From Rory to JT, looking back at top players and moments

With the golf world still buzzing about Rory McIlroy's historic victory at the Masters nearly three weeks ago, it's hard to believe the PGA Tour has reached the halfway point of its 2025 FedEx Cup season.

The tour hits the second half at this week's CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which tees off Thursday at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.

While injuries slowed down Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, the best two golfers in the world, there were plenty of surprises and first-time winners in the first half -- including two at last week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The good news is there are still three major championships to play in the final 17 tournaments, followed by what figures to be a memorable Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York, on Sept. 26-28.

Here's a look back at the first half of the 2025 season:

Midseason Player of the Year

How could it be anyone other than Rory? Along with becoming the sixth golfer in the Masters era to complete the career Grand Slam by capturing a green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club, he also collected wins against stacked fields at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on February 2 and The Players on April 13.

McIlroy leads the tour in scoring average (69.2) and is nearly a half-stroke better than anyone else in strokes gained: total (2.319). With 2,463 points, McIlroy has a nearly 800-point advantage in the FedEx Cup standings.

The five-time major champion might just be getting started, given his success at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, which will host the PGA Championship on May 15-18. He has won the Wells Fargo Championship at the same course four times and set course records with 61 and 62. He'll also be heading home to Northern Ireland for the Open Championship at Royal Portrush on July 17-20.

"Going back to Portrush is going to be incredible," said Shane Lowry, who won the 2019 Open Championship there. "Rory going back as the Masters champion now is going to take a little bit of heat off me again, so I'm pretty happy with that. It's going to be a great tournament."

Others considered: Justin Thomas, Scheffler, Russell Henley, Ludvig Åberg

Midseason Rookie of the Year

Karl Vilips, who moved to the U.S. at age 11, won the Puerto Rico Open by three strokes on March 9 in his fourth PGA Tour start. The former Stanford star set the 72-hole scoring record at 26-under 262 at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. He opened with a 6-under 66 and closed with an 8-under 64.

"Dream come true for me and my dad," Vilips said. "Going at it for a long time. This is what we dreamed of when I was a kid. It's pretty surreal.

Because of a bulging disc in his back, Vilips got a late start this season but didn't need long to lift a trophy. After three straight missed cuts and a tie for 54th in the RBC Heritage, Vilips teamed with Michael Thorbjornsen to tie for fourth in last week's Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Vilips, 23, became the first ambassador of Tiger Woods' Sun Day Red apparel line in February. The 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Rookie of the Year idolized Woods as a young golfer in Australia.

"He's who got me into this sport, who motivated me to be who I am today," Vilips said. "The mentality he brought to everything that he does."

Others considered: Aldrich Potgieter, Rasmus Højgaard, Isaiah Salinda, Danny Walker

Midseason Comeback Player of the Year

Bud Cauley returned to the PGA Tour in February 2024 after he was sidelined for more than three years because of injuries suffered in a serious car wreck. Cauley suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed right lung and fractured left leg in the single-car crash in which he was a passenger at the 2018 Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.

Cauley returned to the tour for two years following the wreck but battled through pain in his ribs caused by a plate that had been placed in his chest. Additional surgeries and infections soon followed, sidelining him for three seasons.

Cauley returned to the tour in 2024 and missed seven cuts in 17 starts. The bright spot came in a tie for fifth at the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall.

This year, Cauley has regained his form with four top-25s and three top-10s in nine starts. He tied for sixth at The Players, after Justin Thomas, his former Alabama teammate and good friend, admitted he would do some "really, really weird things for Bud to win today." That finish helped Cauley keep his PGA Tour card.

Cauley, who is 37th in the FedEx Cup standings with 553 points, also tied for fourth at the Valspar Championship and for fifth at the Valero Texas Open.

"When I'm out there, I'm not thinking about anything that's happened in my past, just trying to play as well as I can," Cauley said at the Valspar Championship. "Yeah, when I'm out there it's like nothing ever happened."

Others considered: Michael Kim, Daniel Berger, Viktor Hovland

Midseason breakout player of the year

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Benjamin Griffin, Andrew Novak win Zurich Classic for first PGA wins

Benjamin Griffin and Andrew Novak get their first career PGA Tour wins at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Andrew Novak has experienced a steady but frustrating climb through the PGA Tour. He finished 156th in the FedEx Cup standings in 2021-22, relegating him back to the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to reclaim his card. He was 105th in the FedEx Cup standings the next year and 86th in 2024.

