OWGR movement: Which players were up, which players were down in 2024

Bryson DeChambeau

Movement: +93.55% (No. 155 to No. 10)

Why the rise? DeChambeau showed up to Augusta National last April with brand-new, 3D-printed irons – and he finished T-6, the start of an impressive major run that included a runner-up at the PGA Championship and victory at the U.S. Open. It was at Pinehurst where DeChambeau came full circle, as he had mostly shed his reputation as a highly emotional and misunderstood talent in favor of newfound popularity, both on YouTube and inside the ropes. “I was knocked pretty hard down,” DeChambeau said that Sunday at Pinehurst. “I dug myself out of a pretty deep hole. I’m not perfect. I’m human. But those low moments helped establish a new frame of mind of who I am, what’s expected, what I can do, and what I want to do in my life.”

Braden Thornberry

Movement: +88.02% (No. 2,104 to No. 252)

Why the rise? For years, Braden Thornberry was the answer to a trivia question: Who’s the only member of the 2017 U.S. Walker Cup team to turn professional and not earn his PGA Tour card? But Thornberry, now 27 and having just completed his seventh year as a pro, finally broke through by winning the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in October, a victory that vaulted him well inside the top 30 in points and earned him that elusive PGA Tour membership. “It was not where I expected to be like four weeks before that,” said Thornberry, who spent most of the season worrying about just keeping his KFT status, on a recent episode of Golf.com’s Subpar Podcast. Thornberry admitted watching the success of his college peers while being stuck in pro golf’s minor leagues was difficult. The summer after he turned pro early out of Ole Miss, the Big Four of Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Matt Wolff and Justin Suh sucked up all the PGA Tour sponsor exemptions. It didn’t get any easier for Thornberry, who even played last year’s LIV Promotions event, just trying to further his career. “I think a lot of my peers in recent years have made it look easier than it is,” Thornberry said. “I feel like I’m definitely a better golfer now than I was then. … It was hard on me at first because I was like, I don’t know what I’m doing different.” Thornberry lost the spark that would allow him to close out tournaments as an amateur, but he finally found it at French Lick, where he closed in 66.

Trey Winstead

Movement: +84.72% (No. 2,408 to No. 368)

Why the rise? Winstead’s struggles at the end of his amateur career at LSU bled into his professional career. He had gained weight, lost flexibility and couldn’t keep his driver on the planet. The struggles off the tee lasted for about four years, until Winstead’s dad, Chuck, the former head coach for the Tigers, suggested he take his launch monitor out on the course with him after rinsing about a half-dozen tee shots at a 2023 U.S. Open qualifier. Winstead, a lefty, discovered his flaw – he was dumping his club and swing straight right through the ball. He’d go on to earn KFT status last year at Q-School and then contend multiple times this year, finishing the season with four top-5s and narrowly missing a PGA Tour card at No. 35 in points. “Most guys who go through issues driving the golf ball, they don’t come back; that’s just the reality,” Chuck Winstead said. “… Talk about gratitude.”

Maverick McNealy

Movement: +83.61% (No. 183 to No. 30)

Why the rise? For one, McNealy is healthy again after missing a big chunk of last year with tear in his left shoulder. But he also made big strides with his swing – he re-tooled it to start hitting more cuts and avoid more injuries – and in his game, most notably with his driving. During his injury-plagued season, McNealy ranked No. 188 in strokes gained: off-the-tee, which more than negated his title as the PGA Tour’s top putter. He then became an equipment free agent to begin this year, and with the freedom to play whatever he wished, McNealy finished the season No. 23 off the tee – and ninth in total strokes gained. He put his youngest brother, Scout, on the bag this summer, starting with the playoffs, and some TaylorMade irons in the bag before the fall, and it all clicked at the fall finale, the RSM Classic, where McNealy captured his first PGA Tour title, his sixth top-10 of the season and 12th top-25. “I never lost faith that I would be back better than ever,” McNealy said.

