We have already seen some great golf at the start of 2025 the shape of a new Golf League, but the game is all set for as some exciting innovations. The big events of the year remain some way off yet, with the first major not until the Masters in April.

In 2025 Hideki Matsuyama claimed the first event on the PGA Tour, romping to victory in The Sentry with a record score of 35 under par. Yes, 35 under! Nick Taylor won the next event, the Sony Open, in the warm and beautiful surroundings of Hawaii and the golf will just keep on coming, both in America and around the world.

2024 belongs to Scheffler: That he only won a single major will have disappointed Scheffler but, as alluded to earlier, he also won the unofficial fifth major, The Players Championship.

He became the first-ever player to defend his crown in that event and also won the Arnold Palmer for the second time in his career. After the Masters he landed the RBC Heritage, giving him four victories in five starts, whilst he almost forced a play-off in the other event.

His fifth win of the campaign came at the Memorial before he added a sixth at the Travelers Championship.

In August he stormed to a gold medal at the Olympics, coming from six back with nine to play thanks to six birdies in his final nine holes. He then won the FedEx Cup and the Hero World Challenge and with nine tournament victories he landed well over $60m in prize money. Unsurprisingly he was also named PGA Tour Player of the Year.

Other significant golfing happenings: Rory Europe’s Finest Once Again: Rory could not end his wait for another major but he won the Race to Dubai and was named Player of the Year on the European (DP World) Tour.

He won the Dubai Desert Classic and the season-ending World Tour Championship. By most standards he had a great year, but it is probably only the heartbreak he will remember.

There were happier times for Robert MacIntyre, who landed his home championship, the Scottish Open. He also won his first PGA event at the Canadian Open, a victory all the more special as his dad caddied for him! It was also a fine season for Swede Jesper Svensson, who finished 10th in the Race to Dubai, won the Singapore Classic and was also named Rookie of the Year. Tommy Fleetwood took silver at the Olympics and won the Dubai Invitational.

It was a solid year for him and, heading into a Ryder Cup year, he is 10th in the world, meaning Europe have four players in the top 10 in the world rankings.

Moreover with 2024 now firmly in the record books, it still seems like a good time to have a look back at what happened last year in the world of golf. Who won the biggest events, who topped the money lists and who had a year to forget? Let’s start with the majors.

US Masters: Scheffler claims second Major:

Scottie Scheffler was the game’s dominant player coming into the season and his position at the top of the game is even stronger now.

Returning to the 2024 Masters though, Scheffler shot 277, 11 under, to beat young Swede Ludvig Aaberg into second, by a comfortable four shots. The rest of the field were four under or worse, with Scheffler cementing his place as world number one and Aaberg doing likewise to his status as the game’s hottest young player.

Schauffele backed that up with rounds of 68, 68 and 65, with Viktor Hovland, who finished third, another player, like the top two, to shoot four rounds in the 60s. Scheffler had been the big favourite to win yet again but despite a strong start (67-66), he fell away to finish down in a tie for eighth. Five Europeans made the top eight but once again it was an American name on the trophy.

US Open: DeChambeau Piles More Heartbreak on Rory: Less than a month after the US PGA came the year’s third major and despite starting the final round two adrift of DeChambeau, it looked like Rory McIlroy was finally going to end his major drought. Three birdies in four holes saw him surge into the lead after 66 holes of the 72 and then another meant he had a one-shot advantage with just three holes to play. He had bogeyed 15 but so did his rival, so Rory stayed in charge.

With momentum on his side and playing magnificent golf, surely he would finally claim his fifth career major. But no, it wasn’t to be. The Northern Irishman dropped another shot on 16 and then another on 18, to hand DeChambeau a one-shot victory and his second major (both at this tournament).

On both 16 and 18 he missed putts from inside four feet for par, having made the previous 496 from inside that distance, meaning this near-miss was the hardest to take of the many he has endured.

Open Championship: Majors Like Busses for Schauffele: Xander Schauffele wasted little time in claiming his second major victory, getting the job done in Troon in July to claim the Claret Jug. A brilliant closing round of 65 saw him home, having headed into the final round as one of six players tied in second, a shot behind Billy Horschel.

It was a clean sweep of the majors for the US, with Horschel and Justin Rose tied for second, two behind Schauffele’s nine-under score of 275. For the second season in a row, Scheffler had three top-10 finishes in the majors but there would be many more victories to come for the game’s best player. –Agencies