Bryson DeChambeau: Stock UP
Bryson might never win an Open unless he stumbles upon a week with friendlier-than-usual conditions, but that’s a conversation for later on in his career. For now, it’s all sunshine and rainbows for DeChambeau, who was golf’s preeminent comeback story in 2024 after claiming his second major victory at the U.S. Open in June.
His equipment is better than it’s ever been. His spirits are better than they’ve ever been. And with his blend of power and precision, it’s hard to imagine him being any worse than the second or third favorite in the field heading into Augusta in April and Quail Hollow in May. If he keeps this trajectory, it wouldn’t shock me if he’s the next golfer to get to two (or three) legs of the grand slam. But if and when that happens, the Open could prove a serious bugaboo.
Tiger Woods: Stock DOWN
Look, we’re never going to rule out Tiger Woods come major championship season, but the simple fact is that we’ve just emerged from a major season where Tiger made four major starts and missed three cuts. His best finish of the bunch was dead-last at the Masters.
It’s clearly a question of practice, not ability. But until he’s playing multiple tournament rounds outside of the majors — something he teased in his post-round presser on Friday at Troon — it’s hard to convincingly feel confident about the state of his game during a major week.
Well, maybe except for Augusta.
Rory McIlroy: Stock DOWN
Is it better to have led and lost, or not ever led at all? This’s the question facing Rory at the end of his most agonizing major championship season on record as his major-less streak extends to a decade.
McIlroy is still part of golf’s monoculture, which means that unlike his non-Tiger counterparts, he’s a story every week, win or lose. This year, as with each of the last 10 years, he leaves the major season stuck on four career victories — and fair or not, that’s a story much bigger than some of the other non-winners on this list.
It’s not all bad for Rory, who will surely be able to take some good from his brief flurry of soul-stealing golf in the middle of Sunday at the U.S. Open. We haven’t seen Rory activate into that level of killer-instinct at a major in, well, a while. But it will be hard for him and us not to spend the next eight months litigating the pair of sub-4-footers that came after that stretch, and how hard it will be for him to get back into that position again.
Jon Rahm: Stock DOWN
It was the major season from hell for Rahmbo, who went missing at Augusta and Valhalla, then had to WD from Pinehurst with a bizarre (and quite gruesome-sounding) toe injury. His game returned to form in time for the Open Championship, where a Sunday charge netted a T7 finish that more resembled Rahm’s typically sharp form.
Still, he leaves a year of his prime without having seriously challenged for a major win. For a competitor of his ability level, that’s frustrating.
Brooks Koepka: Stock IN QUESTION
Brooks was another expected contender who vanished from the scene at a few major starts this season. He never played poorly, per se, but never quite managed to find himself in contention.
Koepka’s game is perhaps more susceptible to venue variance than most (he generally does better at the tougher courses), but it was surprising to go through an entire major season without seeing his name on the first page of the leaderboard.
Justin Rose: Stock UP
Rosey did not get the second-career major triumph he so badly desired in 2024, not in a T6 finish at Valhalla in May nor in a spirited qualifier-to-runner-up performance at Troon in July, but he was one of the sport’s most delightful stories anyway.
In an era of pro golf when so many players use their platform for score-settling, Rose kept his head down, said all the right things, and played inspired golf when it mattered most. That’s a pretty good story, if you ask me.
Ludvig Aberg: Stock UP
Tough few weeks for the young Swede, who had a stranglehold on the Scottish Open before an uncharacteristic Sunday, then missed the second cut of his major season at the Open. After so many months of being told he wasn’t a rookie, Aberg has started to look like one down the stretch of this year.
That’s just fine, of course. The rookie wall comes for most, and it’s impossible to talk about his first year in earnest without mentioning his performance in his maiden Masters voyage in April — a solo-second finish that will carry him well into the new year.
He fell short of a historic rookie year, sure, but Aberg isn’t going anywhere.
Collin Morikawa: Stock NEUTRAL
He’s played the best golf of anyone in the world without a win in 2024. He also played some of the best major championship golf of anyone in the world during that stretch. Glass half-full: 2024’s performance is a harbinger of future success to come. Glass half-empty: it’s a big missed opportunity in a year where he played some of his young career’s best golf.
Either way, Collin heads into ’25 hungry for more.
Viktor Hovland: Consult Elon Musk about stock price
I don’t fully know how to categorize Hovland’s season. On one hand, he seemed to lose his game altogether and still managed a solo third-place finish at the PGA. On the other, he seemed to lose his game altogether after being on the brink of a few major wins in ’23.
Hov remains in the conversation at each major he plays, and that’s a good thing. I just suppose I’m wondering how much of that conversation involves pondering life after death, as he did in an interview with The Telegraph.
