Clanton, a junior at Florida State who is the world no. 1 amateur, posted four top-10s in eight PGA Tour events in 2024. He finished as co-runner-up in both the John Deere and RSM Classic. He has made no statement about turning pro but such a career move might be likely by June.

Nick Dunlap, who won the AmEx as an amateur in January, finished second on the list, also starting from zero. Among previously-rated players who rose strongly, Max Greyserman led the way, upping his rating by 702 points while rising from 572nd to 74th. Also within the top 10 were two well-established stars, Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler, who started the year in the top 10 and still managed to increase their ratings by 550+ and 450+ points, respectively.

There are 26 rookies on the Tour for 2025. Tops among them in current rating is Matt McCarty, who gained his Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour three-victory promotion rule, granting him immediate eligibility. He won in his second subsequent start, the Black Desert in October. Second on that list is Takumi Kanaya, a 26-year-old established Japanese pro who was Japan Tour money leader in 2024. He qualified earlier this month via the PGA Q School.

On the other end of the spectrum are pros whose ratings dropped the farthest in 2024. Daniel Berger, the 2015 rookie of the year, suffered through an abysmal start to the 2024 season, failing to finish in the top 20 in his first nine starts and likewise failing to post a top-10 thru 21 events. Eventually he was seventh in the Sanderson and runner-up in the RSM. It ended up as a 712-point drop, from 21st to 109th.

A note regarding the ratings: A player must have a minimum of eight appearances within the last two years in million-dollar or better events on major world tours to be eligible for the rankings. The ratings number reflects the player’s finish and the strength of field in each event. The strength of field is measured as the sum of the player ratings in the field. In other words, beating this writer and maybe two other guys from the club by 10 strokes is worth nothing. Finishing 20th against a full field of top pros in an event such as the PGA Championship would be worth 2000+ rating points. Finishing 20th in an average LIV event of 50 or so players would be worth 500+ points.