2024 Golf Awards: A Memorable (and Wild) Year That Deserves Its Own Hall of Fame

How do you quantify such a strange year in golf? Gary Van Sickle creates a new Hall of Fame for the brilliant and not-so-much in 2024.

Nelly Korda, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele all played starring roles in 2024. / Imagn Images

Golf already has a prestigious Hall of Fame. I wouldn’t dare try to replace it.

(Never mind that it went out of business on the PGA Tour’s watch and did a walk-of-shame move from St. Augustine, Fla., to smaller quarters in Pinehurst, N.C.)

It’s just that golf in 2024 was such a terrific, unique, puzzling, memorable, quarrelsome year that I was inspired to create a sorta-kinda Hall of Fame just for these last 12 months. (Also, an editor assigned me to do it.)

Here, then, are just a few of the immortals of 2024 and their moments, proudly inducted into my Hall of Fleeting Fame, which is housed near me in a location I can’t divulge because the guy in the red motorhome parked by the 7-Eleven is in the FBI’s Witness Protection program—or wasn’t I supposed to mention that, Rico?

The Arresting Development Wing

Louisville Police officer Javar Downs was at the scene when pro golfer Scottie Scheffler was arrested before the PGA Championship and charged with a felony while trying to enter the Valhalla Golf Club grounds. Downs didn’t have his body camera on during the arrest, as he was required to do, and weeks later other non-police video exonerated Scheffler and all charges were dropped.

Downs got more headlines in August when he was arrested and charged with stealing $4,000 from a criminal suspect at a traffic stop. The suspect had $10,000 in an envelope and Downs allegedly took $4,000 out before submitting the rest into evidence. Downs was placed on emergency suspension and reportedly was facing termination.

Curiously, The Daily Mail reported that Downs had showed off a luxurious lifestyle on social media, posting photos of expensive cars (a Dodge Challenger GT, a new silver Mercedes, an Acura and a Ford Explorer); trips to Lake Tahoe, Maui, Chicago and South Africa; and a lavish lakeside wedding in 2015.

After his many trips in 2023, The Daily Mail said Downs posted this at the end of that year: “I’m excited about the places we’re going in 2024 so stay tuned.”

Well, there could be a lot of bars at his next destination.

The Impressive, Totally Not Delusional Self-Confidence Wing

Media member Kyle Porter on X: “Who is going to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team next year that no one saw coming?’

PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen, 37, whose only Tour win was in Puerto Rico in 2021 and who rallied on the closing holes to keep his exempt status for 2025: “Me.”

I was going to check FanDuel to see if I could get odds on this until I saw the current Ryder Cup points list. Dahmen ranks 21st. Who’s going to be the most surprised about that? 

Me.

The Rory Wing, Aisle 1

Just in case you’d written off Rory McIlroy after some near-misses and faltering finishes, he came on strong to win the Race to Dubai for the sixth time to stake his claim as Europe’s No. 1 player. 

McIlroy, 35 finished his 10th straight year without a major title, although he did also snag victories in the Dubai Desert Classic, the Wells Fargo Championship and, with Shane Lowry, the Zurich Classic. The U.S. Open was in his grasp until he missed short par putts at the 16th and 18th holes and Bryson DeChambeau made a clutch sand save for the win; he lost the lead and the Irish Open to Rasmus Højgaard’s charge at Royal County Down, a bitter pill to swallow in his home country of Northern Ireland; he lost a playoff to Billy Horschel in the DP World Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth; and he blew his chance of an Olympic medal when he dunked a wedge shot into the lake at the 15th hole in the final round.

What a weird, up-and-down year. Said McIlroy, “I’m going to look back on 2024 and I’m going to have four wins.”

Hope lives. The Force is strong with this one.

The Ernie Banks Let’s Play Two Doubleheader Wing

First, Nick Dunlap won the American Express Championship in January as an amateur. That made him the first am to win a tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991. Then Dunlap turned pro and won the Barracuda Championship, a late season Tour event that uses a Stableford points scoring system. That earned him a place in the Tour record book—the first to win as an am and a pro in the same season.

“I never thought I’d have my name next to that,” said Dunlap, a University of Alabama sophomore. “But it’s definitely an honor.”

Dunlap finished fifth in the FedEx St. Jude Championship and 31st in the BMW Championship but did not advance to the Tour Championship.

At least he made the playoffs, unlike his school.

The Stately Wayne Manor Wing

Sure, Bryson DeChambeau won an electrifying U.S. Open title at Pinehurst. But he had even more accomplishments in 2024. He partnered with Donald Trump to shoot 50 in an episode of Bryson’s “Break 50” video series. He rode in a parade en route to SMU’s football game against Pittsburgh and held up the Open trophy in the stands with his buddies during the Mustangs’ win. He posted another
“Break 50” with internet superstar Paige Spiranac, then another with Tom Brady.

