The 2024 Order of Merit season is in the can, we’ve travelled from the Home of Golf to Scotland’s Golf Coast and everything in between as 16 players battled it out for the James Braid Quaich and the privilege to be called Champion Golfer of the Year.

EuroDov Reporter is delving into the 2024 archive to bring you a review of the season, so sit back and enjoy!
First up was the St Andrews Open.

EuroDov Reporter gave 3/1 odds on McColgan walking away with the title, with Mair, Alan Duncan and Kevin Brannan all at 4/1.

It was a day that was very much remembered for the weather. Heavy rain in the build up to the event had reduced the course to 15 holes, the first time a tournament on the OoM wasn’t played over 18, and when the players arrived in the Northeast Fife the wind was incredibly challenging.

Denis Duncan said of the wind, “the wind took me a few holes to get my game going but it was tough even the putting.”

In the end the player that managed to tame the conditions and the course was Stuart Sutherland, despite EuroDov Reporter placing him at 7/1.

His game was unfazed over the course, and he steadied himself to win his first ever Order of Merit event by 1 shot over D. McColgan.

After winning he said, “I am honest it came as a bit of a surprise as had little to no expectation of good golf due to the conditions out there.”

Speaking of the conditions on the day he said, “it was brutal! I picked my golf bag up from falling over more times than picking the golf ball out of the hole! I just tried to play my game, play within myself, and not worry about what was going on around me. I had to really focus on punch shots and chip and runs, that was the percentage play and if I go them right, I had a chance to score.”

HI win put him top of the Order of Merit standings and crucially gave him an exemption from Q-School for 2025. On hearing of his exemption he said, “I can sit back with my feet up! Haha!

No, as mentioned, I’m definitely in the social golf category. Getting out and enjoying the round of golf with the guys is most important to me – and this will allow me to do that for the season now.”

After the links golf at St Andrews the players stayed on the tightly mown fairways and headed down the coast to Kinghorn.

EuroDov Reporter had Paul Gowens as the 7/2 favourite with McColgan, Allan and Greenshields at 4/1. The previous winner Sutherland had moved up the order to 5/1.

The Kinghorn Classic is notoriously welcomed by gale force winds and horrific golfing conditions, but as the players assembled at the first tee a gentle breeze was the only noticeable challenge to the players.

Of the course the 2023 winner Stevie Orr said, “the course was in really good condition. However, some of the pin positions were treacherous and landing your ball short of the green was the way to go today. The wind played its part in the early stages too.”

It was an up and down leaderboard with 3 players Peck, McColgan and Sutherland all in contention into the closing holes, but it’d be a familiar story come the close of play as Stuart Sutherland, first time winner only a few weeks before, carded a fantastic 2-under par including an eagle-birdie-birdie finish to win in style.

Graeme Connor said of the finish, ““that is good shooting, the handicap committee must have raised eyebrows though, a player comes from nowhere and wins two on the bounce.”

With Denis Duncan saying, “back to back victories is good by anyone but the season has just started. So not naming anyone as contenders yet. A lot of golf still to play.”

Following his win Sutherland said, “I’ve really changed my mentality towards Order of Merit and out there enjoying my golf. I am also working hard on improving my fitness. It’s great to see it paying off!”

Talking about his back nine, where he started with a double bogey 6 on the 10th then shot 5 under for the last 8 holes he said, “⁠I don’t usually pull my drives – so goodness knows where that came from on 10. Luckily, we found my ball and I was able to keep an 8 off my card.

I just tried to relax on last 8 holes. In particular last 3 holes! Even with Dave [McColgan] in my ear!”

Sutherland’s 2 wins put him 400 points clear in the Order of Merit standings with McColgan behind and Peck a further 400 back.

The Tour moved inland and on to Parkland for May with the MCM being hosted a new venue for 2024.

Pitffirane, in Dunfermline, is a lush, undulating parkland course which debuted in fantastic condition.

EuroDov Reporter had Stuart Allan at 5/1 favourite, with back-to-back winner Stuart Sutherland at 6/1, Brannan, Mair and McColgan were all listed at 7/1.

Of the course Sutherland said, “it was my first time playing the course and I really enjoyed it. The course was in fantastic condition,” and McColgan said, “I thought the course was presented fantastically, the rough was really penial, and rewarded accurate play from the tee, the pin positions were devilish, especially on the back nine, but made it all the more fun.”

It was a day where the leaders were chopping and changing but Richard Mair had made it to the clubhouse with an excellent 1-under par round. McColgan, who hasn’t won the MCM yet, was coming down 18 with a 1 shot lead and when his drive split the fairway there was a feeling it was all over.

However, a pulled 4-wood approach which was lost and cost him penalty strokes saw him drop a shot on 18 and Mair win on countback. Speaking to the press afterwards McColgan said, “Across the 18 holes I thought I played really well. When I got out of position I my recovery shots were good.

