It’s an exciting time of year as golfers gear up for a new calendar campaign, having relished the relatively brief respite that most of them have these days.
On the DP World Tour, the Caledonian contingent will begin 2024 with a doubleheader in Dubai, while Bob MacIntyre will begin his journey as a PGA Tour card holder in Hawaii the following week. Meanwhile, Gemma Dryburgh will return to action on the LPGA later this month when she makes a bid to compete in the Solheim Cup for a second consecutive year when it moves to even years as a result of the Ryder Cup being contested in odd years once more.
The LIV Golf League, which even its biggest critic, Rory McIlroy, believes is here to stay, is poised for another exciting season with the addition of current Masters champion Jon Rahm to its ranks. In the amateur game, winter training camps in the US and South Africa will help prepare Scotland’s best players for the upcoming season. Meanwhile, lower-level players in the paid ranks will also be itching to start over.
The 2024 season may have officially begun with Hawaii hosting The Sentry, the customary PGA Tour curtain-raiser, this week, but before things really get rolling, these are the five players I believe you should be watching globally this year, in alphabetical order:
Ludvig Aberg
To be completely honest, I didn’t believe the hype that the Swede was a real contender for the Ryder Cup last summer. However, he showed me how wrong I was in the last few weeks of qualifying, culminating in an incredible breakthrough victory on the DP World Tour in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland. As with all he’s encountered thus far in his career, he handled that enormous test with grace and earned his captain’s pick for Luke Donald’s squad in Rome. Since then, he’s won his first tournament on the PGA Tour by winning the RSM Classic. 2023 will undoubtedly be difficult to follow, but there’s no reason to believe that the 24-year-old, who declined an invitation to join LIV Golf during his break, can’t keep improving.
Gemma Dryburgh
When the Scot made her LPGA Tour debut in 2018, she might have felt a little out of her element, but that is no longer the case. Her breakthrough victory in November 2022 in Japan gave her a great deal of confidence, and last year she made the cut in all five women’s majors, some of which she was teeing off in for the first time.
After making one of her captain’s choices for the Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin in Spain in September, the 30-year-old didn’t let Suzann Pettersen down, and one of her main objectives for 2024 will be to return to the competition in mid-September in Virginia while donning European colours. Another goal will be to place oneself among the top 50 in the world; judging from her performance over the past several years, that is undoubtedly attainable.
Grant Forrest
It makes me feel old to know that he is now thirty and married, having tied the wedding with Christy, a beautiful young woman, at Archerfield Links over the holiday season. I first saw him when he was winning junior events. The Scot was the first to acknowledge that his 2022 campaign was disappointing following his first-ever DP World Tour victory at the Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews the year before, but to his credit, he had a much better campaign last year, recording six top-ten performances.
Because he wants to keep becoming better and has demonstrated that he isn’t afraid to take charge of his own game in trying circumstances, I think the best is still to come from the Pencaitland-based player in the upcoming years. He can be really hard on himself at times.
Max Homa
I became a huge fan of the American a few years ago, mostly because I saw him play in the Genesis Scottish Open. First and foremost, as fans of the PGA Tour already knew after he won six titles in less than four years on the US tour, he’s a thrilling and talented player to watch. His impressive maiden victory on the DP World Tour in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa in November was further proof that his game can travel. He also has personality, which is something that can never be undervalued in this day and age when athletes need to be more than just robots or muscle guys.
Tom Vaillant
Since I was eager to add a Challenge Tour alum to my list, I might have easily chosen Englishman Marco Penge, who appears primed to realise his enormous amateur potential. Rather, I am highlighting the 22-year-old Frenchman because I was also drawn to him at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final in Mallorca in November, which was sponsored by The R&A. He’s a 5′ 6″ pocket rocket with the heart of a lion, so don’t be shocked if the player from Cannes follows in the footsteps of players like Todd Clements, Tom McKibbin, Daniel Hillier, and Matthew Baldwin, who all won on the DP World Tour in 2023 after rising through the very competitive second-tier circuit.
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