2024 preview: Nine players ready to make a leap in 2024

Editor’s note:The PGA TOUR is celebrating the start of a new year with Opening Drive, a two-week kickoff to the 2024 season. Players are refreshed and ready to shine, and they’ll need to bring their best from the start because of the season’s condensed time frame. PGATOUR.COM’s preview content will prepare you for the start of the 2024 season by telling you the players and storylines you need to know before the first shot is hit.

One year from now, as we reflect on the end of another season, which golfers’ performances will stand out? Who will have surprised us by taking his career to the next level? Every year there are players who win their first FedExCup, qualify for their first TOUR Championship or become a PGA TOUR champion for the first time. A look at the last 12 months proves how unpredictable golf can be.

Justin Thomas’ struggles came without warning or precedent. He’d won his second major the previous season. Just as jarring was Ludvig Åberg’s rapid rise. In a matter of months he went from collegiate star to a winner on both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR. A short-game transformation helped Viktor Hovland jump from the fringes of the OWGR’s top 10 to a player who enters 2024 as arguably the top player on the planet. Brian Harman hadn’t won for six years; he became a major champion in 2023. Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Wyndham Clark and Lucas Glover all won in 2023 after starting the year ranked outside the top 100 of the world ranking. Six players moved in and out of the top 15.

Predicting who will break out or conjure a career renaissance is a fraught exercise, but it remains valuable to take stock of expectations. So, with the start of the 2024 season approaching, let’s do that.

Here are nine players ready to make a leap in 2024.

1. Ludvig Åberg

Amateur success is no guarantee of stardom in the pro game. There are countless examples across sports of promising prospects who never fulfilled their potential. They’re so common that it can actually be a surprise when the next can’t-miss kid actually avoids the pratfalls that often follow the transition to the next level.

In 2023, Ludvig Åberg was the latest player to turn pro with high expectations. He had a long reign atop the world amateur rankings and was just the second player to win consecutive Hogan Awards. He also had to shoulder the burden as the first player to earn a direct route to the TOUR as the top player in PGA TOUR University. There was added pressure to show that he was worthy of the unprecedented honor.

Åberg made it all look easy, winning quickly on both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR and earning a captain’s pick for Europe’s Ryder Cup team. He went 2-2 in Rome, finished no worse than 13th in four FedExCup Fall starts, and capped it with a record-setting performance at The RSM Classic, where he closed with consecutive 61s to tie the TOUR’s 72-hole scoring record. His incredible combination of distance and accuracy allowed him to rank second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee for the season.

There is no more questioning if or when Åberg’s time will come. It’s already here.

Now comes the next leap, where he consistently contends in Signature Events and major championships. He’s never even played a major but now he’ll enter them among the favorites. He didn’t have a world ranking point at the start of 2023 but leaped past more than 3,000 players and will enter 2024 on the cusp of the top 30. By the end of 2024, look for him to be ensconced among the world’s top 10 and the owner of a few more trophies. This prediction feels more like a formality than a bold proclamation. He already drives it like a top-five player in the world. The rest of his game will catch up in 2024.

2. Viktor Hovland

He’s ranked fourth in the world and is the reigning FedExCup champion. That could spur complacency in some, but not Hovland. He has long been an optimizer, always seeking the slightest edge. He turned his chipping from a crutch to a reliable weapon and has continued to improve all his other elite skills. He remains one of the longest and straightest players in the game.

His transformation was on full display on the opening hole of his first match at the Ryder Cup. He easily could’ve elected to putt from the green but pulled a wedge instead and holed the chip to take an early lead and send a message.

It showed off his short game improvement and sparked a 3-1-1 record for Hovland that reversed his Ryder Cup fortunes. (He went 0-3-2 in his 2021 debut at Whistling Straits.)

His improvement has been tangible at every step, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t continue in 2024. He hasn’t won a major yet, but came close at the PGA Championship last summer. He is still chasing No. 1 in the world, too. He will grab both of those in 2024.

3. Min Woo Lee

The uber-talented Australian earned his first PGA TOUR card with top 10s at both THE PLAYERS Championship, where he played alongside Scottie Scheffler in Sunday’s final group, and U.S. Open.

The success continued at the end of 2023. He finished the year with five consecutive top 15s worldwide, including two wins. He reached a career-high 34th in the world ranking and appears to be in the midst of his leap already.

With a full season ahead on the PGA TOUR, Lee is a prime candidate to nab his first TOUR win and play his way into a spot on the International Presidents Cup Team.

