FedEx Cup Fall Drama, Best Public Courses

Sign up every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in sports and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Maverick McNealy’s first PGA Tour win, FedEx Fall Cup winners and losers, the best courses to play and more.

Maverick McNealy capped off the 2024 PGA Tour season with the first win of his career, beating three others by one stroke at the RSM Classic on Sunday. What took so long for the former top-ranked amateur to claim his first Tour title and do you expect him to arrive in 2025?

Jack Hirsh, equipment editor (@JR_HIRSHey): Seems like a loaded question. Winning is hard on the PGA Tour. We’ve seen many top-ranked amateurs make it to the PGA Tour and never win, and we’ve seen many go on to have illustrious careers. While he was dealing with an injury last year, he again played better in 2022 than he did this year, even with the win at the end. I say it’s likely he’ll win again, but I don’t expect him to suddenly become a top-10 or top-20 player all of a sudden.

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): He’s kind of unique in that he’s never been a star, but he’s never really struggled to keep his PGA Tour card. He’s just been… pretty good: solid off the tee, not so good on the greens, and a very good putter. It was a matter of time. It’s no coincidence that he had so much success at the collegiate level. The first is always the hardest. He would definitely be a contender for the win next year.

Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): Golf is a funny old game. The Mavs had six top 10s this season, but also 13 missed cuts or picks. Predicting what players are capable of from one week to the next is almost impossible. What a month for Mav, though! He helped orchestrate the Tour’s recently announced overhaul of the FedEx Cup points distribution system, and now he has his first Tour title. If he had lobbied the Tour to win more points for RSM…

Last week we revealed (officially) that in 2026, only 100 players will earn full-time PGA Tour status. But for 2025, that magic number is still 125, and we taught those players at the RSM Classic at the end of the season on Sunday. Which player who made it just inside (or outside) the cut line stood out the most to you?

Hirsh: It should be Joel Dahmenwho carded a 64 on Sunday to finish No. 124 in the FedEx Cup. Dahmen has struggled to adjust to his newfound fame since he was a major figure in the Netflix docu-series. After all, having him on the PGA Tour makes for a much more entertaining, compelling and approachable product, so having him fight his way into the fields under the category of past champion wouldn’t be much fun. . I still think his best years are yet to come.

Berhow: Yeah, hard to argue with Dahmen, as he was the biggest name within a bit of that no. 125. Two other outstanding college juniors, Parker and Pierceson Coody, both also sat on the wrong side of that line.

Bastable: I have to say, I didn’t foresee anyone in the Creator Classic field making a run at a tournament card, but that’s what Wes Bryan did, narrowly missing out by three points. When Bryan took heat for playing the influencer rush event earlier this year, he tweeted: “Are people really crazy that I’m playing this event? I’ve filmed over 100 long youtube videos over the past two years…I’ve missed almost every cut on the pga tour…and I almost never practice.” It wasn’t exactly a recipe for tournament success, but Bryan found a way to stay relevant until an MC this week doomed his card hopes.

We’ll spend more time next month breaking down the year that was on the PGA Tour, but off the top of your head, what’s the one big thing you learned or will remember about the 2024 PGA Tour season?

Hirsh: Honestly, that a run like Tiger is still possible. I guess I was starting to think that the generation of kids who got into golf because of Tiger Woods had made the sport too deep for anyone to really go on a winning streak like he did nearly two decades ago. Scottie Scheffler proved that wrong this year. So he didn’t win as many majors as Woods would so often, but no one had won seven times in a PGA Tour season since Woods in 2007. And it’s not like Scheffler’s competition was weak, either. Sure, LIV Golf has dropped Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Jaco Neimann and more, but Scheffler was winning against Xander Schauffele, who won two events himself, week after week. Let’s not forget that gold medal win.

Berhow: Scottie Scheffler will never return to Louisville.

Bastable: Yes, the Scheffler PGA fiasco will go down as one of the wildest sports stories of all time, but still, this year may be remembered more for what happened off the course. Or, more importantly, what didn’t happen. And so it will continue until the PGA Tour and PIF reach an agreement. The protracted negotiations have sucked so much oxygen out of the room. Totally bad.

Also complete is the 2024 LPGA season, with Jeeno Thitikul winning the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Nelly Korda tied for fifth to put a bow on a spectacular seven-win campaign. Quick: Will Korda match or surpass that career season win total again?

Hirsh: I’m going to go ahead and say it: yes! As incredible as Korda’s season was, it was also somewhat strange. She accidentally missed three cuts in the middle of a season that included two majors, she took two months off between her first and second wins, she let her chances of winning the Open and the Olympics slip away, and she also dealt with several injuries. As long as her mechanics stay intact, I could see her winning in groups like this for a few more years.

Berhow: Yes. And boy, that sounds crazy to say, but I came to that conclusion in my head pretty quickly. I think she can continue to improve – as Jack mentioned, she’s had some weird things happen this year as well – and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see her do it again.

Bastable: Buzzkill Bastable says no. Seven wins is astonishing and the tournament is getting deeper, which means wins will become harder and harder to come by. As Jack points out, Nelly has also been injury prone; winning in droves requires staying healthy.

Last week, GOLF published its latest ranking of The best 100 courses you can playa roster full of superstar appearances accessible to any Average Joe. If you were creating the ultimate public golf road trip with this list in mind, where would you take our readers?

Hirsh: I’ve used this space before to shout out my former hometown of Bend, Ore., and I’ll do it again. Bend is represented on our latest list of the 100 best courses to play with Pronghorn’s two courses, but it has much more to offer. Sunriver’s Crosswater course used to be in the top 15 of our rankings and I believe it’s one of the most beautiful inland courses I’ve ever played. The list goes on and on with Tetherow, Brasada Ranch, Black Butte Ranch and more. Within 90 minutes is an absolutely fantastic hidden gem in the mountains called Tokatee, which is on GOLF’s list of the best golf courses in America for under $100. And while a five-hour drive to Bandon Dunes may seem long, it’s one of the most scenic drives you can take.

Berhow: The easy answer is to spend some time kicking around Pebble Beach or Pinehurst, etc., and playing all those crazy – and often expensive – songs, but I’ll also use my homer card and pick a more of the Midwestern a trip that won’t hurt your wallet as quietly and is not as visible. Play one of those elite courses in Wisconsin (Whistling or Sand Valley or Erin Hills, etc.) but then stop for a value game at Lawsonia, then head to Minnesota (which I’m surprised didn’t get a Top 100 nod You can play the list) and head way up north and double up on the two Giants Ridges courses before heading to The Wilderness nearby at Fortune Bay. It’s a wonderful area that’s home to three of the best public courses in the state, and unless you’re brave enough to travel that far, many people out of state don’t even know about it.

Bastable: No, Josh, the easy answer is, actually, Bandon Dunes, which has five courses in the top 25. Bonus: the only road trip you have to worry about is getting to the resort. A less obvious description: the Tampa, Fla. area. The three Streamsong Top 100s, the new spread at Cabot Citrus Farms and the Copperhead course at Innisbrook are all within two hours of each other.