It’s a funny time of year for professional golf. The LPGA and US PGA tours will finish official 2024 play this week, while the DP World Tour gets a jump-start on 2025. Four events feature in Europe-plus’s month, with two in Australia, one in South Africa, and a final week on the island of Mauritius. The LPGA will return at the end of January, while the PGA and DP World Tours will begin new-year’s play during the first three weeks of the extended-weekend month. The week prior to US Thanksgiving gave us three final events to enjoy, before heading off to the holidays in North America. Saddle up your horse with us, as we dive into one final, Tour Rundown, for 2024.

LPGA: Race to the CME Globe: It’s all in the nickname

On the 71st tee, third-round leader Jeeno Thitikul was scratching her head. She sat four-under on the day, but was two shots behind Angel Yin. It was a day for low scores, led by newly-minted hall of famer Lydia Ko and her nine-under 63. That number had elevated Ko from 12th to third. Yin had started the day in a tie with Thitikul, but seemed poised to add a second Tour title to her wiki page.

Thitikul went to work. Split the 71st fairway and approached to eighteen feet. Her putt for eagle had sauce on it, and dove into cup’s bottom, tying her with Yin for first. Split the 72nd fairway, and ziplined an approach five feet below the flagstick’s shadow. With poise beyond her years, the putt was center cut, and Jeeno (aka Atthaya) had claimed the fourth title of her LPGA career, and the one with the biggest paycheck.

Eagle
Birdie

In the most dramatic fashion ?

Watch every shot from @Jeeno_atthaya‘s final two holes en route to her victory! pic.twitter.com/IaGIeHBhAA

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 24, 2024

PGA Tour: RSM Classic affirms that the son of Sun is a tour winner

Maverick McNealy possesses a layered, golf story. He had the benefit of funding from his father, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He competed and studied at Stanford, represented the USA in two Walker Cup ties, and won a half-dozen collegiate events. McNealy had zero major amateur victories, zero Korn Ferry wins, and nearly a decade of grinding on the PGA Tour for a resume. This week in Georgia, McNealy outlasted amateur Luke Clanton, a resurgent Daniel Berger, and two-time PGA Tour winner Nico Echavarria, to win an initial tour title.

McNealy and Vince Whaley began day four in a tie atop the standings. Whaley made birdie at the third, but stumbled with bogey and double over his next six holes. He turned in +2, finished at +1 on the day, and descended the ladder, finishing T8 at -13. Luke Clanton has done it all at Florida State. He has achieved everything on the PGA Tour but win, all while competing for the Seminoles and retaining his amateur status. Clanton closed with 68, but made a crushing bogey at the 72nd hole, to finish one back of McNealy. Echavarria also made five at the last, to miss a playoff by a shot. Berger played a solid, unspectacular final round, compiling three birdies and 15 pars on the day.

As for McNealy, it was the stuff of dreams. When he reached the final tee, he sat in a four-way tie atop the dune. His drive found fairway center, and his approach split the uprights, finishing inside six feet from glory. With nothing to gain but glory, McNealy drained his putt and joined the heralded list of tour champions.

A birdie to win on the 72nd hole!

Maverick McNealy is a first-time PGA TOUR winner ? pic.twitter.com/z4eh8utuIR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 24, 2024

DP World Tour: Australian PGA Championship says, Elvis has entered the building

Elvis Smylie is a 22-year old Aussie pro from Queensland. In October, he won the Western Australia Open, for his first victory on his home tour. That recent triumph will circle back in a few sentences. Smylie opened with 65 at Royal Queensland, in Brisbane, but three rounds remained in the dual, Australian PGA and DP World Tour event. Smylie and the field endured a lost day of golf on Friday, as angry Mother Nature rained down upon the golf course and surrounds.

After Saturday, Smylie sat in a tie with a former Open champion, and another former PGA Tour great was also giving chase. Could Smylie withstand the pressure from Cam Smith and Marc Leishman? Sunday would tell the tale. On day four, Smylie’s recent success buoyed his effort. The lad made four birdies in his first seven holes, to completely gobsmack his seasoned challengers. Smith and Leishman accounted for a total of five bogies and nine birdies on the event’s final day. Each posted 69, and earned silver and bronze status for the week.

Smylie didn’t make another birdie after the seventh green. He didn’t smell bogey all day. His fourteen pars were sufficient to carry him to a two-shot win over Smith, with Leishman a shot farther back. Smylie’s 736th ranking in the world will certainly climb, and a slew of invitations and exemptions will come his way. As the tour moves on to Kingston Heath and Australia’s national open this week, Elvis has entered the building.

The moment Elvis Smylie won his first DP World Tour title! ?#AusPGA pic.twitter.com/5JZNiadar4

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 24, 2024