4. Gordon Sargent

Sargent will be leaping by default. Still just a junior in college, he has already accumulated 20 points in the PGA TOUR University Accelerated program, so a TOUR card will be waiting for him once the 2024 college golf season ends in May. He can choose to take up status then or wait until after his senior season. Let’s assume he takes it and joins the TOUR in June.

What Åberg did this fall should provide a blueprint for Sargent. Like Åberg, Sargent will turn pro with an impressive resume. Sargent won the 2022 NCAA Championship while still a freshman at Vanderbilt, was the low amateur in the 2023 U.S. Open, and is No. 1 in the world amateur rankings. And Sargent has already received raves from Rory McIlroy and others for his otherworldly power, regularly touching and controlling 190 mph ball speeds off the tee.

A year from now, Sargent will be in the same conversation Åberg is in now – the young star ready to take the TOUR by storm.

5. Max Homa

Homa won twice on the PGA TOUR last season, added a DP World Tour title in South Africa and finished inside the top 10 of the OWGR. Yet, there’s one thing that eludes him.

A major championship.

Unlike Hovland, who has stacked close calls recently, Homa hasn’t come close to nabbing a major. His T10 at this year’s Open Championship – nine shots behind Harman – was his best finish to date. Those results don’t match the type of player that Homa has become. He has won some of the biggest events on the PGA TOUR, at major venues like Riviera and Quail Hollow. Each year he seems to check off a new mile marker that he never imagined he would reach. Winning a major feels apropos for Homa in 2024.

There’s also another carrot for everyone to play for: an Olympic berth. Homa is squarely in contention for one of those spots, and given how he’s reacted to representing the U.S. in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, it’s hard to imagine someone relishing the Olympic experience more than him. The guess here is he will nab that honor, too.

6. Cameron Young

It’s a leap Young probably assumed would happen in 2023, but Young, the 2022 Rookie of the Year, is still searching for his first PGA TOUR win.

There are litany reasons it didn’t happen this year, chief among them his putting travails. He’s also been acclimating to a new caddie and golf ball, but Young is too talented to stay out of the winner’s circle. In fact, he is a prime candidate to win more than once in '24. That’s the leap for Young this year, motivated by narrowly missing out on a Ryder Cup captain’s pick.

A win will come later than he expected, but it will soon be followed by another one.

7. Sahith Theegala

Theegala picked up his first win this fall at the Fortinet Championship. That was enough to crack the top 12 in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. The top six after the BMW Championship will automatically qualify for the team, while six more will receive captain’s picks. Theegala will make the team through one of those avenues.

This will require steadier play by Theegala, who has shown he can peak but remains a bit inconsistent. He ranked 32nd in Strokes Gained: Total this season. With confidence and security coming from his win, expect his consistency to rise and, with it, Theegala’s profile. Every U.S. national team seems to pick up a few rookies each year. Theegala is the prime candidate to be a rookie for the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club this fall.

8. Akshay Bhatia

Still just 21, Bhatia already has a PGA TOUR title. Now, he enters his first season with full status on TOUR after spending most of last year as a Special Temporary Member. That security should provide him the comfort and cushion to show off his immense talent.

The ultimate show of consistency is qualifying for the TOUR Championship. That’s a realistic goal for Bhatia in 2024 – one he is capable of achieving if he can figure out the putting. He ranked 183rd in SG: Putting this past season and spent the latter half of 2023 experimenting with various putters, including a broomstick. Still, he was 13th in birdie average. If he can clean up the three-putts, that will go a long way. Given his track record and youth, he still has room for growth. Heading back to courses for a second time should help his comfort. Bhatia makes the TOUR Championship. Book it.

9. Nicolai Højgaard

His victory in the DP World Tour Championship should signify big things to come for Højgaard, who seems to be experiencing the post-Ryder Cup bump. We’ve seen it in the past, most recently with Scottie Scheffler following the U.S. Team’s romp over Europe at Whistling Straits. Højgaard’s rise might not be as dramatic as Scheffler's, but the 22-year-old now heads to the PGA TOUR for a full season with a full bill of confidence.

He has a promising skill set, as well, ranking fifth in Driving Distance and leading the TOUR in average proximity from 100-125 yards. Being a long hitter with a good wedge game is often a successful combination and should propel him to a TOUR victory. Højgaard is also likely to make the Denmark Olympic team, as he is the highest-ranked player in the country.

Everything is lined up for a big year for the talented Dane.