This year has, for the most part, been dominated by the biggest stars.
Rory McRoy kicked things off with impressive wins at Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National.
Scottie Scheffler held the baton to win the PGA Championship and the Open.
BRYSON Dehembeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose also enjoyed success as did – finally – Chander Schauffele.
But who are the stars of 2025?
Here are eight of the best.
1. Jj Spaun
Before 2025, the Californian had finished in the top three on the PGA Tour six times in 10 seasons, but this year he did so five times.
He’s had a win in his back catalog – the 2022 Open Tiles – but he’s bettered that, and in surprising style, this year. He probably did that when he pushed ricy microy into the play-off the players championship and he definitely did that when he won the US open in June. He also impressed in his Ryder Cup draw, winning two of his three matches.
He finished 2024 ranked 119th in the world and ends 2025 inside the top 10. Undoubtedly the successful player of the year.
2. Ben Griffin
North Carolina Navider Abost could have won this title in any normal year. As it is, the mother as a spawn-lite because her transformation was very similar but it was not very enlightening.
In his case, he already had TOP TOP TOP PEPSORS before 2025 and added four more to them this year including victories at the New Orleans doubles event and then at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Like Spauun he made a Ryder cup jut (winning one of his two matches). He finished last year ranked 65th in the world and ends in 2025 in the top 20.
Not much by Spaun’s standards but he gets a love vote because a few years ago he gave up on the game and took a desk job. Having second thoughts was a must!
3. Marco Penge
The PGA TOUR remains a level above the DP World Tour, which explains why Marco Penge of Marco can only be counted third despite winning three times.
Those victories came after he needed to birdie his final hole of the 2024 season to keep his card and after a three-month ban (one month suspended) for betting violations. The first victory came in late April and he kept his foot on the ground, narrowly missing out on Ryder Cup selection.
His Light Lighting soap character is evocative. Going from outside the top 400 at the start of the year to being well inside the top 50 – and you’ll be playing in 2026 on the PGA Tour.
4. Chris Gotterup
The player from Maryland worked on the notice of his victory with my victory last year at the Myrtle Beach Classic but then he started with 20 starts in the top 40 percent (not up to 2024 and 2024 placed in 1924 and 2024 placed in the year 1914 in the world.
He was flexible at the start of the summer and then took on a native-like Linksland, winning the Scottish Open and finishing third overall. He even added a top 10 on the lucrative tour rankings and finished the year well inside the top 50 in the world.
5. Cameron Young
Can we count the 28-year-old New Yorker as a successful golfer? He had, after all, the Top Three Top Three starts on the PGA Tour before the start of the year.
The problem is that every second and third. The win wasn’t a surprise, as it was a very tight finish. But his work on the greens on the tracks took him in the summer morning and he became confident.
The winning streak capped off Wyndham’s championship run and followed it up with a Ryder Cup-high three points in four games. He will be a big threat in 2026.
6. Ryan Fox
The Kiwi – the son of rugby great All Black Fly Half Grant – was a four-time winner on the DP world tour including the BMW PGA Championship in 2023, so his quality has never been better.
Any kind of success in America freed him though. In fact, he managed just one top 10 in 53 starts before May’s Myrtle Beach Classic. He won that event and others may have been frustrated because it was a weak field. So he backed us up with a second win at the Canadian Open.
7. Michael Brennan
Last year’s first edition of the Warrior Bank of Utah championship was won by Matt McCarty. It was his third start on the PGA Tour and he already had three wins earlier in the year in the second tier. This year the same event was won by Michael Brennan, and for his third case at the highest level and after winning three earlier in the year (in his case in the third tier).
McCarty is a shortstop who has struggled a lot since then. However, Brennan is a different kettle of fish. In fact, he is a great person and in 2026 he will surely add to his reputation.
8. Robert Macintyre
As young as he is, it feels odd to count the Scot as a breakthrough star and yet there is a sense that he has yet again risen through the ranks. Because being a three-time winner on the DP World Tour before this year is great. And two wins on the PGA Tour in 2024 is even better. His Ryder Cup body was excellent, too, in 2023.
But in 2025 he almost threatened the US open and, while he did not win many points in this year’s shyder cup, his influence with that result is very great. He rode that and swam to score the Alfred Dunhill tournament linking and ending the entire year of the 10 Player Player.
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