As December winds down and January creeps closer, it’s time to reflect on 2025 and relive some of the best moments the game of golf provided fans over the past year.
The discussion among the Golfweek staff for “Tournament of the Year” wasn’t as lively as last year, but there were plenty of tournaments considered among the best in the calendar year. However, one particular one the second weekend of April stood out for historical reasons.
This year in golf was a crazy one. From major championship history to insane playoffs and more, here are Golfweek’s best Tournaments of the Year in 2025.
Rory McIlroy finally conquers Augusta
How do you fit the final round of the 2025 Masters into one paragraph? Every single Rory McIlroy shot on the back nine was something out of a movie. The bogeys on 11 and 14. The double on 13. The incredible second shot on 15 and another great one on 17. Justin Rose coming from seven behind to start the day to force a playoff after McIlroy bogeyed the 72nd hole. Then he birdied the first playoff hole and completed the career grand slam. Absolute cinema.
Grace Kim outlasts Jeeno in France
A tournament that saw Lottie Woad, as an amateur finish a shot out of a playoff and Jeeno Thitikul miss an 8 footer on the 72nd hole to win outright ended with Grace Kim finishing the final four holes in 4 under to get into a playoff. In the playoff, however, Kim dumped her second shot into the water, and it looked as if Thitikul would finally win a major. Nope. Kim chipped in for birdie to extend the playoff. Then on the second playoff hole, Kim hit her approach to 12 feet and buried the eagle. She played her final six total holes in 7 under for her first major title.
Rory claims his second Players title
The year of the playoff. A month before his epic Masters victory, McIlroy had to return to TPC Sawgrass on Monday morning for a playoff against J.J. Spaun in the Players. McIlroy birdied the par-5 16th in the three-hole aggregate, and he found the green on 17 and watched Spaun’s ball one hop over the island green. Even with a bogey, he had a stranglehold for his second players title and clinched it with a bogey on 18. And it was only a sign of things to come.
Brooke Henderson wins on home soil
Brooke Henderson is the best female Canadian golfer of all-time. It was fitting she ended a two-year, seven-month winless drought on home soil. Henderson captured her second national open in August, winning the CPKC Women’s Open and becoming the first national with two Canadian Open titles since 1914 (and the first woman to do so).
Justin Rose knocks off J.J. Spaun at FedEx St. Jude
Tommy Fleetwood was destined to get his first PGA Tour event in Memphis, but a late bogey dropped him a shout of of an eventual playoff between Justin Rose, who birdied Nos. 14-17, and J.J. Spaun, who birdied 16 and 17, to get into the playoff. They both made pars on the first playoff hole, buried birdies on the second one to extend it and then Rose topped Spaun on the third playoff hole for the win. (Don’t feel too bad for Spaun, he may have lost two notable playoffs this year but had a major-winning moment of his own.)
