Better Decisions and Signature Stories: Recapping Year One of the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5

It’s possible you hadn’t heard of Matthieu Pavon before this year – but if you’re a golf fan, you likely know his name now. The 31-year-old Frenchman has had an incredibly successful 2024, capturing the Farmers Insurance Open early on in San Diego in just his 11th-ever PGA TOUR event – the fastest-to-victory route in TOUR history. His stellar putting in San Diego (he averaged 1.99 strokes gained putting) and throughout the year helped catapult him via the new-for-2024 Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 eligibility pathways into five Signature Events, including the AT&T Pebble Beach, where he finished third.

That domino effect helped Pavon land in the Top 60 of the FedEx Cup standings to qualify for the U.S. Open, which he led in the final round for several holes. The bump Pavon received from the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 “has been pretty big,” he says. “By winning at Torrey Pines, I got pushed into the leaderboard, and now I’m playing the best tournaments in the world, including the ones you dream about playing the most and the biggest tournaments pointwise and purse-wise, so it's a huge opportunity.”

Throughout the year, Aon’s qualification pathways also gave other top performing players the opportunity to enter more-prestigious, limited-field Signature Events, helping them not only climb the FedEx ladder, but also earn status and notoriety in the minds of golf fans – some for the first time. For instance, energetic 30-year-old PGA TOUR rookie Jake Knapp won the 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta and got to play in four Signature Events – climbing 16 spots throughout the year into the Aon Next 10. In Mexico, Knapp gained 8.7 strokes with his approach play and went the entire week without three-putting, sinking all 57 putts he faced from inside five feet. He led the field in strokes gained on par 3s and 4s all week and is now one of the top non-exempt players. All of which is even more remarkable considering Knapp was previously bouncing between the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, but has now established himself as a household name among the world’s best.

After struggling in 2023, Billy Horschel suddenly found new form in 2024, improving the most of any PGA TOUR pro and besting the field at the Corales Puntacana Championship. “The Aon Swing 5 and Aon Next 10 have been massively successful this year with the Signature Events. Everyone who wasn't in last year’s FedEx Cup Top 50 has to play well,” says Horschel, who juggled his calendar just to play at Corales so that he would possibly earn a chance to play in the ensuing Wells Fargo Championship Signature Event – a strategy that paid off well. “Aon and the PGA TOUR gave us an opportunity to play our way into those events. You change your schedule to give yourself opportunities to play in the Signature Events, which are vital because of the points that they offer compared to regular events.”

As it turns out, 48 different players participated 114 times in the seven Signature Events (excluding Sentry), via the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 – collectively earning more than $22.6 million and gaining significant status on the PGA Tour. Visit https://www.pgatour.com/aon-better-decisions to catch the latest on this exciting program, which returns later this year in the FedExCup Fall to qualify a new group of players for the 2025 Signature Events.