It’s time for the gongs they didn’t ask for! The Today’s Golfer (Alternative) Golf Awards 2024

It's time for the Today's Golfer (Alternative) Golf Awards 2024!

The best and worst of 2024… featuring two giraffes, 85 liters of beer, and consecutive holes-in-one.

It’s always nice to be recognized by your industry peers. Whether you’re picking up an Oscar for Best Actress or being celebrated at the Chicken Cottage Awards (yes, they really happen), you go home safe in the knowledge that people you respect have noticed your efforts. Well, when it comes to golf, we notice everything. Our 25 alternative awards cover the good, the bad, and the ridiculous of golf this year. You’ll laugh. You’ll cringe. And you may wonder what Jason Day was thinking with some of his wardrobe choices.

GOLF’S PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Who knew that chunking pitch shots could endear you to millions of viewers? Johnson Wagner has found his calling as golf’s great entertainer this year, offering real-time, relatable analysis on The Golf Channel while nervously laughing his way through his own battles with the yips. Those vulnerabilities were never more apparent than at Valhalla when the three-time PGA Tour winner chunked two chips and sculled another live on TV. None of it, he said, was ever part of the plan, though his redemption moment arrived four weeks later when Bryson gatecrashed his attempt to recreate his 50-yard bunker shot at Pinehurst. Wagner bladed his first effort over the green, but his next settled within a few feet of the cup – closer than the US Open champion had managed a few hours earlier. The celebration that followed – with Bryson and the trophy in situ – was one of the pictures of the season.

WINNER: Johnson Wagner

THEY COULDN’T WRITE IT AWARD

It always felt like it was going to take something extraordinary to throw Scottie Scheffler off his game. Enter Detective Bryan Gillis, who went beyond the call of duty by arresting and handcuffing the World No.1 outside Valhalla. Scheffler was booked and released from custody just in time to make his tee time at the PGA Championship, where he somehow carded a five-under 66 to the soundtrack of fans chanting ‘free Scottie’. He was later cleared of four criminal charges, including second-degree assault of a police officer, but our abiding memory was seeing Scheffler high-fiving a fan who had his mugshot printed on his T-shirt. We don’t remember Tiger ever doing that.

WINNER: Scottie Scheffler

THE ‘JEAN VAN DE VELDE’ MOMENT

We hear you screaming Rory’s name, but his mini meltdown at the US Open had nothing on the struggles endured by Sebastian Soderberg in trying (and failing) to close out a first victory in five years at the Scandinavian Mixed. The 34-year-old was the runaway leader on 21-under-par, eight clear of his nearest challenger through 54 holes, and playing in front of a home crowd in Sweden. Until nerves got the better of him. Problems with the putter, combined with Linn Grant’s heroics up ahead, meant he only had a shot to play with coming down the last, which evaporated as soon as he failed to get up and down from the greenside bunker. He had no more than three feet left to force a playoff, but pulled it so badly that the ball horseshoes round the hole. He hasn’t had another top 10 since.

WINNER: Sebastian Soderberg

CINDERELLA STORY

Feel-good stories don’t come much better than this. Nick Dunlap was a 20-year-old undergrad, ranked 4,129th in the world and playing on a sponsor’s invite at The American Express when he became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. He turned pro a week later, added another title at the Barracuda Championship in July, and finished the 2024 season as one of only seven men to claim multiple PGA Tour wins.

WINNER: Nick Dunlap

WORST FIRST IMPRESSION

Picture the scene. You’ve just won your DP World Tour card at Q-School. You’re a little nervous on your first start as a professional, so you take a minute (quite literally) to compose yourself so you don’t mess up. It sounds like a sensible plan in theory, except it didn’t quite wash with officials at the Australian PGA Championship, who slapped Jacob Skov Olesen with a one-shot penalty for slow play during the first round. In fairness, he did take 130 seconds to hit his approach shot on the 10th, which is well above the 40 seconds allowed. If only someone had bought him a stopwatch as a graduation present…

WINNER: Jacob Skov Olesen

SHOT OF THE YEAR

Technically, this award is based on two shots at the US Senior Open, which resulted in club professional Frank Bensel Jr. making consecutive holes-in-one at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. The odds of doing so are said to be 156 million to one, which is something to tell the grandkids. He’ll probably leave out the bit about missing the cut though.

WINNER: Frank Bensel Jr.

MISS OF THE YEAR

Paul Broadhurst whiffed from a matter of inches during the Senior Open at Carnoustie in a scene reminiscent of Hale Irwin at the 1983 Open Championship. You can add his name to the shortlist of the worst misses of all time. You can see for yourself by clicking here. “I checked with the referee, but I made a legitimate attempt at the ball. I sort of leant back and didn’t get to the ball, so I had to call that,” said Broadhurst following his round.

