A driver off the deck and a 3-wood off a tee. One shot was simply to make the cut. Another was to win a major.
Every shot tells a story, and there were plenty of them in 2024. Not all of them belong to Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, the two players who stood above all others.
What follows are memorable shots that defined a memorable year.
Byeong Hun An was two shots behind with four holes to play at the Genesis Championship in South Korea. It was time to make something happen no matter the risk. He was 290 yards away from an elevated green with water on the left. He hit driver off the deck and it was close to perfection, hitting the green and rolling out to 8 feet. An had to settle for birdie, but he went on to beat Tom Kim in a playoff for his second European tour title.
Bryson DeChambeau hit only five fairways in the final round at Pinehurst No. 2, the fewest by a U.S. Open champion in 17 years. His best tee shot came on the 13th hole. He had just made bogey to fall two shots behind Rory McIlroy when DeChambeau drilled 3-wood onto the green to make birdie and stay close enough to overtake him in the end.
Rafael Campos was tied for the lead going into the final round of the Bermuda Championship, aiming for his first PGA Tour victory and playing in a raging wind. On the par-5 seventh, he ripped a 2-iron from 256 yards to 2 feet for eagle that sent him on his way to becoming the first Puerto Rican to win on tour since Chi Chi Rodriguez.
Bernhard Langer was trying to do the unthinkable — win for an 18th consecutive season on the PGA Tour Champions — when he was in a fairway bunker in a playoff against Y.E. Yang in the Ascension Charity Classic. The 67-year-old Langer hit hybrid out of the sand to 15 feet, an amazing shot at any age. Yang won the playoff, but Langer showed he had the goods. And he proved it by winning the last event of the year to extend a record among the most untouchable in golf.
Xander Schauffele needed birdie on the par-5 18th at Valhalla to win his first major at the PGA Championship. Just his luck, his drive rolled down through the fairway and down the bank of a bunker. He stood in the sand with the ball well above his feet and water down the right side. Schauffele hit 4-iron so cleanly it rolled nearly to the green, leaving him a 35-yard pitch to 6 feet and a birdie putt to win.
Honorable mention: Scottie Scheffler, coming off a double bogey, hitting 4-iron to 5 feet for birdie on the par-3 ninth hole on his way to winning the FedEx Cup.
Chris Kirk was back in The Sentry at Kapalua for the first time in eight years, an absence that included stepping away because of alcoholism. Kirk was tied for the lead on Sunday and had 209 yards over a gorge on the par-4 17th in wind so deceptive he wasn't sure if it was a 7-iron or a 5-iron. He picked the 5-iron, stayed committed and hit it to 2 feet. The birdie carried him to a 65 and a one-shot victory, assuring his return next month.
Nelly Korda already tied an LPGA record with five straight wins, including the first major of the year. She was a heavy favorite in the U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club. Three holes into the championship, it was over. She hit 6-iron — most players were hitting one or two clubs shorter — into a back bunker. She blasted out through the green and into the creek. From the fairway, her next two shots went into the water. She wound up with a 10, shot 80 and missed the cut.
Francesco Molinari had not been the same since winning the British Open and going 5-0 in the Ryder Cup. He was due a break and he got one at his final hole Friday in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. He hit 7-iron just over the bunker and into the cup for a hole-in-one to make the cut on the number.
Scottie Scheffler was on his way to a stunning rally on the final day at the Olympics when his drive on the 17th hole buried in deep rough. He gouged an 8-iron out and onto the green to 18 feet and holed the putt to take the lead. The rare show of emotion indicated how big that birdie was. Scheffler shot 62 to win the gold medal.
Lottie Woad of England was shots behind with five to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur when she delivered a charge so familiar to Masters champions. That included birdies on her last two holes for a 69 and a one-shot victory, the last one a 9-iron to 15 feet for what turned out to be the winner.
Rory McIlroy had let tournaments get away in the majors (U.S. Open), at home (Irish Open) and in the European flagship event (Wentworth). He closed out the year in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, locked in a duel with Rasmus Hojgaard. They were tied when McIlroy took on a flag over the water on the 16th hole with a pitching wedge and stuffed it for a tap-in birdie that carried him to victory and the perfect way to end a long year.
Honorable mention: Xander Schauffele with pitching wedge to 2 feet on the 11th hole at Royal Troon when he won the British Open. He made the only birdie on No. 11 in the final round.
Bryson DeChambeau had a one-shot lead going to the final hole of the U.S. Open when he missed another fairway and put his next one in a front bunker, 55 yards away, one of the hardest shots in golf to judge. His sand wedge goes down as among the most famous shots in a career already filled with them, 4 feet away for a winning par at Pinehurst No. 2.
Scottie Scheffler won the Masters by four shots, but it wasn't always that comfortable. He was tied with Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg, one ahead of Max Homa, when his lob wedge at No. 9 flew past the hole, caught the ridge and was inches from going into the cup. He led the rest of the way.
Grayson Murray felt he was starting to turn the corner in his personal life and on the golf course. No moment was bigger than the Sony Open, when he won a three-man playoff by making a 40-foot birdie putt across the 18th green. It remains a happy memory of Murray, who took his own life in May.