As the new golf season approached January for the past few years, Maverick McNealy’s name would show up near the top of lists as the best players yet to win on the PGA Tour.

That won’t be the case in 2025.

In January, McNealy instead will be in Maui to begin his season at the winners only Sentry Championship. The Las Vegas resident closed out the 2024 season with a win at the RSM Classic, giving him that elusive first victory after five full seasons on the tour.

“In some ways I was prepared for it to take 10, 15 years. I didn’t know,” McNealy said. “The cool thing about professional golf is that you have the chance to change your life any given week, and it doesn’t matter what happens the week before, two weeks before.

“It takes all year to have a bad year, and it takes one week to have a great year.”

Even without the win, it would have been a great year for McNealy. He posted seven top-10 finishes, was healthy after an injury-plagued 2023, got married in December 2023 and had his wife, Maya, with him all season, and his brother Scout became his caddie in the fall.

“Having two people that ground me, believe in me more than I believe in myself sometimes and just unconditionally in your corner, it made all the difference in the world and I felt that all year,” said McNealy, who reached a career-best 30th in the world rankings this week.

Professional expectations were high when McNealy came out of Stanford in 2017 as one of the top amateur players. He broke Tiger Woods’ records at the school and earned the Haskins Award as the nation’s top college player in 2015.

But that was the last time he won anything. It took two years on the Korn Ferry Tour and five on the PGA Tour to hoist a trophy again.

“There were a lot of expectations,” he said of turning pro. “I really feel like my college career was — I made my entire college career in like a 15-month stretch. I won seven out of 12 tournaments in 2015, and I blacked out for a year, year and a half.”

There were a few close calls in recent seasons, including runner-up finishes at Pebble Beach and Napa in 2021. But it took until the final event in 2024 to earn the label of PGA Tour winner and the perks that come with it, including his first appearance at the Masters and his playing card locked up through 2026.

“It will be fun to go out there feeling a little bit more free and playing to win,” he said of the two-year exemption. “That was a big realization of mine starting my sophomore year of college, that it’s more fun to play to win than playing to not screw up. I think I’ll have a lot more freedom to go out there and try and win a few more of these.”

Chip shots

— Crypto.com has signed on as title sponsor for this month’s made-for-TV match at Shadow Creek between Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. The PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf stars will play Dec. 17, with the event broadcast on TNT. As part of the agreement, players will be paid in cryptocurrency. Purses have not been announced, but all four will reportedly get seven-figure payouts.

— Cascata Golf Course in Boulder City, one of the elite layouts in Nevada, will host a fundraiser for the Southern Nevada Golf Association on Tuesday. Golfers can play the course for $200 that day, with 120 spots available in a shotgun start. Grab-and-go breakfast, lunch and course contests are included in the price.

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.

Pro schedule

PGA Tour

What: Hero World Challenge

When: Thursday-Sunday

Where: Albany Golf Club, Albany, Bahamas

Purse: $5 million

2023 champion: Scottie Scheffler

LPGA Tour

What: Final Qualifying Tournament

When: Thursday-Monday

Where: Magnolia Grove (Falls and Crossings courses), Mobile, Ala.

Purse: $150,000

2023 champion: Robyn Choi