final round of the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and lost to Rahm by 2. He tied for the biggest collapse after 54 holes in PGA history Tour.
A year ago, the 24-year-old was preparing for his last college season at Texas Tech. Now, he has already scored two world victories; he won the Omega European Masters on the DP World Tour in September and the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour in November. The Swede went 2-2 in the Ryder Cup as a rookie on a European team. Aberg finished in the top 25 in eight of his 11 PGA Tour starts last season. He recently hired veteran caddy Joe Skovron, who worked with Rickie Fowler and more recently Tom Kim.
The Englishman earned his second PGA Tour victory at the RBC Heritage in April, then ended a two-year drought on the DP World Tour by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland in October. He battled a neck injury for much of 2023, but he is expected to be healthy heading into this season.
Clark finally captured his first PGA Tour victory at the Wells Fargo Championship in May, then battled McIlroy and Fowler to capture his first major championship at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club in June. Clark wasn’t done, as he tied for 15th in the BMW Championship and was solo third in the Tour Championship. He pocketed more than $10.7 million in on-field earnings last season.
Harman had his breakthrough moment in July when he captured the Open by 6 strokes to win his first major championship. At 36, he was the oldest major championship winner for the first time since Sergio Garcia won the 2017 Masters at 37. Harman tied for fifth in the BMW Championship and was 23rd in the Tour Championship.
12. Tom Kim
Kim overcame a bit of a slump as a sophomore last season before turning things around with a tie for second at The Open. With the help of swing coach Chris Como, Kim found her form late and won the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas for the second year in a row on October 15. He became the fourth-youngest golfer to achieve three victories on the PGA Tour; only Gene Sarazen, Horton Smith and Tiger Woods did so at a younger age. Kim hired Daniel Parratt, KH Lee’s former caddy, to replace Joe Skovron.
Glover, 44, enjoyed one of the most epic warm-ups in recent PGA Tour history when he won the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in consecutive weeks in August. He was just the third player in his 40s to win consecutive weeks on tour in the last 25 years.
Bradley, 37, enjoyed a major resurgence last season when he ended a more than five-year win drought with two wins: the Zozo Championship in October 2022 and the Travelers Championship in June. He cooled off late in the season before tying for ninth in the Tour Championship.
Fleetwood, 32, came painfully close to winning his first tournament when he lost to Canadian Nick Taylor in a four-hole playoff at the RBC Canadian Open on June 11. Fleetwood, a six-time winner on the DP World Tour, has 22 career bests. -Five finishes on the PGA Tour, the most for any golfer without a victory in the last 40 years. He is also the first player to earn more than $20 million in career earnings without winning.
The Englishman appears closer than ever to another PGA Tour victory after racking up seven top 10s and 13 top 25s in 21 starts last season. He missed only one cut and finished second at the Players and tied for third at the Wells Fargo Championship and the RBC Canadian Open. His only victory on the PGA Tour came at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A left wrist injury plagued Spieth for much of last season, when he went winless and had seven top 10s in 22 starts on tour. He lost in a playoff to Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage. Spieth re-injured his wrist after the Ryder Cup, leading to a proper diagnosis: damage to the ulnar nerve, which controls movement in the forearm, hand and fingers. Spieth said he has addressed the injury through treatment and feels good about his form heading into 2024.
It was a big 2022-23 season for Straka, who earned his second PGA Tour victory at the John Deere Classic on July 9 and made his first Ryder Cup appearance. Originally from Austria, Straka went 1-2 for the team European winner. He also had his first two top 10s in majors, a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship and a tie for second at The Open.
The 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year didn’t find the winner’s circle last season. He came close again before losing to Sam Burns in the final match of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He also tied for seventh at the Masters, one of five top-10 finishes of his last season. Young will have a new caddy in 2024 after Paul Tesori moved to Brendon Todd’s bag, as Golfweek first reported.
The Australian ended a five-year winless drought with his 13th PGA Tour victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson on May 14. It was Day’s first win in 105 starts since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. Day also tied for second at The Open, his first top 10 at a major in three years.
21. Rickie Fowler
Fowler’s return from golf purgatory was complete when he held off Morikawa and Adam Hadwin to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first PGA Tour victory in more than four years, on July 2. He birdied the 18th hole on the final hole in regulation and the first playoff. hole at Detroit Golf Club to do so. It came two weeks after Fowler faded in the final round and tied for fifth at the U.S. Open.
Finau earned two more victories last season at the Cadence Bank Houston Open in November 2022 and the Mexican Open in April. But then he only had one top-20 finish in his next 11 starts in official PGA Tour events, a tie for seventh at the 3M Open. Finau had been linked to LIV Golf but affirmed his commitment to the PGA Tour.
Burns secured his fifth PGA Tour victory by winning the final Match Play of the WGC-Dell Technologies in Austin, Texas, on March 26. But otherwise, it was a so-so season, as Burns had as many missed cuts (six) as he had top-10 finishes. . He missed two cuts in majors and his best finish was a tie for 29th in the Masters.
The immensely talented Theegala earned his first PGA Tour victory with a 2-stroke victory at the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California on September 7. It was his 74th start in an official tour event. He also tied for second at the 2022 RSM Classic, one of eight top-10 finishes of his last season.
The Australian secured a PGA Tour card by tying for sixth at the Players and fifth at the US Open last season. He also tied for ninth at the Travelers Championship and tied for sixth at the Zozo Championship. On November 26, Lee won the Australian PGA Championship, his third victory on the DP World Tour.
