Professional golf has hit its offseason, and while some players will take a moment to reflect on the year that passed, others will continue heading to the golf course regularly over the ensuing few weeks attempting to improve. Scottie Scheffler was the best player in the world this year, according to nearly every single metric except for major championships won, in which case, Xander Schauffele reigned supreme.
Scoring average, trophies collected, jail time served, strokes gained -- Scheffler led them all among his PGA Tour contemporaries. (He also picked up an Olympic gold medal and victory at The Players Championship, of course.) Let's focus on the statistics, though, as the world No. 1 topped the charts in strokes gained for the second straight season with plenty of movement coming below Scheffler as stars burned out and young players made their moves.
Chief among those to fall was Jordan Spieth as the three-time major champion dealt with inconsistencies in his game and injuries to his body throughout 2024. Experiencing everything from a missed cut at Augusta National to an incorrect scorecard at the Genesis Invitational, Spieth struggled so much that he was an omission from the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
His good friend, Rickie Fowler, met the same fate before a nice comeback in FedEx Cup Fall put the five-time winner back on track. Max Homa may have found something in the early goings of the year, but he was a lost puppy for the second half of the PGA Tour season.
It wasn't all bad news for fan favorites, though. Collin Morikawa did not pick up a win made substantial strides in his game -- primarily improving around the green. First-time winners Maverick McNealy and Davis Thompson made overall gains with budding superstar Akshay Bhatia among the notables to find his groove.
Let's check out some of the biggest names who made moves -- for better or worse -- in each strokes-gained category this season.
Strokes gained ...
Off the tee
🔺 Sahith Theegala (+106 spots): In only three seasons on the PGA Tour, Theegala has borne a reputation of being wild and wayward off the tee. While true in his first two campaigns, Theegala's third season was defined by his improvement with the driver in hand. Getting longer and straighter off the tee, Theegala turned into a top-30 driver on the PGA Tour in 2024. It was influential in a trio of podium results, including a third-place finish at the Tour Championship.
🔺 Billy Horschel (+81): Horschel's 2023 season was one of the worst of his PGA Tour career, meaning there was clear improvement needed across his entire game. That occurred in 2024, the biggest of which came with his driver. Losing strokes off the tee for the first time in his career in 2023, Horschel bounced back to become an above-average driver in 2024. He reentered the winner's circle and nearly raised the Claret Jug.
🔻 Max Homa (-123): Homa's last four months of the season were among his most disappointing given the way he started the campaign. The main culprit was the driver as not even grueling range sessions pre-tournament could help the Californian find fairways with consistency. Battling a two-way miss, he checked in as a bottom-20 driver in 2024.
🔻 Rickie Fowler (-60): Fowler's resurgent 2023 led to a faltering 2024. Getting back into the winner's circle, contending in major championships and competing in the Ryder Cup, Fowler fell flat after seemingly reviving his career. There were a lot of fingers to point, but the biggest was in the direction of the driver where he posted negative strokes gained for the first time in his career.
Other notables: Wyndham Clark (+56), Hideki Matsuyama (+48), Jordan Spieth (+44), Cam Davis (-110), Denny McCarthy (-65), Patrick Cantlay (-57)
Approach
🔺 Keith Mitchell (+148): He's always been known as one of the best drivers on the planet, and in 2024, Mitchell became one of the best iron players as well. A year after ranking 160th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach, the smooth-swinging right hander checked in at No. 12. It led to a close call at the Sanderson Farms where he would have won if not for a faulty putter down the stretch.
🔺 Ludvig Åberg (+86): There may be some sampling issues here as Åberg only played in 11 PGA Tour during the 2023 season, but the gains are nevertheless undeniable. Transforming from an average iron player into a borderline top-20 swinger, the young Swede dazzled in his first full season with contention runs in debuts at the Masters and U.S. Open.
🔻 Rickie Fowler (-117): You can see a trend developing here with Fowler. His off-the-tee numbers were poor, and his approach numbers weren't much better. The fall was twofold as he ranked No. 7 in strokes gained approach in 2023 -- meaning there was plenty of room to go down. That's exactly what he did. His iron play got much better in the fall, so there is hope he can return to that 2023 form in 2025.