Down

Max Homa

Movement: -485.71% (No. 7 to No. 41)

Why the fall? After arguably his best statistical year as a pro, finishing no worse than No. 41 in the four major strokes-gained categories, Homa ranked outside the top 85 in three of them this past season. The worst decline was off the tee, where Homa went from No. 41 to No. 164. The struggles led to Homa parting ways with instructor Mark Blackburn during the playoffs. “It’s just a tough year,” Homa said. “Time for a change. It’s unfortunate. … I think everyone in here has gone through that at some point. It’s one of those things, more for me I need a break and sometimes I don’t do a great job of taking ownership of my own golf swing so kind of putting the ball in my court a bit, and you know, trying to figure it out myself.” The silver lining: Homa’s three top-8s in the first half of the year helped him hang onto a spot inside the FedExCup’s top 50, so he’ll still have access to the signature events in 2025 as he looks to turn things around. There are also rumblings of a potential new equipment deal with Cobra Golf to start 2025.

Matt Fitzpatrick

Movement: -437.5% (No. 8 to No. 43)

Why the fall? The negative ball-striking trend actually began last season, as Fitzpatrick went from seventh in strokes gained: tee-to-green in 2022 to just outside the top 50. This year, Fitzpatrick was outside the top 100 in that category, and it resulted in just three top-10s all year between the PGA and DP World tours. Back in February, Fitzpatrick realized he had left a weight in the grip of his driver that was originally put in almost a year prior and had it taken out. But that did little to solve his issues. Fitzpatrick told Golf Digest’s John Huggan in October that this year had been the worst of his career. “Not what I wanted to achieve at all,” Fitzpatrick said. “Not coming into contention once, or probably once, to be fair. Just not at all what I wanted. I became a little bit shorter off the tee. Not hitting my irons as well this year. Multiple things. Changed a lot of clubs this year, which is very unusual for me. Changed irons. Changed shafts. Changed woods. Did a little bit of everything. That doesn’t help. Technically, had a few issues that we think that we have found but not solved yet.” And yet, like Homa, Fitzpatrick somehow managed to stay in the FedExCup’s top 50.

Jordan Spieth

Movement: -360% (No. 15 to No. 69)

Why the fall? Spieth first injured his left wrist in May 2023, halting momentum from five top-6 finishes to begin his season, but he opted to play through the ailment for more than a year before finally having surgery to repair the ulnar nerve damage in late August. Prior to surgery, Spieth notched just three top-10s on the PGA Tour last season, just one coming after a T-6 in Phoenix in early February, and he ranked outside the top 100 in every strokes-gained category except for off the tee (an encouraging No. 15). While Spieth has yet to announce a return date, he said back in September that he expected to be fully healthy by Jan. 1.

Trey Mullinax

Movement: -307.93% (No. 164 to No. 669)

Why the fall? The former Alabama standout broke through for his first PGA Tour win at the 2022 Barbasol Championship, and his newfound success led to a shiny, new equipment deal with Wilson to begin 2023. But Mullinax followed his breakout year with just 10 made cuts and two top-25s in 27 starts in 2022-23, and after a MC at the 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship, he shut it down due to an ailing right hip. He’d have labrum surgery on the hip in which doctors moved some ligaments down to anchor them while also removing some bone spurs. Mullinax did play at all in 2024 until returning in the fall, at Napa. “It was hard,” Mullinax said, “but I did the right thing by waiting, and I feel really good.” Mullinax missed four of six fall cuts, but he did post a T-25 in Utah.

Justin Suh

Movement: -255.07% (No. 69 to No. 245)
Why the fall? Suh made 29 of 35 cuts while finishing No. 81 in points as a PGA Tour rookie in 2022-23, but he took a big step back as a sophomore, playing the weekend just 12 times in 29 attempts while producing only three top-25s. As a result of ending No. 162 in points, Suh had to go back to Q-School, where he just missed earning guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts. While Suh ranked sixth in strokes gained: putting this past season, he was one of the Tour’s worst tee to green, ranking No. 168, including No. 170 on approach.

Complete movement

A look at the Official World Golf Ranking movement of every golfer who either started or finished 2024 with world-ranking points: