Christiaan Bezuidenhout didn’t take long to make an impact on the 2024 PGA TOUR season, shooting a 9-under par 63 in his first competitive round of the year in The American Express at La Quinta in January. He would go on to finish that week on 28-under par and in the runner-up spot behind amateur Nick Dunlap. Though narrowly denied his first career victory on the PGA TOUR, the winner’s cheque and bumper points haul helped cement Christiaan’s place high in the FedEx Cup rankings and guaranteed him starts in the TOUR’s lucrative signature events. He did not squander the opportunity. 

Indeed, the 2024 season would prove to be a step-up in terms of consistency of results. Christiaan registered 11 top-25 finishes from 23 PGA TOUR starts to finish inside the Top-30 on the FedEx Cup rankings and earn a spot in the season-ending TOUR Championship, a career first, accumulating over $5 million in official prize money. 

“This feels like it was a bit of a breakthrough year for me in many respects,” reflects Christiaan. “In 2023 I had to fight to keep my card, whereas this year I finished in the top-30 on the FedEx Cup rankings and teed it up in the TOUR Championship for the first time in my career. That’s a big step-up. We put in a lot of hard work at the back-end of last season, did a lot of work on my game with my coach, and it paid off. We’re now in a great position to play all the big tournaments next year. I can really manage my schedule just how I want to; so yeah, we’re in a good place right now. Looking forward to really pushing-on in 2025.”

Number-crunching Christiaan’s year, among the many highlights was twice shooting a season’s low round of 63 (R1 at The American Express and R3 at the Wyndham Championship). He had an overall scoring average of 69.89 against a TOUR average of 70.39. Always a strong performer on the greens, Christiaan was ranked 5th on TOUR in total putting and 1st for the category inside 5 feet, making 92.41% of putts in that range. 

On the team front, Christiaan travelled to Paris in the summer to represent South Africa for a second time in the Olympics, finishing in 16th place. At the time of writing, he had also just received a Captain’s Pick to secure a second consecutive appearance for the Internationals in the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal GC in Canada later this month. He will round-off the calendar year on home turf at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and Alfred Dunhill Championship. 

On the philanthropic front, Christiaan again hosts a fundraiser golf day in Atlanta this October for the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research, for which Christiaan is a global ambassador. Christiaan, who has lived with a stutter his whole life, entered into a partnership with the Center in 2021 to help raise awareness of the condition and champion the life-changing work being done by the team led by the eminent Dr. Courtney Byrd. ‘Dream, Speak, Live’ is their slogan. 

“This partnership means a great deal to me,” says Christiaan. “Together we can educate people about stuttering, teach them how to handle certain situations better. Honestly, it’s a privilege for me to be in this position, to be able to inspire kids and help them overcome challenges and chase their dreams in life.”

To keep up to date with all of Christiaan’s activities, both on and off the golf course, follow him on Instagram @cbezgolf.