Maverick McNealy reveals his 'big lesson' after a successful 2024 season

Maverick McNealy recently reflected on his 2024 season. The 29-year-old won his first PGA Tour tournament in his 142nd start, winning the RSM Classic by one stroke over Nico Echavarria, Luke Clanton and Daniel Berger. The tournament was held at Sea Island Golf Club, Georgia in November.

McNealy is now gearing up for his appearance at the 2025 season opener, The Sentry. The tournament will be held from Thursday, January 2 to Sunday, January 5 at Kapalua Golf Club in Kapalua, Hawaii. In the pre-tournament press conference, he was asked about his feelings while waiting for his first win on the PGA Tour. He said (via ASAP Sports):

"I definitely appreciated the win because I realized how hard it is to win. I actually got to the point where my wife is, like, Stop talking about how hard it is, just go out and do what you're doing. That was the big lesson, was that I didn't do anything differently than what I've been doing, it just all kind of fell into place."

Before his win, McNealy had two runner-ups on the PGA Tour at the 2021 Fortinet Championship and 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He also appreciated his brother and caddie Scout and said:

"But Scout's actually been really helpful. My kind of engineering brain wants to do everything step by step by step, and he's like, Why can't we just skip to step 7 or step 8, there's nothing stopping us. So that really helped."

Maverick McNealy turned professional in 2017 and played his first two years on the Korn Ferry Tour before earning the PGA Tour card for the 2020 season.

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A look at Maverick McNealy's performance in 2024

Maverick McNealy has had a splendid 2024 season. In 28 starts, he had one win, six top-10 finishes and 12 top-25 finishes. Missing only six cuts, McNealy finished 53rd in the FedExCup standings and 51st in the FedExCup Fall standings.

Apart from McNealy's win at the 2024 RSM Classic, his best performances include a T3 at the 3M Open, a T6 at the WM Phoenix Open and a T6 at the World Wide Technology Championship. His other notable finishes include a T7 at RBC Canadian Open and a T9 at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Let's take a look at Maverick McNealy's performances in the 2024 PGA TOUR Tournaments:

• Sony Open in Hawaii: T57
• The American Express: Missed Cut
• Farmers Insurance Open: T37
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: T39
• WM Phoenix Open: T6
• Mexico Open at Vidanta: T13
• Cognizant Classic: T41
• THE PLAYERS Championship: T9
• Valspar Championship: T45
• Valero Texas Open: T58
• THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson: T41
• PGA Championship: T23
• Charles Schwab Challenge: T17
• RBC Canadian Open: T7
• Rocket Mortgage Classic: T44
• John Deere Classic: Missed Cut
• The Open: Missed Cut
• 3M Open: T3
• Wyndham Championship: T45
• FedEx St. Jude Championship: T12
• Procore Championship: Missed Cut
• Sanderson Farms Championship: Missed Cut
• Shriners Children's Open: T16
• ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP: Withdrawn
• World Wide Technology Championship: T6
• Butterfield Bermuda Championship: T17
• The RSM Classic: 1