WINNER: Paul Broadhurst

COMEBACK KID

A serious award now, and a deserving one after everything Matteo Manassero has been through. Before the pandemic hit, the Italian had missed 28 of 31 cuts and dropped to 1,805th on the Official World Golf Rankings. He considered walking away from the game at one point. It wasn’t until he won on the third-tier Alps Tour in September 2020 that he was brought back to the Challenge Tour, which is where he stayed for the next three years ahead of earning a first promotion to the big leagues this year. After missing three of his first five cuts, the 31-year-old won his fourth DP World Tour title at the Jonsson Workwear Open in March and might have added another had he not squandered a three-shot lead on Sunday at the BMW PGA Championship. As it was, a sixth top 10 of the season helped him finish a career-high 12th in the Race to Dubai, which was good enough to secure one of 10 PGA Tour cards for 2025. He’s now being talked about as a possible wildcard to make the Ryder Cup team – just as he was about 11 years ago. His story has gone full circle.

WINNER: Matteo Manassero

FLOP OF THE YEAR

Maybe we should cut him some slack, given he was out of the game for 12 years, but Anthony Kim’s comeback was about as successful as Mike Tyson’s return to the boxing ring last month. He signed a one-year deal with LIV as a wildcard and then tied for last place in the individual standings with a combined score of 64-over-par across 11 starts. We’d be amazed if any team signs him up next season.

WINNER: Anthony Kim

BIGGEST TEMPER TANTRUM

Also known as the ‘Tyrrell Hatton Award’, on account of him having won it so often. A (not so) honorable mention goes to Matt Wallace, who was rightly castigated for slamming his club into the turf at the DP World Tour Championship and failing to repair the damage. However, Zach Johnson gets our vote after he was filmed telling a group of rowdy spectators to “just shut up” at the Phoenix Open in January. In an interview afterward, he continued his verbal tirade by adding, “This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I’ve been on Tour – and this is my 21st year.” It makes you wonder why he’s played in it 10 times in a row!

WINNER: Zach Johnson

THE BEST IMPRESSION OF A WEEKEND HACKER

This can only refer to one man, who will forever rank first for entertainment and relatability. In truth, we thought nothing could top Jordan Spieth hitting a 3-wood from the driving range at Birkdale, until he started playing video game golf at the Valero Texas Open. His crazy golf adventure started as it always does: with a terrible tee shot. This one left him in the weeds and blocked out by a tree.

After a typically convoluted conversation with his longsuffering caddie, the three-time Major winner caught the branch with his attempt at a hero shot and watched as his ball rebounded into a drain. That’s when things started to get interesting.

For his next play, he couldn’t get relief from a concrete drain in front of him so he decided to aim towards the clubhouse – about 90° in the wrong direction. His ball landed on a cart path and then catapulted onto the tin roof of the clubhouse. A drone eventually found it in the gutter (a metaphor for his season, perhaps), where he was somehow afforded a free drop from a temporary scoreboard. To his credit, he found the green from a near-impossible lie with his fourth shot but then took three putts to get down for a double-bogey seven. Only Jordan.

WINNER: Jordan Spieth

BIGGEST ATTENTION SEEKER

A part of us genuinely feels sorry for Matt Kuchar’s PR team, who have been fighting a losing battle to restore his nice guy image ever since he paid a local caddie just $5,000 of the $1.296 million he won at the 2019 Mayakoba Golf Classic. This year he managed to piss off hundreds of PGA Tour officials, volunteers, and broadcasters with his one-man Monday finish at the Wyndham Championship. He was already out of contention to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs when he made the decision to return to Sedgefield Country Club at 8am the following day – despite both his playing partners opting to finish on Sunday night. His selfish actions cost the tour and club thousands of dollars, while others affected by his decision had to rearrange flights and hotel bookings. Still, at least he didn’t wait three months to apologize this time.

WINNER: Matt Kuchar

BIGGEST BLUNDER

Some mistakes you can get away with in print, but incorrectly adding Hal Sutton’s name to a list of obituaries in the official PGA Magazine is certainly not one of them. The former Ryder Cup star had to issue a statement on social media to announce that he was very much “alive and well.”

WINNER: PGA Magazine

BEST HOLE-IN-ONE PRIZE

Remember when Andy Sullivan won a trip to space in 2014? Well, Ugo Coussaud’s award at the Andalucia Masters wasn’t quite on the same level, but he did get to take home his entire body weight in Estrella Damm beer. Christmas round his should be fun.

WINNER: Ugo Coussaud

MOST AWKWARD MOMENT

The boos that greeted Jay Monahan at the Players Championship made for an uncomfortable trophy presentation, but nothing can beat Bryson DeChambeau’s sheepish appearance at the Presidential Election Party after Donald Trump called him up on stage. “Bryson DeChambeau is up here some place,” the President-elect said, looking around in all directions. “What happened to Bryson? Where is he? Bryson! Oh, he was shy. He’s hitting balls! He’s on the way – he’s hitting balls.” Their new friendship must surely rank as one of the unlikeliest unions of all time.

WINNER: Bryson DeChambeau

THE ‘THANKS FOR MAKING US FEEL GOOD’ AWARD

Nelly Korda was in the form of her life, chasing her seventh victory in eight starts, when she came unstuck in a big way on a 161-yard par 3 at the US Women’s Open. After going long off the tee, she dunked three balls in the water, missed from 10ft, and walked off with a septuple-bogey 10, the worst single-hole score of her career. Her opening round of 80 also equaled her worst-ever score as a professional. We can only sympathize.