🔻 Patrick Cantlay (-86): From inside the top 20 to outside the top 100, Cantlay's iron play was one of the reasons the former FedEx Cup champion failed to win on the PGA Tour for the second straight season. His game took hits throughout the bag, but when the scoring clubs don't cooperate, it is difficult to score like usual. Unsurprisingly, Cantlay's best iron performance came at the U.S. Open where he posted a T3 for his best finish of the season.
Other notables: Davis Thompson (+111), Brian Harman (+70), Sam Burns (+56), Justin Rose (-140), Jordan Spieth (-67), Wyndham Clark (-67)
Around the green
🔺 Collin Morikawa (+86): Many would be surprised to learn that 2024 was the best statistical season of Morikawa's career. That came, in large part, due to his short-game improvements. Although he did not win this year, the two-time major champion became a better overall player. Morikawa climbed inside the top 10 in strokes gained around the green, which led to a number of quality results at golf's toughest tests.
🔺 Xander Schauffele (+48): By the time the postseason ended, Schauffele was the only player to rank inside the top 25 in each strokes-gained category. His distance gains have been well-documented, but his uptick around the green should be lauded as well. Whenever Schauffele's ball striking went awry, his short game was always there to pick him up. It's why he has the longest active made-cut streak (54), and it is why he claimed not one but the first two major championships of his career.
🔻 Viktor Hovland (-94): Hovland made a nice leap in 2023 with his short game helping him enter the conversation of being the best in the world. Winning three times at the end of the summer and leading the European Ryder Cup team to victory, the Norwegian appeared to be on the up and up. That trajectory came to a screeching halt in 2024 mainly due to his play around the green where he ranked 180th out of 184 players on the PGA Tour. The good news is he can't get much worse in 2025.
🔻 Jordan Spieth (-80): Now knowing that Spieth was dealing with a wrist injury all year, his statistical profile makes some sense. He drove the ball as well as ever but once began making contact with the turf (i.e. iron shots) as his game plummeted. This leaked into his short game as well; Spieth ranked outside the top 100 in strokes gained around the green, the worst mark of his career.
Other notables: Davis Thompson (+83), J.T. Poston (+68), Maverick McNealy (+49), Rickie Fowler (-100), Justin Rose (-92), Ludvig Åberg (-66)
Putting
🔺 Akshay Bhatia (+150): Isn't it funny what a new putter can do? Switching to the broom stick, Bhatia became a household name on the PGA Tour in 2024. Winning the Texas Open in a playoff, the left hander made his Masters debut the following week and played his way all the way to the Tour Championship. He was more effective on the greens than putting maestros like Brian Harman, J.T. Poston and Cantlay over the course of the season.
🔺 Scottie Scheffler (+85): Scheffler started his year with five straight top-20 finishes but wanted more out of his play. Making a switch to the mallet putter after the Genesis Invitational, the world No. 1 took off. Winning four of his next five tournaments, Scheffler confirmed it was him and then the rest of the world. He won nine of his last 16 starts in 2024 and looks as comfortable as ever with the putter in hand. For the season, he was just inside the top 80 in putting on the PGA Tour. Imagine if he can climb inside the top 50 in 2025?!
🔻 Keegan Bradley (-105): Ever since the anchoring ban, Bradley has failed to remain a great putter; however, he made tremendous strides in 2023. Posting the best numbers of his career on the greens, the major winner fell back down to Earth in 2024. While he dropped from the top 20 to outside the top 100, Bradley was still able to notch a victory in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
🔻 Max Homa (-100): Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Homa from May onward. Without a top-20 finish on the PGA Tour since the Wells Fargo Championship, the six-time winner's entire game was in disarray, putter included. He was about two strokes worse per tournament with the putter this season compared to his 2023 season when he claimed three worldwide victories.
Other notables: Taylor Pendrith (+97), Russell Henley (+81), Aaron Rai (+65), Nicolai Hojgaard (-120), Tommy Fleetwood (-78), Nick Taylor (-57)
