The PGA Tour fall season ended with a walk-off birdie for the win, an amateur nearly winning another tour event and a beloved grinder keeping his PGA Tour card with the round of his life.
The RSM Classic came down to a wild swing on the 18th hole, first with Nico Echavarria and Florida State’s Luke Clanton both bogeying the 18th hole to fall back to 15-under-par for a four-man tie. Then, Maverick McNealy and Daniel Berger — playing in the final groups — had chances for birdie on 18 to win the tournament.
Berger’s putt missed, but McNealy made his birdie on the final hole to earn his first career PGA Tour win and put himself in the early 2025 signature events. It was a great Sunday of golf, and some of the biggest stories weren’t from the winner.
Maverick McNealy is a winner @TheRSMClassic! 🏆
This is the first career title for McNealy. pic.twitter.com/7jgnqNzbq2
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 24, 2024
Daniel Berger’s long journey back
He was a top-10 player in the world. He played in a Ryder Cup and a Presidents Cup, and won at Pebble Beach. As of February 2022, DataGolf ranked Daniel Berger the No. 4 golfer in the game. Then he started to feel back pain. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open in June 2022. He didn’t play another tournament for 19 months.
Berger missed the rest of 2022 and all of 2023 with those back issues that made even the most minuscule tasks painful. He declined surgery and avoided what he called “Western medicine” recovery paths to let it heal naturally. At one point, in Fall 2023, he almost returned only to reaggravate the injury, delaying that return until January 2024.
No, Berger’s first season back hasn’t been a success. He had just one top 20 during the regular season and admitted he never felt 100 percent throughout the early months. “There is always that thought in the back of your head, ‘Am I good, can I swing as hard as I want?’” he said. But this October he felt healthy for the first time and went on a run of top-40 finishes.
And this week at St. Simons Island, Berger looked like the top-tier golfer he once was. At least for a week. Entering the event ranked No. 127 and at risk of losing his PGA Tour card, Berger finished the season with a T2 to jump not just into the top 125 but all the way to 100. The missed birdie putt on 18 cost him a chance at the playoff with McNealy, but Berger won’t be complaining after a breakthrough fall.
Joel Dahmen fights back to keep card
One of the most popular players on tour was about to be relegated. Joel Dahmen entered Friday outside the top 125 in the rankings and fighting to even make the cut. After shooting a first-round 73, he pushed himself even further out of that key number of 125. So when he hit a 6-foot par putt Friday to make the cut with a second-round 68 he was moved to tears. He knew the job wasn’t done. He knew he’d still need to make up more ground over the weekend to keep his card, but the weight of his friends and family depending on him took over.
That kind of transparency is why Dahmen is so popular. He became something of a star in the first season of Netflix’s “Full Swing” docuseries for his fun vibes and likable demeanor as the journeyman competed for a chance to win the 2022 U.S. Open.
Then, in Season 2, he let us in even further as he struggled to deal with the new attention and celebrity while his game cratered. His caddie and best friend, Geno Bonnalie, gave him a heart-to-heart about drinking to excess, pleading with Dahmen to see a sports psychologist.
Well, 2024 has been an even worse year on the course, but he’ll live to play another season on the PGA Tour. Dahmen, entering the final day in 126th, shot a bogey-free final round 64 to jump to No. 124. It was one of the more clutch rounds of Dahmen’s 15-year career, and one can only assume the Netflix cameras were there again to tell his story.
More notes
Former world No. 1 Justin Rose, who nearly won the Open Championship just four months ago, sat out the PGA Tour fall. In turn, he dropped from 60 to 62 this week. That might not seem like it’s important, but one key element in the fall is the fight for those outside the top 50 to finish the fall in the 51-60 spots by the end of the season. While those who finished top 50 in the regular season are guaranteed starts in all 2025 signature events, the 10 that finish the fall 51-60 get spots in the early signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera. Now Rose won’t have spots at any signature events unless he plays his way in or if he’s given a sponsor exemption. (Spoiler: He’ll likely get sponsor exemptions.)
Clanton has established himself as golf’s next young star to watch. In the same year former Alabama amateur Nick Dunlap won a PGA Tour event for the first time in 26 years, Clanton had a share of the lead on the 18th hole before finding a bunker and bogeying the hole to finish T2. Clanton appears ready to be a pro whenever he wants, as he’s made the cut in seven of eight PGA Tour starts and an absurd four top-10s.
Amateurs are not supposed to be able to do that. He decided to return to Florida State for his junior year to try to earn his card through the PGA Tour University program, but he was one hole away from earning it outright Sunday.
Some big names to lose their cards Sunday: Gary Woodland, Wesley Bryan, Zac Blair, Pierceson Coody and Alejandro Tosti all finished between 126-150. That gives them “conditional” PGA Tour status, meaning they’ll have opportunities to play PGA Tour events based on availability but will generally have to play much of their seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour.
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