I really struggled to get the putter going and as for my 4 wood on 18, I’ll just need to chalk that one down to the past and move on.”

Richard Mair’s win was his third in 2 years on Tour and he said, “[the win today] definitely takes away the sting [of losing the Invitational]. The pressure on the 18th last week got to me. Delighted to get the win today.”

On his defense of the MCM after winning in 2023 he said, “I didn’t think about it too much. I enjoy playing Aberdour so was disappointed the tournament moved to a new home. But no complaints with Dunfermline and looking forward to next year!”

After 2 second place finishes and a T1’s David McColgan took over at the top of the Order of Merit standings with a 650-point lead over Stuart Sutherland, Richard Mair was 400 points further back and Denis Duncan just another 50 behind Mair.

Following the MCM the field headed along the coast to Burntisland for the Dodhead Invitational. The Dodhead has always offered exciting events and in 2024 EuroDov Reporter felt this was the tournament David McColgan – 5/1 favourite – would get his first win of the season. However, he was closely shadowed by Stuart Allan 6/1 and Richard Mair and Graeme Connor at 7/1.

Speaking of the course Kevin Brannan said, “I thought it was perhaps the best I've ever seen it in places.

The greens were perfect as you would expect for the club championship the previous day, and the rough was exceptionally penal. The thick stuff was the juiciest I've ever seen it. Any wayward shots into that were a lost ball. The fairways weren't particularly generous with roll out but probably a factor with the amount of wet weather we've had.”

Paul Gowens echoed him saying, “I thought the course was in great condition after the club championships, challenging pins and the wind made it tricky at parts too.”

The tournament was an exciting tussle in the opening holes as McColgan, Orr and Connor all held a share of the lead at some point in the opening 4 holes until Stuart Allan flew out the traps with a par-eagle-birdie-birdie start.

In the end the competition was less about who might win, but how many might Allan win by.

Speaking to the press afterwards McColgan said, “the course was absolutely gettable today, the winner was always going to be below par.

But when you look at that leaderboard, there is one thing for sure Stuart Allan was playing another level from the rest of us, I was the best of the rest, but none of us were playing the same game as Stuart out there today, it wasn’t even a contest.”

Mair said, “delighted to see Stu get the win. It’s been coming for a while. From what I heard he left a few shots out there which is even more impressive. A fantastic score.”

Of his win Stuart Allan said, “it’s been too long but my OOM performances whilst being pretty consistent over the last year haven’t merited a win.

It’s actually really tough to win as so many mid handicappers in the field can have a good day and Dave is always there so probably right it’s my turn!

It’s been a really strange few weeks - my worst round of the year in the last round at Pitfirrane followed up the next day at the Kings at Gleneagles in single figures and I’ve followed it up with several similar rounds.

It was great to back that up in a comp today and started really well, had a couple of wobble holes but overall felt really in control.”

Allan’s victory propelled him to 2nd in the Order of Merit standings, but McColgan extended his lead at the top to 1350 points with Mair sitting 3rd 100 points behind Allan and Peck 4th 150 behind him.

The Order of Merit and Tour took its traditional break in June and didn’t reconvene till late July. The King’s Cup at Canmore is unique on Tour as it has never had a repeat winner.

If the Dodhead was a one-horse race then the King’s Cup was just a coronation. Whilst the Tour was back, not everyone had got the memo, in fact the only player that turned up and showed any signs of “raring to go” was Stevie Orr.

He set about establishing a quick lead by birdieing the first two opening holes and as he walked on to the 3rd tee as the solo leader he never looked back.

There were so many compelling story lines this year that never really came to fruition. With Ally Greenshields, Callum McNeill and Joel Morrison all missing the event there was a hug chance for Alan Duncan, Paul Gowens and Andy Love to put some real distance between themselves and the relegation battle for Q-School – instead the three of them only managed a 5th, 9th and T6th place respectively, creating some light but probably not enough to make the last two events of the year comfortable.

Speaking to the press after his win, Orr said, “I’m absolutely buzzing to be honest with you. As soon as I hit that nice looking 3 wood over the left bunker for my opening tee shot, I had a feeling that it was going to be a good round, and it was, despite a little blip here and there.”

Orr’s win – and subsequent exemption from Q-School – came just before the arrival of his first child, he’d end his season after the King’s Cup due to family duties and he said, “I wouldn’t say that I’ll be relaxing too much.

I’ll be keeping an eye on proceedings at Lochgelly and Craigielaw, which I’d love to play in and improve on my points total further, but it is nice knowing that relegation is not on the cards.”

McColgan would later say of the win that, “it was like watching a golf lesson for 18 holes, he was flawless, and even when an error crept in, he picked himself up and bounced right back.”

