The 12 Most Underrated Golf Seasons Of 2024

We've all seen the standout performances in golf in 2024, with World No.1 Scottie Scheffler producing Tiger Woods-esque numbers, Xander Schauffle winning two Majors and Nelly Korda dominating the women's game.

But there are plenty of other seasons that have been more than respectable, and achievements that have perhaps been overshadowed by Bryson DeChambeau winning another Major and Lydia Ko winning the Olympics and AIG Women's Open to punch her ticket to the Hall of Fame.

Of course, nobody can compare to Scheffler's nine-win season, Korda's five in a row and Jeeno Thitikul grabbing the season-ending $4m Tour Championship prize on the LPGA Tour.

But the following players all had great seasons in their own right - even if overshadowed by some of the more celebrated efforts.

Rory McIlroy

OK, we'll start with the big one and perhaps the most subjective as Rory McIlroy won four times in 2024 and added a sixth Race To Dubai title to tie Seve Ballesteros. And yet...

Due to a combination of his own sky-high standards and the fact he had a fifth Major in his grasp until a few late missed putts, McIlroy's season can be rated both a success and a failure depending on your point of view.

The man himself gave his year a B grade, as he was a shot here and there away from winning a fifth Major, Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship.

The fact is McIlroy is held to a different standard to the rest given his talents, so while you can argue over whether it's been a success or not, it's probably fair to say it's been underrated for what he actually produced. Only two golfers won more tournaments than him in 2024 on the elite tours - Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda - yet some say his year has been a failure. He is simply judged to a completely different standard.

Collin Morikawa

Not too many would pick out Collin Morikawa as having a fine season, but he's quietly worked his way up into fourth in the world after a consistent year.

He missed just two cuts and had seven top-five finishes including finishing second at the Tour Championship behind Scheffler.

And in the Majors he was terrific with his T16th being his worst finish of the four - as he followed up a T3rd at The Masters with a T4th at the PGA Championship and T14th at the US Open.

Tyrrell Hatton

Tyrrell Hatton was a fine player before he joined LIV and he remains a fine player since - collecting a win in his first season on his new tour and top-five finishes in seven of the 14 events.

Hatton finished T9th at The Masters and also made a late dash to the DP World Tour to play the minimum events to keep his card and remain eligible for Ryder Cup selection.

And if Luke Donald was in any doubt, he went and won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, finished second in Abu Dhabi, and sixth at the DP World Tour Championship. He had some season.

Ruoning Yin

It's hard for anyone in the women's game to get a look-in really with Korda's dominance and Ko's remarkable resurgence, as Ronni Yin managed three wins yet was hardly talked about.

The Chinese star finishing 2024 ranked second in the world behind only Korda should tell you all you need to know about her season.

She also finished second at the AIG Women's Open behind Ko at St Andrews and came no worse than T24th in the four Majors she played in.

Sergio Garcia

Sergio Garcia has had some year too, with an emotional LIV Golf win and best Major result in seven years - just as he launches a bid to return to Ryder Cup action in 2025.

Garcia thrilled the home crowd as he won the LIV Golf Andalucia event at Valderrama in a playoff with Anirban Lahiri - after previously losing playoffs in Miami and Mexico.

Garcia ended the season in third place in the overall LIV Golf standings, while his T12th result at the US Open was his best finish in a Major since winning the 2017 Masters.

Haeran Ryu

The 2023 Rookie of the Year really built on that in 2024 with a superbly consistent season taking her into the world's top 10 - ending the year in seventh.

Hae Ran Ryu claimed one win and three Major top-10s, making 23 cuts from 26 starts and finishing second in the Race To CME points list behind only Korda - which shows just how good the 23-year-old was.

Hideki Matsuyama

The year started with a bang as Hideki Matsuyama shot 62 on Sunday at Riviera to win the Genesis Invitational, and from there showed fine consistency when missing just the one cut.

He finished sixth at the US Open, won the FedEx St Jude Championship - the opening event of the playoffs - before ending T9th at the Tour Championship.

Throw in a bronze medal at the Olympics in Paris and ending the year sixth in the world rankings, and it was a more-than-satisfying return for the Japanese star and a year not to be sniffed at by any means.

Hannah Green

Spreading three wins across the year from March to October shows Hannah Green was on top form for most of 2024 - finishing seventh in the CME standings and sixth in the world.

The Australian also just missed out on a medal in Paris as she finished fourth at the Olympics, but it was still a terrific season.

Lauren Coughlin

Lauren Coughlin had a real purple patch during the season when she won twice in three starts at the CPKC Women's Open and Scottish Open - just after coming fourth at the Evian Championship.

From starting the year outside the world's top-100, she ended 2024 in 15th and also qualified for the Solheim Cup as the competition's oldest rookie at 31.

She thrived and went unbeaten, with her 3-0-1 return equalling the American rookie record, so all in all quite a meteoric rise that really should be talked about more.

Peter Uihlein

A tied second on LIV Golf doesn't seem like much to shout about, but Peter Uihlein's form on the Asian Tour's International Series needs looking at as he claimed two wins and finished second in the overall standings.

That could well be a sign of things to come from a man big things had been expected of, and represents a decent return for any player.

Chiara Tamburlini

Chiara Tamburlini won the Ladies European Tour's Order of Merit with relative ease from Manon De Roey and the rest of her counterparts, scoring three victories and seven more top-10s from 24 starts.

What made her year even more impressive is that it was her first full season as a pro, having only made the jump from being an amateur in August 2023. As a result, she was the obvious choice to be named the LET's Rookie of the Year, too.

The 25-year-old is now No.71 in the world and can boast, among an array of impressive stats, an incredible 120.86 strokes gained on the field throughout the 2024 season - highlighting just how dominant she was overall.

Matt McCarty

Matt McCarty went on an outstanding run towards the end of 2024, culminating in his first PGA Tour victory in just his second-ever start as a member. But in the months prior, the 27-year-old had been working towards locking up the no.1 spot in the Korn Ferry Tour standings - something he managed via three wins in a six-week period late on.

Having secured his PGA Tour status and top spot in the KFT with an event to spare, McCarty went over to Utah off the back of a T63rd finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship - his PGA Tour debut - and claimed the inaugural Black Desert Championship at the end of a week where scoring was very low.

His end-of-term stats read: 29 events, four wins, one runner-up, and five further top-10s.