Playing a tournament in which he made his 100th career cut on the PGA Tour, Maverick McNealy also accomplished a first. McNealy emerged from a crowded leaderboard with a birdie of the 72nd hole of the 2024 RSM Classic to reach 16 under and win his first PGA Tour event over Nico Echavarria, Daniel Berger and amateur Luke Clanton.
McNealy entered the season finale well inside the Aon Next 10 -- Nos. 51-60 in the FedEx Cup standings that qualifies for the first two signature events of 2025 -- with eyes on another goal: starting his new year in Kapalua at The Sentry. With his maiden trip into the winner's circle, he will do exactly that.
Not only will McNealy make that start in 2025, he qualified to play in the Masters for the first time in his career. The 29-year-old also secured his place in the 2025 PGA Championship and on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season.
"I'm shaking right now," McNealy said following his tournament-clinching birdie. "I feel like I could run a marathon -- absolutely exhausted, but the adrenaline is unbelievable. My family is here; my whole team is watching. I'm just so happy that I got one for them."
Entering the final round holding a share of the lead alongside Vincent Whaley, McNealy made easy work of the front nine and added two birdies along the way to command a two-stroke advantage at the turn. A nice par save on No. 11 looked to have settled his nerves as he searched for a first win in his 142nd attempt, but the wheels began to wobble over the closing stretch.
A dropped shot on No. 14 saw McNealy's edge vanish as he drew even with Berger, his playing partner, along with Clanton and Echavarria. His share of the lead soon turned into a deficit as Echavarria rolled in a birdie on the par-5 15th and Clanton came roaring with one of his own on the par-4 16th.
Meanwhile, McNealy made a blunder when he failed to birdie the lone par 5 on the back nine. Instead, he needed three putts from 60 feet after finding the surface in two. He continued to trail by one stroke until both Clanton and Echavarria failed to save par on the final hole after missing the green from the middle of the fairway.
Amid the scrum atop the leaderboard with one hole to play, McNealy made his mark on the last. Lacing a 6 iron from 186 yards to inside 6 feet, he converted the tournament-defining birdie for his long-awaited first career victory on the PGA Tour. Grade: A+
Here are the grades for the rest of the notables on the leaderboard at the 2024 RSM Classic
T2. Daniel Berger (-15): Entering the week outside the top 125, Berger found himself in position to not only lock up his playing privileges for 2025 but 2026 as well had he entered the winner's circle. Trailing by two at the turn, the four-time PGA Tour winner clawed into a share of the lead thanks to a 55-foot birdie on No. 11 and a bogey from McNealy a few holes later. His ball striking set up realistic birdie chances from 4 feet, 8 feet, 16 feet and 20 feet on Nos. 15-18; however, none fell, and Berger ended his run one stroke shy of a playoff. Grade: A+
T2. Luke Clanton (-15): An amateur in name only, Clanton contended yet again. Finding a flurry of birdies around the turn, the Florida State product crept up the leaderboard and seized a share of the lead when his 15-foot birdie bid on the par-4 16th found the bottom of the cup. Unable to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the final hole, Clanton came up just short of becoming the second amateur to win on the PGA Tour this season. He now has four top-10 finishes in eight career starts, including a pair of podium results.
"It was another good week. It's hard, man. It's a hard loss, for sure," Clanton said. "I think God's given me a great talent, and to be out here in general, just to be in contention again, it's awesome. It's going to be a tough one to definitely take, for sure, after bogeying the last, but I think it's proven to me that out here I can win, so I'll be training for that." Grade: A+
T17. Ludvig Åberg (-10): There was plenty of good and plenty of bad in Åberg's first start since undergoing knee surgery. Falling as many as 5-over par in his first round, the reigning champion battled back to make the cut and climb inside the top 20 by week's end. He was stuck in neutral on Moving Day, but he more than made up for it with a closing 64 that saw Åberg display his typical tee-to-green prowess. Grade: B+
T35. Joel Dahmen (-7): Dahmen faced a 5-foot putt with his professional life on the line Friday evening, draining it to sneak into the weekend. After a mundane Moving Day, the one-time PGA Tour winner was in need of a Sunday to remember in hopes of retaining his full-time status. A hole-out eagle on the par-4 13th kickstarted his round as he tacked on three more birdies before making the turn. Dahmen made just one more birdie from there, but he kept the squares off the scorecard, signed for a 64 and secured that full-time status for 2025.
"This is different. Makes you appreciate things a little more when times are tough," Dahmen said. "I thought a lot about everything. It came down to the last putt this week. I hit thousands of golf shots this year, missed a lot of cuts, had a lot of opportunities to do everything, so I didn't have to come to this. So, I was thankful for the opportunity today, but I don't want to go through this ever again." Grade: B
MC. Wesley Bryan: The bubble boy coming into the week, Bryan got his tournament off to a nice start when he opened with a round of 2-under 70 on the Plantation Course. He appeared to be well on his way to making the cut and securing his PGA Tour card until disaster -- in the form of a double bogey -- struck on the par-4 14th on the Seaside Course. Needing to play his final four holes in 1 under to see the weekend and give himself a chance to maintain his position inside the top 125, Bryan exchanged a birdie for a bogey and fell on the wrong side of both cut lines. Grade: F