Season 2024/25 Wrap
All done for 2024/25 and what an incredible season it was. Fittingly, the DPWT cards came down to the final hole of the season with Anthony Quayle making birdie on the toughest hole of the day to leap Jack Buchanan for the second DPWT card. If Quinnton Croker, following in the group behind, also made birdie then Buchanan would have moved back in front.
Denzel Ieremia also battled strongly in tough conditions, entering the week in 56th position on the Order of Merit and needing a good result for full playing status next season. A few hiccups on the back nine in the final round looked like he may just tumble outside the top 50 (52 with temp. members), but he composed himself over those final holes and held on to score a well-deserved full card for season 2025/26.
Pro Rankings
A big shuffle up this week as players who did not play four events in the season drop out of the rankings. Unfortunately that meant we lost players like Kazuma Kobori, Michael Wright and Jed Morgan. They will return to the rankings after their fourth event in a future season.
Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert now sit atop of the rankings. Curtis Luck nearly completed the victory that would have moved him back into the #1 position, but just fell short after a couple of bogeys to finish his final round. Harrison Crowe moved into the top 10 (#10, up 13 spots) with his first professional victory that felt a long time coming. Andrew Martin backed up his good result at The Heritage and moved up 14 spots to #25 and Quinnton Croker moved up 18 from #55 to #37.
Some of the major moves in the rankings over the course of the season -
Anthony Quayle up 14 from #20 to #6
Jack Buchanan up 46 from #54 to #8
Harrison Crowe up 13 from #23 to #10
Jack Thompson up 28 from #39 to #11
Ryan Peake up 85 from #99 to #14
Jak Carter up 14 from #30 to #16
Corey Lamb up 26 from #50 to #24
James Conran up 68 from #94 to #26
Cory Crawford up 75 from #103 to #28
Blake Proverbs up 26 from #56 to #30
Tyler Hodge up 90 from #122 to #32
Brett Rumford up 33 from #68 to #35
Amateur Rankings
Again a few players dropped out as they did not play the minimum two events to maintain a ranking. Billy Dowling moved into #1 position after a strong result and also ended the Futures Tour OOM at #1.
Some Highlights
Elvis Smylie. A proper breakout year for Elvis as he first won the WA Open, then the Australian PGA Championship vaulting himself straight to the DPWT.
Ryan Peake. The best story in golf. Scores a major debut at The Open in July, instant Asian Tour status, and DPWT status come November/December.
Jack Buchanan. Two wins in the first four events, and took the DPWT race all the way down to the wire. Hopefully still scores the final card.
Anthony Quayle. Eight top 5s on the season is completely wild and could have been more had he played the whole season. Couldn’t find the win but there’s multiple coming.
Jake McLeod. Came out absolutely flying in the second half of the season. Another unfortunate not to pick up a win.
Jordan Doull. First year as a pro and nearly won three times. Scores multiple Q-School exemptions and hope to see him on the bigger tours soon.
The Data
I use two key measures to rate a player’s season.
Strokes Gained - rewards consistency, penalises a player for very low finishes.
Rankings Points - rewards higher finishes, adjusts for stronger fields.
Strokes Gained Per Round (min 4 events)
#1 Cam Smith +2.89
#2 Elvis Smylie +2.75
#3 Lucas Herbert +2.46
#4 Anthony Quayle +2.15
#5 Nick Voke +1.96
Elvis Smylie’s +2.75 is incredibly high for playing all three major events (Aus PGA, Aus Open, NZ Open) and nearly half of the entire season. To put that in perspective, Kazuma Kobori finished his three-win season at +2.50 SG.
Total Season Strokes Gained
#1 Anthony Quayle +107.52
#2 Jack Buchanan +96.88
#3 Elvis Smylie +96.12
#4 Jake McLeod +94.38
#5 Jordan Doull +79.41
Rankings Points Per Event (min 4 events)
#1 Cam Smith 145.29
#2 Elvis Smylie 143.22
#3 Lucas Herbert 104.84
#4 Curtis Luck 97.90
#5 Nick Voke 71.76
Total Season Rankings Points
#1 Elvis Smylie 1288.96
#2 Anthony Quayle 746.16
#3 Jack Buchanan 718.05
#4 Ryan Peake 692.08
#5 Curtis Luck 587.42
All statistics for season 2024/25 have been finalised on the website.
WHAT ABOUT THE THIRD DPWT CARD
Yes. The question everyone is asking. Cam Smith is not currently a member of the DPWT but if he did choose to join, he would be exempt under previous major winners in the past 7 years for his British Open win in 2022. Lucas Herbert is currently a member under the Previous Winners category, however that expires at the conclusion of this year. If he chooses to renew his membership he will take the final card. But will he renew?
This is all speculation on my behalf, but there is NO WAY he renews his membership. Herbert will already have exemptions into the co-sanctioned Australian PGA and Australian Open, and would be a leading chance of winning one of those. Should he win he would receive full membership on the DPWT once again.
If he takes the lowly Category 18 card and wins, he would move himself back into the Winners’ category and that card will not slide to Jack Buchanan (Keita Nakajima won the 2024 Indian Open as the Japan Tour OOM winner, moving up to the Winners’ category with no one taking his place).
On top of that, his conflicting schedule with LIV means he probably couldn’t, or wouldn’t play any events that he could gain entry into anyway. Knowingly taking starts from a fellow Australian early in their professional career seems an impossibility to me.
What do we do now?
Yes, the season is done. But guess what. Only a week until Q-School starts. And then ANOTHER Q-School in the USA (?????) in July.
Thanks to everyone for following along and all the kind words I’ve received. I’ll continue to write my thoughts throughout the off-season as we carry on towards the majors.
BYE