Most momentous of all, sarcasm implied, was when he spent two weeks flipping wedge shots over the roof of his glassy Texas mansion to a green in the backyard in an attempt to score a blind-shot hole-in-one.

The race for an ace became a viral sensation. He streamed his daily attempts, which featured several close calls and a lipout, until finally got his ace on the 14th shot of the 16th day. A natural ham, DeChambeau dropped his club, ran to the hole and kissed the ball once he retrieved it. 

“I can’t believe I made that!” he said. “Are you kidding me?”

He spent 16 days hitting balls over his mansion and didn’t break a window—are you kidding me?

The Rory Wing, Aisle 2

The Reinvention of the Year belongs to Rory McIlroy. He spent three weeks hitting balls into a screen—in Florida and in New York—in order to improve his swing technique, which he admitted he hadn’t liked for a while. 

“The only way I was going to move in the right direction was to lock myself in a studio and just focus entirely on the movement,” McIlroy said. “If my swing is more efficient, it’s not going to break down as much under pressure. If I look at my year, the one thing I would criticize myself on is the fact that I had those chances to win.”

After 17 years as a pro, McIlroy is still grinding. You know who’d like that attitude? Arnold Palmer.

The Pedal to the Medal Wing

When Lydia Ko held on to a lead to capture the Olympic gold medal in Paris, it made her the first golfer to win a gold, silver and bronze Olympic medal in golf. Even better, the win earned the 27-year-old enough points to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. She was inducted later in the year. 

Asked what her goal was after making the Hall (the real one, not the fake one in this column), Ko said “it would be really, really cool to win a major championship before I’m done.”

Shortly after the Olympics, Ko won the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews’ Old Course, her first major title, believe it or not, in eight years.

Not even Joel Dahmen had a better year than Ko.

The Greatest Rookie Who Never Was Wing

Two-time PGA Tour winner Nick Dunlap had the Rookie of the Year title sewn up early but another impressive Tour newcomer was Florida State University’s Luke Clanton, who managed four top-10 finishes despite not being on the Tour. Clanton placed runner-up at the John Deere Classic in July and the RSM Championship in November. 

Clanton played 28 rounds in eight PGA Tour events. He shot in the 60s in 20 times, including a 62 and two 63s. If he played enough rounds to qualify for the Tour’s stats, NBCSports.com’s Brentley Romine calculated that Clanton would rank second in strokes-gained driving (behind Cameron Champ); third in approaching the green (behind Scottie Scheffler and Tony Finau); and 43rd in strokes-gained putting.

Once he gets on Tour, some enterprising followers should show up at tournaments wearing T-shirts that say, “The Clanton Gang.” They will rank up there behind Arnie’s Army, Lee’s Fleas and Funk’s Punks.

The Rory Wing, Aisle 3

From the History-Aware, Totally Not Delusional Self-Confidence Subsection Wing: “I’m a European player,” said Rory McIlroy. “I would like to go down as the most successful European of all time. I think it is a goal that’s quite attainable over the next 10 years.”

No argument. We just can’t wait for the McIlroy-Dahmen showdown at the Bethpage Ryder Cup.

The Redundancy Wing

Are you sure, really sure, that winning doesn’t get old? Scottie Scheffler did it nine times in 2024. 

He won seven PGA Tour titles, an Olympic gold medal and then the Hero World Challenge, the Silly Season event hosted by Tiger in the Bahamas where he beat, like, six other guys (OK, it was actually 19 guys).

Scheffler won $1 million—or slightly less than 12th place paid at the Players Championship ($1.025 million).

“He just never really does anything wrong,” tournament host Tiger Woods said during the NBC telecast.

The Louisville Police Department disagreed. But they were wrong.

The Rory Wing, Aisle 4

Few players have the nerve to tell it like it is. Rory McIlroy: “I feel like I’ve been golf's ‘Nearly Man’ for the last three years. I obviously want that tide to turn and go from ‘Nearly Man’ back to winning golf tournaments. It’s all well and good saying I’m close and I’m close and I’m close. I need to turn these near misses and close calls into wins.”

He was close to having a Scottie Scheffler monster year. He settled for being a Nearly Man with four wins. Not all bad.

The Suddenly Dominant Player Wing

Superstars come, superstars go. They always seem irreplaceable. But they aren’t. Because here we are in post-Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson-Annika Sorenstam Eras and watching remarkable runs by Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda, the best players on their respective tours with no end in sight. 

