Best golf players in the world 2024
Our comprehensive round-up of the best golfers in the world 2024.
Nobody knows quite where professional golf is headed. The best players are split between two competing tours and only meet on the course four times a year. This makes drawing up an ultimate list of the best golfers in the game an especially tricky task.
Yet, that is exactly what we have done. Gallons of mental sweat have been spent poring over the stats, accolades and abilities of the game's top stars. We've pit experienced aces against burgeoning talents to compile this definitive RadioTimes.com ranking.
The players' technical ability, current world ranking and recent performances have all fed into our thinking, which has left some incredible talent on the sidelines. With plenty of golf still to play this season, big names like Jordan Spieth and rising stars like Ludvig Aberg, have plenty of time to prove that they deserve to be a part of this list's next update.
RadioTimes.com brings you our take on the best men's golf players in the world right now.
Best golf players in the world 2024
10. Max Homa
It feels harsh that the six-time PGA Tour winner has dropped down this list since the last update, but we promise that's more of a reflection of the quality of talent across the world than a comment on Homa himself.
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The 33-year-old is a short game specialist and holds the record for longest drive on the tour so far this season. His 2023 season was sterling, winning both the Fortinet Championship and Farmers Insurance Open before standing out for all the right reasons at the Ryder Cup. Homa is still looking for his first top ten finish of the 2024 season, but knowing how fierce, driven and talented he is, that surely won't be too far away.
9. Cameron Smith
The Australian is an exceptional golfer and the first of three LIV Golf stars to make our list. Smith was as high as second in the Official World Golf Rankings before he joined the breakaway tour, but with LIV's 54-hole events not earning OWGR points, his ranking no longer reflects the true quality of his golf.
The mullet-rocking golfer isn't the longest driver around but makes up for it by draining chip-ins and putts with regularity. This has helped him make history already: the 30-year-old was the first player to finish all four rounds at the Masters in the 60s, in 2020. Last season's major performances backed up this quality, finishing T9 at the PGA Championship and fourth at the US Open. He'll be a major player at the majors once again this year.
8. Patrick Cantlay
The 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year is a reliable, level-headed golfer with talent in abundance. He is also one of golf's more understated personalities. One of Google's recommended questions about the 32-year-old is: "Has Patrick Cantlay smiled?"
Patty Ice is a composure king and one of the best par-5 players in the world. He has a handy blend of distance and accuracy with his driver, while his consistency of action and performance means he's routinely in the running at big tournaments. This stability has helped him leave eight PGA Tour events victorious, with plenty more close calls to his name. The California native is, however, missing the major victory which would establish him as the equal of the world's most elite golfers. It could well be on its way.
7. Wyndham Clark
What a year it has been for Clark. He's gone from the fringes of the PGA Tour to a central player in golf's biggest tournaments. Last season saw the 30-year-old win his first PGA Tour event – at 134th time of asking – and then follow that up with his first major title. His single-shot victory at the US Open saw the elite putter establish himself among the game's elite.
Clark has followed up his breakout season with a strong start to 2024, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM before finishing second at March's Arnold Palmer Invitational. All this having become a star on Netflix's excellent golf series, Full Swing. On the show, Clark speaks openly about his mental health and how working with a sports psychologist has put him in the best place mentally to succeed on the course. All we know is that the American has rapidly gone from a golfer playing below his potential to one showing it is higher than many ever thought.
6. Xander Schauffele
Schauffele boasts one thing that no other golfer on this list has. The 30-year-old is one of just two male golfers to have won Olympic gold in the modern era. Yet, his career is often spoken about in terms of what he hasn't won. Despite a string of top ten finishes over the past eight seasons, Xander is undoubtedly one of this generation's most talented golfers never to have won a major.
The 2017 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has all-round excellence on the course – and proved it in 2023. He had his first season with double figures of top 10 PGA event finishes and saw off the season with a second place finish at the FedEx Cup. His sights will be set on taking those impressive performances one step further and lifting silverware once again. Do that a few times and he could be even higher on this list at next update.
5. Brooks Koepka
Brooks gives off massive main-character energy. My word, he's earned that right. He is one of the outstanding players on the LIV circuit and last season he reaffirmed his pedigree at the majors. He rocked the apple cart by finishing T2 at the Masters before flipping it over completely, becoming the first LIV golfer to win a major, at the PGA Championship in May.
That win, coupled with strong performances at the US Open and Ryder Cup later in the season, proved that the move away from the PGA had done little to quieten the flame inside Kopeka. He overtook modern icon Rory McIlroy for majors won (five to four) and finished third individually in his first LIV season. We might not see Brooks on our screens quite as often these days, but it's always box-office when we do.
4. Viktor Hovland
The young Norwegian has always been a golfer with incredible upside. He's shown glimpses of that ability for several seasons now – winning three PGA Tour wins in his first three seasons – but it was during the 2023 season when a match lit his fuse. Hovland worked out how to affect the top of scoreboards with scary regularity, winning three tour events before topping his season off with his first FedEx Cup victory.
The 26-year-old put in some statement performances in the majors and stepped up another gear during last summer's electric Ryder Cup. His 3-0-1 record in Italy helped Team Europe to an historic 16.5-11.5 victory. This season has started a little slower for the precision putter, but he's just getting warmed up.
3. Rory McIlroy
Ever since winning the US Open as a 22-year-old, McIlroy has had golf's brightest spotlight pointed toward him. That spotlight became blinding in the wake of golf's civil war, and he openly admitted that it affected his golf. The pressure of batting for the PGA Tour combined with the pressure of very famously not having won a major in almost a decade must be an incredible weight. If anyone can overcome it, it's Rory.
The Northern Irish star was top of the world rankings as recently as last year, but is still working his way back to the top of his game. Wins at the CJ CUP in South Carolina and the Genesis Scottish Open last season proved that McIlroy is still an immense talent with incredible control of the golf ball. His solo second finish at the US Open also reiterated that he has all the talent and determination to be back winning majors very soon.
2. Jon Rahm
The Spaniard is one of the day's truly elite golfers. He won 11 times on the PGA Tour – finishing in the top 10 of almost half of his 151 events before his nine-figure switch to LIV late last year. He hits fairways with power, greens with precision and putts with deadly dependability – all as long as his emotions don't get the better of him.
Rahm's move to the less-visible Saudi-backed league has done little to diminish his star power, and even less to affect his ability. He is the most recent recipient of the green jacket, having won last year's Masters by four shots. That topped a truly landmark 2023 season, winning four tournaments plus the Ryder Cup. We readily await his next standout major performance.
1. Scottie Scheffler
Age works a little differently in golf to most other sports, which makes the success Scottie Scheffler has had even more impressive. The 27-year-old has shone over the past two seasons – winning back-to-back PGA Tour Player of the Year awards – and is following it up with an already outstanding 2024. His imperious five-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the first win of what promises to be another historic season.
Scheffler is playing at a remarkably high level. Nobody gets to the green with more conviction and class than Scottie. Over recent years, he's had some trouble with his putter, but recent showings hint those may be behind him. We feel sorry for everyone else on tour, if so.
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Who is the best golfer in the world?
The depth of ability in the modern golf scene is outstanding, with experienced heads battling exceptional youngsters and talented outsiders at every event. Yet, one golfer has managed to stand out from the chasing pack.
Talent is one thing, but without consistency it doesn’t mean too much. Thankfully for Scottie Scheffler, he has both in bucketloads. We may be watching the early stages of a golfing great.
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