This season, the 30-year-old is playing the best golf of his career. He was solo third at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and tied for 13th in two signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.

After not doing much during the Florida swing, Novak tied for third at the Valero Texas Open and lost in a playoff to Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage. Then last week, Novak and Ben Griffin collected their first PGA Tour victories in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event. It was Novak's 100th start on tour.

Novak is sixth in the FedEx Cup standings with 1,380 points and he's ninth in the U.S. Ryder Cup team standings with 5,587.6 points.

"I think I've done a pretty good job not getting overly frustrated with the close shaves," Novak said. "I've been trying to take as many positives from each as I can because the idea is I can put myself in that position as many times as I'm able to. I want to get better each time I'm in that position. I want to be more comfortable. I want to have things that I can look back on and improve on.

"Yeah, it's frustrating, but it's also nice going into a tournament knowing you're playing well."

Others considered: Michael Kim, Ben Griffin, Joe Highsmith, Jacob Bridgeman, Brian Campbell, Ryan Gerard

Most surprising stat

Zero. That's the number of victories in eight starts on tour for Scheffler, who won nine times around the world in 2024.

It's not that Scheffler has played poorly since returning to action in early February after recovering from a right hand injury he suffered while cooking on Christmas Day. He finished in the top 25 in each of his starts and tied for third at the Genesis Invitational and for second at the Texas Children's Houston Open. He was solo fourth at the Masters in his attempt to win green jackets in back-to-back years.

But even Scheffler admits his game has been just a little bit off and he hasn't made the putts that helped him win so often in 2024. He's still second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: total (1.911) and tee to green (1.627) and fourth on approach (.942). That's not awful by any stretch of the imagination.

Best victory

The Masters, the first major championship of the season, provided golf fans with everything they could possibly want: Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau in the final round. High drama on the second nine at Augusta National in Sunday's final round, thanks to McIlroy's near-collapse and Justin Rose's stunning comeback effort.

Rose, who carded a 6-under 66 in the final round, sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to put even more pressure on McIlroy, who had squandered a four-stroke lead. McIlroy missed a 5-footer for par on No. 18 to force a playoff with Rose.

On the first playoff hole, Rose hit his approach shot to 15 feet of the hole on the No. 18 green. McIlroy hit his second to 4 feet. Rose missed his birdie putt, and then McIlroy sank his to capture his first green jacket in his 11th try.

"This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time," McIlroy said. "I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, yeah, I'm sort of wondering what we're all going to talk about going into next year's Masters."

It was Rory McIlroy's time to shine. #themasters pic.twitter.com/0FFotJPqNd

Best round

Jake Knapp carded the 15th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history with a bogey-free 59 with 12 birdies and six pars in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

Best shot

After carding a double-bogey on the 14th hole in the final round of the Masters, McIlroy hit the "shot of a lifetime" en route to a birdie on the 15th.

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'Shot of a lifetime!' Rory hits majestic fairway shot

The crowd just loves this shot from Rory McIlroy at Hole 15, eventually leading to a birdie for the Northern Irishman.

Best putt

It was a long road back to the top of the leaderboard for two-time major championship winner Justin Thomas, who finally ended a nearly three-year drought without a victory with a 20-foot birdie to win a playoff at the RBC Heritage on April 20

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Justin Thomas wins RBC Heritage with long putt in a playoff

Justin Thomas is fired up after sinking the long putt in a playoff for the RBC Heritage win.

Best drive

Rookie Aldrich Potgieter leads the tour with a 324.1-yard average off the tee, including this 374-yarder at the Mexico Open.

Worst drive

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Potgieter, a 20-year-old from South Africa, showed he's capable of topping one like the rest of us.

Best attitude

Joel Dahmen had the right kind of mindset after finishing with three straight bogeys and missing a 2-footer on the 17th hole to lose to Garrick Higgo by one in the Corales Puntacana Championship in Puerto Rico on April 20.

If anyone is wondering what it feels like to give away a golf tournament, it sucks.
I'm learning from it and will have another chance. The amount of support and well wishes I've received has been amazing. I want to thank everyone for that. Onward and upward!

Best punt

Patton Kizzire wasn't happy after missing a 5-footer for par in the first round of the Valspar Championship.

Best save

Chandler Phillips nearly waded into alligator-infested waters to hit one of the best saves of the season in New Orleans.