The Year in Screenshots

The 13 funniest screenshots of the year in golf, ranked by recognizability and meme usage

By Christopher Powers

December 11, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of golf screenshots of the year, where the No. 1 rule is the grainier, the better. We're talking pausing your television and taking a picture off your phone type of screenshots. Or, if a particular app allows, hitting the power button and the volume up button simultaneously. There are no professional photos allowed in this space, as much as we appreciate the hard work of all the great photographers out there.

Normally, I'd simply post all of the best ones in chronological order below, but I thought I'd have a little more fun with the 2024 batch of screenshots by ranking them in terms of recognizability and meme usage. Do you know exactly when and what tournament the screenshot was taken from? Did it cross over into the sports world at-large? Did people who don't even watch a lick of golf use it for their own personal numbies? That's when you know you have something special on your hands.

The 13 I've handpicked below check all of those boxes. Stick around to the end for some hilarious honorable mentions that only the true sicko golf fan could understand, too.

No. 13 - Johnson Wagner rifles ball into the rough at the Players

In fairness, this one probably didn't quite crossover into the sports world at-large, but casual and diehard golf fans alike know exactly when and where this was from and how laugh-out-loud funny it was not only in the moment but still to this day. The birth of a golf television superstar right here.

No. 12 - Jordan Spieth's troubles at the Valero Texas Open

Forever on-brand.

No. 11 - Scottie Scheffler watches Bryson DeChambeau's hole-out live at Augusta

Hard to draw up a meme format quite better than this.

No. 10 - The Wyndham Championship resumes, the Wyndham Championship ends

This one definitely belongs in the sicko golf fan category, but I'd have to imagine even those not paying attention stopped in their tracks after coming across it on the timeline. Any time a simple PGA Tour Communications update is doing numbers like this, you know something is seriously off, like Matt Kuchar making everybody come back on Monday morning to get up and down for par levels of off.

No. 9 - Johnson Wagner wins the U.S. Open

The only thing better was Wagner watching this back with a drink in hand. The man is a meme machine:

No. 8 - Caddie Joe Skovron reacts to Ludvig Aberg's preposterous 7-wood approach

The only applicable reaction to a 294-yard 7-wood to nine feet for eagle in the U.S. Open.

No. 7 - Bryson DeChambeau carrying the cross a sign post at Augusta National

We have legit, crystal clear, professional shots of this moment from the great Ben Walton, one of Golf Digest's very own. No offense, Ben, but it just doesn't hit quite like this screen grab off someone's TV. What a moment.

No. 6 - "Don't sir me"

A genuine "where were you when" Sunday afternoon in pro golf. Zach Johnson telling fans in the gallery at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to "JUST SHUT UP. I'M SICK OF IT" and then getting "sir'd" by someone. Don't you dare sir me, sir.

No. 5 - Donald Trump's INSANE putting stroke

Takes my breath away every time I see it. And if you go back and watch this "Break 50" with Bryson DeChambeau, the President-elect actually hit a ton of good putts with this obscene follow-through. Swing your swing. Or stroke your stroke. Pause.

No. 4 - Tiger Woods respecting nature

I stole that caption from our guy Meyton Panning here. I was in actual tears reading that. This was one of the ultimate transcendent golf screenshots of 2024 because a lot of folks who know who Tiger Woods is but don't watch golf thought, and probably still think, that Woods is shaking hands with a f---ing tree in this picture. In reality, the legendary Verne Lundqvist is sitting behind that tree before calling his final Sunday at the Masters and he and the 15-time major champion were sharing an emotional moment. Thankfully, some folks got a shot of Verne actually in frame. But it's way funnier thinking this tree stuck its arm/limb/branch out and Woods couldn't help but dap up nature in that moment.

No. 3 - Scottie Scheffler's arrest at the PGA Championship gets the chyron treatment

Perfect. 10/10. No notes.

No. 2 - Rory McIlroy angrily watches the U.S. Open slip away

This probably deserves to be No. 1 based off how prevalent it was on Twitter in the aftermath. You could not scroll more than two or three tweets the following day without seeing someone use it as a meme (the video of McIlroy walking away and leaving was also a smash hit). And the thing was, every single use of it was funny. Nobody missed. There are times were a meme gets run into the ground, and the brands start jumping in with their painfully-unfunny attempts at humor and we all collectively realize the meme was never that funny in the first place. This image of Rory was the opppsite. It has staying power. It's generational. I think the Domino's pizza tracker tweet should be in the Meme Hall of Fame. First-ballot:

No. 1 - Masters low-amateur Neal Shipley stares at something off camera

Again, tough to top Rory, but Neal Shipley eyeing something off camera in Butler Cabin went triple-platinum. Iconic is an overused term but the Shipley side eye is as iconic as it gets. It helped that it was coming on the heels of his post-round press conference where he similarly stared off to the side when asked about the "mysterious note" Tiger Woods handed to him in the eighth fairway earlier that day. Big time conspiracy theory vibes. What is happening at Augusta National? Who is Neal Shipley staring at? What was written on that note? I'm sure there's nothing to see here...

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Random chowing down in the rain at the Open Championship