(January 10, 2025) — Scottie Scheffler, Nelly Korda and Ernie Els, three players who separated themselves from their peers on the course last season, have been voted 2024 Players of the Year in their respective divisions by the Golf Writers Association of America.
Scheffler, 29, won nine tournaments worldwide in 2024 en route to claiming a second GWAA Male Player of the Year honor, having won previously in 2022. Among the highlights for Scheffler in 2024 was claiming his second career victory at the Masters, capturing an Olympic gold medal in Paris, becoming the first golfer to repeat as the winner of The Players Championship and taking home the PGA Tour’s season-long FedEx Cup title for the first time. Additionally, Scheffler won four other signature events on the PGA Tour while leading in three of the six major strokes-gained categories.
“I am extremely honored to be named the GWAA Player of the Year Award for the second time,” Scheffler said. “2024 was a year I will never forget. From winning my second Players and Masters, to winning Olympic gold, the FedEx Cup, to the birth of my son.”
Scheffler posted a 68.01 scoring average on the PGA Tour in 2024, boosted by a start to the season in which he shot a tour record 41 straight rounds of par or better. Scheffler received 87.5 percent of the first-place votes, beating a field of finalists that included PGA and Open Championship winner Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy, who won the DP World Tour’s year-long Race to Dubai title for a sixth time.
Korda, 26, the GWAA Female Player of the Year, also made headlines early in 2024 when she won in five straight LPGA starts, tying the tour’s record set by Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05). That streak was capped by victory at the Chevron Championship, the second major championship of Korda’s career. She won two more LPGA titles for a total of seven on the year, the most in a single season since Yani Tseng in 2011 and the first American to win that many in one year since Beth Daniel in 1990. She also went 3-1 for the U.S. team that won the Solheim Cup for the first time since 2017.
“It means a lot to me to win this prestigious award for a second time,” said Korda, an honoree previously in 2021. “I am very grateful to all the writers and journalists that cover our sport. It is always special to be recognized by the Golf Writers Association of America and to be the Player of the Year is a tremendous honor. It is certainly something I am proud of and will look back on in my career.”
All told, Korda had 11 top-10 finishes in 16 starts and lifted her career LPGA win total to 15—while also sitting out part of the year with a neck injury. She earned 88.6 percent of the GWAA’s first-place votes, outpacing New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul.
Els, 55, became just the third player to win the GWAA Senior Player of the Year award after having won the GWAA Male POY honor previously in his career, joining Tom Watson and Tom Lehman. In 2024, the South African native won three times on the PGA Tour Champions, including his first senior major title at the Kaulig Companies Championship (formerly the Senior Players). He also claimed seven top-three finishes and 10 top-10s while finishing no worse than tied for eighth in any of his four senior major starts.
Els garnered 60.2 percent of the first-place votes, defeating Steven Alker, who won the Charles Schwab Cup, and Padraig Harrington.
“Thank you for honoring me as your Player of the Year. I’ve always said the golf journalist know what you’re talking about,” Els said. “Seriously, though, thank you so much and have a great 2025. I’ll see you all out there this year!”
The Golf Writers Association of America is an organization founded in 1946 to promote camaraderie among those who cover the game and to improve working conditions at tournaments. All three POY winners will be honored at the 51st annual ISPS Handa GWAA Dinner which takes place in Augusta, Georgia, on April 9, the eve of the 89th Masters.
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