Stuart Allan said, “Stevie is very much a streak player, when he is hot, he plays very well and beneath his handicap. He didn’t have his expected blow up either and maintained solid golf throughout.”

Hot on the heels of the King’s Cup comes the Lochgelly-Forrester Open. It’s the final event of the Order of Merit’s regular season and Richard Mair arrived hoping to defend.

EuroDov Reporter was backing McColgan at 4/1, despite him not winning an event so far in 2024. Mair, Sutherland and Peck were all ranked at 5/1 in the chasing pack.

The wind returned from earlier in the season and Richard Mair said after his round, that “it was a challenge. I didn’t expect the wind to be as strong and it was tough to work out club selection at times. It resulted in a few OBs for me which is never good!”

McNeill echoed this saying, “our group actually said at one point we barely felt like we played any downwind in the first 9 holes!”

So far in 2024 we’d had 4 winners in 5 events and Paul Gowens would hold the solo lead thru 9 whilst Callum McNeill – who started the day bottom of the standings – was just one shot behind.

It was still an exciting tournament ahead with 4 players within 2 shots of each other, all of whom who had led at some point through the front 9. However, Gowens squeezed the life out the competition carding 4 pars to open the back nine, across arguably one of the hardest stretches of golf on the course. It was a stretch of golf that none of the field could keep a pace with.

Of Gowens’ win Richard Mair said, “a fantastic achievement. Paul had the game suited to today’s conditions, steady and straight so I can’t say I’m surprised he walked away with the win.”

Andy Love echoed that saying, “it was a great win for him, especially after the drama of the matchplay on Friday. I’d be more than happy for him to get his wins out the way ahead of the RyDov, that’s for sure.”

Gowens said of his win, “It was good to hold on and been a good week, with the objective to avoid relegation secured now.”

With Gowens’ win that made 5 winners over 6 events in the Order of Merit regular season. Many onlookers pointed to the fact that whilst the list of winners was extensive, there was one name missing. For the first time in the OoM era David McColgan had failed to win a regular season event. However, he headed to the Tour Champs with a 1500-point lead in the standings and the charge for his fourth James Braid Quaich was on.

As the EuroDov Tour headed to Scotland’s Golf Coast for the home of the Tour Champs – Craigielaw – EuroDov Reporter had Stuart Allan at 5/1 favourite to defend his title, they had Peck at 6/1 and Mair, McColgan and Sutherland all at 8/1.

Speaking after the event, Graeme Connor said, “the course was immaculate, I wasn’t massively bothered by the wind, a well struck shot isn’t affected by wind, I just didn’t hit very many well struck shots!”

Callum McNeill said, “it was in great condition as usual, it’s a long course from the whites so to play it without rain and too much wind definitely helped some of the scoring.”

We entered the day with 6 players vying for the prize positions and seven players still very much at risk of dropping down to Q-School, so the players would be excused for a nervy start out there.

However, Callum McNeill, Daniel Peck and Richard Mair clearly never for the memo as they fired out the traps with bridies on 1. Peck would double down on the birdies with a great birdie on the par 5 2nd hole but a double bogey on the par 3 3rd would see him drop off the lead.

Ally Greenshields would eventually push to the front of the pack and lead from hole 11th through to the 25th hole where a 10 ended his hopes.

Enter the fray David McColgan, winless through the OoM regular season, he’d shoot 2-over par in the morning and come back with a 3-under par round in the afternoon to win the Tour Champs by 4 clear shots.

Speaking to the press after words he said, “I wasn’t at all aware of breaking the record until you guys mentioned it, so really happy with that,” after finding out he set a new tournament record of 141.

Talking about his lack of wins in the regular season he said, ““I think it’s a question a lot of folks have been asking, and it wasn’t lost on me that I hadn’t secured a regular season win, for the first time in the Order of Merit era.

But I am going to be really boring, I wasn’t even thinking of it, I was just focussed on the end goal of winning the James Braid Quaich.”

Speaking after the event various players spoke of McColgan’s record breaking win with Andy Love saying, “it’s no surprise, the level Dave plays at means records are always going be broken.”

Callum McNeill, who was playing alongside him said, “I think the most impressive bit of it all was how effortless it looked.”

Of course, the conclusion of the Tour Champs saw two players relegated to Q-School for the first time in OoM history. Andy Love and Graeme Connor fell short of the required points to avoid relegation.

Paul Gowens said, “[their loss would be] massive, two big names and great personalities on and off the course.”

Stevie Orr said, “they will be a big loss as to the Tour as I really like both of them. They’ll still be around, and I look forward to seeing them at the RyDov.”

It was a year of some amazing storylines and amazing golf, the challenge that started in April with 16 players striving for one thing, to get their hands on the James Braid Quaich and when all was said and done, and the dust had settled we had 6 winners on the 2024 Order of Merit and the Champion Golfer of the Year was David McColgan for the fourth year running.