Five golfers with the most to be grateful for in 2025 on Thanksgiving 

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It’s Thanksgiving, the season to reflect on the things we are most grateful for!

And looking across the golf landscape, you’ll see that there are players who have plenty to give thanks for after the 2025 season! 

Not just players like Scottie Scheffler, who dominated the season on his way to unparalleled success. Everyone needs things to fall into place in order to win, but Scheffler’s victories can be credited to talent and hard work. 

Instead, we’re looking at the five players who should take some time to thank others this year. 

1. Tommy Fleetwood

For a time during the 2025 season, it looked like Tommy Fleetwood was enduring the most agonising year of his career. He lost the Travelers Championship to Keegan Bradley on the final hole in his hard-fought quest for his first PGA Tour win. 

But that first victory came at the Tour Championship, and then Fleetwood played an integral role in Europe’s away Ryder Cup win at Bethpage Black. But that’s not the reason he should be grateful.

Fleetwood ended the season as the FedEx Cup winner after winning at East Lake, in large part thanks to a rule change from the PGA Tour. 

The tour removed the starting strokes format, which meant that, instead of starting the tournament with a head start, regular-season winner Scheffler was level with the rest of the field.

It’s hard to imagine anyone would have beaten Scheffler if he’d been given a head start, so Fleetwood should be thanking the PGA Tour for this change!

2. Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm won the LIV Golf individual championship this season, and for that, he should be very grateful for the LIV structure. 

Rahm’s title was a controversial one, as Joaquin Niemann broke the record for the most wins in a LIV Golf season. Meanwhile, Rahm didn’t win a single event all year and was crowned champion. 

The points scoring structure on LIV meant Rahm’s consistency was rewarded over Niemann’s victories. Rahm had four second-place finishes and finished outside the top 10 only once. Meanwhile, when Niemann didn’t win, he finished in the top 10 only once. 

So, for the LIV Golf scoring format, Rahm should be extremely grateful.

3. Shane Lowry

It was a difficult 2025 season for Shane Lowry, especially on the back end as he struggled for consistency. 

But despite that, he was still put in a position to do what he called “the coolest thing I’ve done in my life,” as Lowry sank the Ryder Cup retaining putt at Bethpage Black. 

It was never supposed to work out this way. Team Europe carried a seven-point lead into Sunday after a dominant opening two days, so Lowry’s match against Russell Henley was expected to be meaningless. 

But as Team USA rallied in an attempted comeback, Europe desperately needed Lowry’s half point, so he was able to be the hero for Luke Donald’s side. Everything fell into place for Lowry, and for that he should be grateful. 

4. Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy had perhaps the best year of his career in 2025. McIlroy won the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, won the Ryder Cup away from home, won the Irish Open, Pebble Beach, and The Players to build an incredible resume. But that’s not why we’re saying he should be grateful.

The Ryder Cup victory may not have been possible without one man: Lowry. The New York crowd at Bethpage Black abused McIlroy relentlessly, and that reached a fever pitch on Saturday afternoon. 

McIlroy and Lowry, in a match against Cameron Young and Justin Thomas, took the brunt of the fan vitriol at Bethpage Black, and the European pair still won 2up. And while McIlroy was the best player in the pairing, Lowry was the key to their success. 

He escorted McIlroy, his best friend, around the course like a bodyguard, shielding him from the abuse and firing back in big moments. McIlroy was lucky enough to have his best friend make the team, and be there to help him through one of the most challenging environments any player has had to face. 

That’s why he should be giving thanks to Lowry this year.

5. Jordan Spieth

In contrast to McIlroy, it’s been another disappointing year for Jordan Spieth. He’s still winless since 2022 and has just two top-five finishes this season. 

So what is there to be grateful for? Well, Spieth continues to be given sponsor exemptions despite his poor performances, which see him playing in some of the biggest events of the year. 

Spieth decided not to play at all in the fall season, but he will be playing at the Hero World Challenge after receiving an invite from Tiger Woods. 

You could argue that Spieth earned these invites earlier in his career by winning his three majors, or you could argue he’s been given starts at the best events on reputation alone. 

Either way, Spieth should be thankful that he continues to be invited.