With the PGA Tour underway for the 2024-25 season and the LPGA Tour set to start its 2025 season, here are some story lines to follow.
Clearly, the big story line on the PGA Tour will be whether Scottie Scheffler (Titleist Pro V1) can continue the torrid pace he’s been on the last few years. There was a point last year when Scheffler was basically unstoppable, winning four of five tournaments, including the Masters, and tying for second in the other. Much of that is credited from switching from a blade putter to a mallet. He won eight of starts overall and added an Olympic gold medal victory.
The fact he has not played early in the new year because of a minor hand injury provides some intrigue.
If Xander Schauffele (Callaway Chrome Tour) can continue his breakthrough season from last year when he won two majors, it will prevent another Scheffler domination. Look, it’s great that Scheffler has become a generational player, but it’s always good to have two or three players battling it for supremacy. I had always liked the Xand Man but jumped off his bandwagon because too often he came up short. The addition of swing coach Chris Como may have been the difference. Como has worked with many pre-eminent players, including Tiger Woods (Bridgestone Tour B XS), Jason Day (Bridgestone Tour B XS), Bryson DeChambeau (Titleist Pro V1x), Tom Kim (Titleist Pro V1x) and Si Woo Kim (Callaway Chrome Tour), to name a few. But Schauffele is nursing a rib injury, specifically a strain/micro tear on his right side, that will sideline him indefinitely. I’m not a doctor, but a rib injury, specifically a tear, for a golfer raises concerns about how long it will take him to recover.
With both Scheffler and Schauffele expected to make their 2025 debuts in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week, it will be interesting and fun to watch. With it being a Signature event with a $20 million purse, the best players on the Tour will be in it. I would give the edge to Schauffele just because of the unknown factor of Scheffler possibly being rusty.
I’m curious to see if Viktor Hovland (Titleist Pro V1) rebounds from an off-season last year after such a solid end to the previous season, winning two tournaments, including the TOUR Championship. In a recent story written on PGATour.com, he said he made an error trying to add more “draw pieces” to his game. It clearly backfired. He fired his coach early in the season, then reconnected with him. He is now working with TJ Yeaton, a Nashville-based instructor.
As usual it will be interesting to see how the LIV Golf Tour players fare in the majors. DeChambeau served notice last year he is a different person, both in build and temperament, than when he left the PGA Tour. He won the U.S. Open, preceded by a second in the PGA Championship, with a T6 in the Masters.
Ludvig Aberg (Titleist Pro V1x), who might have the sweetest swing on the PGA Tour, was the dominant choice to win the Farmers Insurance Open last week. He led after the opening round, then just completely lost his game in the remaining three rounds, including seven-over par on the final 18 holes, to place tied for 42nd. Granted wind played havoc with the players, but Aberg struggled more than anybody else.
I keep waiting for Cameron Young (Titleist Pro V1x) to win. He is 0-for75 with seven runnerup finishes, including last year in the Valspar, two third-place finishes and five top-10s. He joined the Tour in 2022 and has banked more than $16 million, including $4 million-plus last year. Surely this has got to be the season he finally wins.
Thomas Detry (Callaway Chrome Tour) is also searching for his first win. He is O-for-66, but has two second-place finishes, including one last year, and has been really consistent making cuts.
My breakout/breakthrough player will be Max Greyserman (Callaway Chrome Tour), who had three runnerup finishes last year.
Before I get into the LPGA Tour player storylines, it’s worth noting a major change in leadership. Mollie Marcoux Samaan has stepped down as Commissioner and a search committee is underway to find a replacement. Liz Moore is the interim Commissioner. This is the 75th anniversary of the LPGA, so finding a replacement to potentially take the Tour to a new level and creating more awareness to the mainstream public is paramount. Some positive momentum has been made in recent years with the CME Group helping to boost purses.
Nelly Korda (TaylorMade TP5) had the same dominance last year on the LPGA Tour as Scheffler on the PGA Tour, winning six of seven tournaments at one point, and eight overall. She was finally free of injury and it showed. Coincidentally, one of the tournaments she won, the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship in California in March, has been cancelled from its scheduled stop and will be rescheduled sometime later in the year due to failed financial commitments by the underwriter.
Another great story was Lydia Ko (Titleist Pro V1x) who turned back the clock last year at age 27, winning three of 20 tournaments, including the season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, won an Olympic gold medal, earned an induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame and at year’s end was honored by the New Zealand government with the title Dame. It’s the equivalent of knighthood and she became the youngest to ever receive that honor. She was thinking of retiring at age 30 to pursue a career in psychology. She just may do it anyway. But she said after her fairytale season “I'm excited for what's ahead. I'm not done yet.” Perhaps the only goal left for her is to win the Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open to complete her career Grand Slam. She won the Women’s British Open last year as part of her epic year.
Lilia Vu (Titleist Pro V1x) had a win last year, following a season in which she won four and absolutely dominated the Tour.
Ruoning Yin (Callaway Chrome Tour) had two wins last year, including two in one month, following two wins the year before. She is definitely one to watch.
Sara Schmelzel (Titleist Pro V1x) enters her seventh season on the LPGA Tour, and this could be the year she records her first win. Last year she had a second, the best finish so far in her career, and seven top-10s. She also posted the highest earnings of her career with $920,000-plus.
Rose Zhang (Callaway Chrome Tour X) starts her second full season. The only two-time U.S. Collegiate Player of the Year has shown improvement each year, since stunning the golf world winning her first LPGA Tour event in his first tournament after turning pro.
Last year 26 players earned LPGA status for 2025. One of them is Miyu Yamashita (Titleist Pro V1x), the dominant player on the LPGA of Japan Tour. She served notice of her talent tying for second in the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship.
While Lexi Thompson (Maxfli Tour) announced last year plans to retire from a full schedule heading into 2025, she will still play in some tournaments. That’s great considering how much she has meant to the Tour and the sport.