WINNER: Nelly Korda

STREAK OF THE YEAR

When was the last time you saw three players winning the same individual award? Well, there’s a first for everything, because we couldn’t pick between Korda’s five victories in a row, Scottie Scheffler’s 42 consecutive rounds under par, or Shane Lowry’s ridiculous run of holes without a three-putt on the PGA Tour. The Irishman is currently up to 359, which is the equivalent of almost 40 rounds of golf. Either he is good at hitting it close or his lag putting is on another level. Probably a bit of both.

WINNER(S): Nelly Korda / Scottie Scheffler / Shane Lowry

WEIRDEST INJURY

We’ve had some crackers over the years, including accidents involving chainsaws, a Yucca plant, and even a frozen bagel. This year, two of the LPGA’s biggest stars were forced to miss the Aramco Team Series event in London after injuring themselves in equally unusual circumstances. Charley Hull was the first to pull out with a shoulder injury following a fall in the shower, before Nelly Korda withdrew after she was bitten by a dog outside a coffee shop. Stay safe, kids.

WINNERS: Charley Hull / Nelly Korda

FASHION FAUX PAS

Viktor Hovland continues to excel in this category, but there was only ever going to be one winner once Jason Day swapped his Nike wardrobe for Malbon fancy dress. That heavily branded sweater vest at the Masters will live long in the memory, but his biggest crime against fashion were these cargo parachute pants that belonged in the bin in the ’90s.

WINNER: Jason Day

MOST OUTRAGEOUS SUGGESTION

After dropping three shots in two days on the Road Hole at the Dunhill Links, Robert MacIntyre had an interesting, albeit slightly extreme, idea for how he would improve the 17th on the Old Course at St Andrews. “Blow it up. I don’t think there are many worse holes in world golf.”

WINNER: Robert MacIntyre

MOST OVER THE TOP CELEBRATION

We’re all for honoring a bet, but we draw the line at two caddies whipping their shirts off during the Solheim Cup to celebrate a hole out from 86 yards. It wasn’t a great look for them, the sport, or their PTs!

WINNERS: Jack Fulghum / Taylor Takada

MOST UNEXPECTED CAMEO APPEARANCE

This year we’ve seen an otter sprinting across the green in an LPGA event, an alligator strolling across the tee box of a PGA Tour event, and two giraffes having a great time on the fairway of an LET event in Kenya. Beating them all for sheer audacity was a four-year-old cockapoo called Jock, who brazenly ran off with Gareth Bale’s golf ball on the 1st hole at Carnoustie during the Dunhill Links. The owner – who wished to remain anonymous – even issued an apology on behalf of his four-legged friend to a local paper. “It didn’t matter how many times I shouted at him, it was like his ears were painted on. I just have to apologize to Gareth for what happened.”

WINNER: Jock the dog

THE ‘SHOULDN’T YOU BE IN SCHOOL’ AWARD

Whatever happened to golf being an old man’s game? Two months before 15-year-old Miles Russell made his PGA Tour debut, English amateur Kris Kim took a break from GCSE revision by becoming the youngest player in nine years to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, aged 16 years and seven months. Rounds of 68 and 67 at the CJ Cup meant he made the weekend with a shot to spare, ahead of the likes of Jordan Spieth, Robert MacIntyre, and Thorbjorn Olesen.

WINNER: Kris Kim

MOST CRINGEWORTHY EXCHANGE

Let us take you back to February when a young PGA pro found herself being coached by a man who thinks he knows it all. Georgia Ball had her phone set up to video her swing when an unwanted helper decided to offer his thoughts on what she was doing wrong. She took it all in good spirits, explaining that she was in the middle of a swing change, but the mystery man was having none of it. He carried on, giving advice off-screen and justifying it by saying he’d been playing golf for 20 years. When she striped her next shot, he even took the credit for it before going on his merry way. We feel sorry for his playing partners.

WINNER: Georgia Ball and the best coach in the world

BIGGEST BRASS BALLS

There are controversial statements – and then there’s the rubbish Talor Gooch started spouting about the legitimacy of Major Championship victories in 2024. In an interview with Golf Digest, the LIV star claimed that if Rory McIlroy were to complete the Career Grand Slam at the Masters, the victory would need an “asterisk” due to the lack of LIV players in the event. Of course, what he was really referring to was Talor Gooch’s absence from the field, which tells you everything you need to know about his sense of entitlement. No top 10s in 12 Major starts so far would suggest he’s owed very little.

WINNER: Talor Gooch

About the author

Michael Catling – Features Editor

Michael Catling is an award-winning journalist who specializes in golf’s Majors and Tours, including DP World, PGA, LPGA, and LIV.

Michael joined Today’s Golfer in 2016 and has traveled the world to attend the game’s biggest events and secure exclusive interviews with the game’s biggest names, including Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Martin Slumbers and Justin Thomas.

Get in touch with Michael via email and follow him on X.