Korda was easily the star of the LPGA Tour, winning seven times and snagging Player of the Year. Her seven wins included the Chevron Championship, her second major title. She’s 26.

“It’s been such a fun year, full of ups and downs,” Korda said.

The downs included being sidelined after being bitten by an unfamiliar dog at a Seattle coffee shop. The ups included a U.S. Solheim Cup victory and, well, just about everything else she played.

The That Sure Sounds Like a Lot of Not-Profit Wing

Jay Monahan, commissioner of the not-for-profit PGA Tour organization, earned $23.1 million in salary in 2023, per the Tour's 2024 tax returns. 

Submit your own punchline here: 

The Leaders Who Quit Leading Wing

The year saw an epidemic of departures among key golf administrators.

Martin Slumbers will leave the R&A by year’s end; Keith Pelley departed his job as DP World Tour chief to work for the Toronto Maple Leafs in his home country, Canada; Seth Waugh was out in June after the PGA of America opted not to renew his contract; LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan recently announced she will step down in January; and Greg Norman confirmed that his contract will not be renewed by LIV Golf.

Helpful info: Each U.S. state has its own guidelines but to receive unemployment benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor website says that “you usually qualify if … you are unemployed through no fault of your own.”

Hmm. No fault of your own? Never mind.

The Rory Wing, Aisle 5

The guy who has a chance to be the greatest player in European history was a total flop at the British Open last summer at Royal Troon. Rory McIlroy missed the cut by five shots thanks to a 78-75 start that included a triple bogey early in the second round. 

“Twenty-two holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy lamented then. 

What’s easier to take—a missed cut or a heartbreaking miss like Pinehurst?

Said McIlroy: “I’d much rather have a disappointing Sunday than go home on Friday.”

The Double Major X-Games Wing

Let’s look back a just how good Xander Schauffele’s first two major championship titles were.

At the PGA Championship at Valhalla, he became the first golfer to shoot 62 in two of the four majors (he dinged Los Angeles Country Club in the U.S. Open in ’23). He posted 21 under, the lowest score to par in major history. He barely held off Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland with a clutch six-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Thrilling.

At Royal Troon, he broke from a pack of seven other contenders with four birdies on the back nine and shot a bogey-free 65, 6 under. He needed that fine form to pass little-known leader Thriston Lawrence of South Africa.

Two gut-wrenching wins, two stellar performances under pressure. In the last decade’s 40 majors, only Brooks Koepka, with five, and Jordan Spieth, with three, have won more majors than Schauffele, a San Diego State University alum who began 2024 with zero majors.

“It took me forever just to win one major,” Schauffele said after his Open win. “And to have two now is something else.”

The man nicknamed X finally marked his spot. 

The Rory Wing Aisle 6

Also on display in the Social Media Wing: After Rory McIlroy lost the U.S. Open to Bryson DeChambeau, he got texts from three guys. Not just any three guys--Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and tennis great Rafael Nadal.

“They just told me to keep going,” McIlroy said. “MJ reminded me of how many game-winning shots he missed. Really nice.”

McIlroy made a savvy famous-person move—he changed his cell phone number two days after the U.S. Open. So it took a while for Tiger’s text to catch up to him.

Cell phones are like opinions, everyone’s got one. But Tiger’s phone number is classified Top Secret DefCon1 Do Not Call Upon Pain of Death Registry. 

The Greatest Monday Wing

The week that Scottie Scheffler won his second Masters began in a unique fashion—with a solar eclipse.

The event was so big that Masters officials passed out—free of charge!—special Masters logo eclipse sunglasses. David Bartlett of Brookfield, Wis., was in attendance with his wife and two adult children because his wife, Renee, scored Monday practice-round tickets in the Masters lottery. 

The eclipse, according to David, was “underwhelming.” Asked to name the last time he felt  underwhelmed, his son, Steve, interrupted, saying, “Don’t even look at me!”

The Whose Yer Daddy Wing

Sentimentality’s big winner in 2024 was Robert MacIntyre, a lefthander from Scotland. He flew his father, Dougie, over from his greenskeeping job at Scotland’s Glencruitten Golf Club to caddie for him at the RBC Canadian Open, where Robert stunningly scored his breakthrough PGA Tour win. What a father-son moment. A month later, with Dougie outside the ropes as a spectator, MacIntyre gamely holed a 22-footer on the final green to beat Adam Scott and win the Scottish Open on home turf. 

“It’s the one I wanted,” Robert said of the title.

A whole country drank to that.

The Hall of Fleeting Fame Summation Wing

Gary Player after Thursday morning’s opening ceremonies at the Masters: “I don’t believe in legacies. If you think people are going to remember you, you’re dreaming. Everything shall pass.”