Best golfers of 2025

It’s been a sensational year for golf.

There has been history for Rory McIlroy.

Outrageous quality from Scottie Scheffler.

An American breakthrough for Tommy Fleetwood.

Ryder Cup glory for Europe.

And the emergence of three new stars in the form of England’s Lottie Woad and Japan Miyu Yamashita in the women’s game, and Marco Penge in the men’s.

But how do they rank? Let’s find out.

1. Rory McIlroy

All wins are good but some wins are better and McIlroy’s triumph in the Masters was exactly that. It was not just his first win at Augusta National, it was also his first major championship victory in 11 years, and it also completed the Career Grand Slam (he is just the sixth player to win all four majors).

That one triumph alone is impressive enough, but earlier in the year he had won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am and the Players Championship, and later in it he won the Irish Open, led Europe to Ryder Cup triumph and claimed a seventh Race to Dubai title.

A wonderful year. A career-defining year. And the best year of any golfer in 2025.

2. Scottie Scheffler

In any normal year the New York-born, Texas-bred World No. 1 would have easily been deemed to have had the best return. It’s just his bad luck that in 2025 McIlroy trumped him.

Scheffler actually had a slow start, not firing until the end of March following a cut on his hand during his 2024 Christmas festivities. But in his 15 starts from late March he never once finished outside the top 10, winning six times including the PGA Championship and Open.

The only stain on his year came with a Ryder Cup performance which was, for a second match running, flat and uninspiring in the US defeat.

3. Tommy Fleetwood

The Englishman had finished top three on the PGA Tour 13 times ahead of this year’s Tour Championship and he was heading towards Colin Montgomerie territory which is to say that Americans were muttering about his inability to win in their country.

He’d led June’s Travelers Championship but was caught on the line. The same thing happened in early August at the St Jude Championship. But at the end of that month, in the Tour Championship, it was third time lucky.

He then won the India Championship in October, shortly after taking a lead role in Europe’s Ryder Cup heroics at Bethpage Black in New York. He was always a fan favourite but now he is a star.

4. Luke Donald

The Englishman carded a first round 67 to sit inside the top five after 18 holes of the PGA Championship, but that was the highlight of this year when the clubs were in his hands – for the most part he struggled to make cuts.

That’s irrelevant, however. He’s one of the stars of 2025 because of his sustained quality as a Ryder Cup captain because while he was brilliant guiding Europe to victory in Rome two years ago, he was even better when plotting the win and retention of the Cup at Bethpage Black in New York.

European fans might cast their mind back to when Donald replaced Henrik Stenson as captain – it might be the greatest accidental substitution in the event’s history.

5. Lottie Woad

Golf always knew that England had a potential star in the 21-year-old because when she won the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur she did so courtesy of birdies at 15, 17 and 18 in the final round.

But her July 2025 was little short of sensational. In the first week, when still an amateur, she won the Ladies European Tour’s Irish Open by six (yes, six) strokes. A week later she finished one shot outside the play-off in the Evian Championship, the fourth major championship of the year.

A fortnight later, having turned professional, she won the LPGA/LET co-sanctioned Scottish Open and ended the month as the pre-championship favourite in the Women’s British Open (where she finished eighth).

6. Marco Penge

In the Englishman’s final event of the 2024 season, the Genesis Championship in Korea, he needed to make a birdie at the final hole to save his playing rights for 2025 and he did so. A month later, however, he was banned for two months (with another month suspended) for breaking betting regulations. Heading into the final weeks of April he was playing better but yet to display his best golf at the highest level.

Then the dam broke in spectacular style. He won the Hainan Classic, in July he was second in the Scottish Open, in August he added the Danish Championship and in October the Open de Espana.

Having started the year outside the world’s top 400 and banned, he ended it ranked second in the 2025 Race to Dubai, settled inside the world’s top 50 and looking forward to playing all the majors in 2026.

7. Miyu Yamashita

The depth of the LPGA has been a key theme in 2025 and only two players have won more than once – the World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul and Japan’s Yamashita.

The 24-year-old was a 13-time winner on home soil ahead of this year and boy has she transferred her quality to the highest level. She won the AIG Women’s British Open in August and added the Maybank Championship in November.

Now ranked third in the world she is on track to challenge Thitikul in top spot in 2026.