Predicting the 2025 Major Winners

Last year, I had an unusual level of success with predicting the winners of the men’s majors. In fact, half way through the major season, I had a 100% record, after victories for Scottie Scheffler at the Masters and Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship.

Of course, that hot streak couldn’t last – my picks of Collin Morikawa at the U.S. Open and Min Woo Lee at the Open Championship fell short. Still, Morikawa finished a respectable T-14 at Pinehurst, so the only real blunder was picking Min Woo for the Open, where he missed the cut. And yet, I admitted at the time that the Australian was the most outlandish of my selections for 2024. Overall, not too shabby at all.

With that in mind, it felt worthwhile to stick my neck out again and assess who might be winning the game’s biggest prizes in 2025.

The Masters – Collin Morikawa

Undeterred by Morikawa’s failure to deliver me a winner last year, I’m going back to the well in 2025, albeit this time at the year’s first major. The Californian’s record at Augusta National is one of the best for any professional who has never donned the Green Jacket. In five appearances at the Masters, Morikawa has finished T-44, T-18, solo 5^th, T-10, T-3. Last year, Collin faded with a 74 on Sunday in the final group with Scheffler, so he’ll be determined to do better this year, should he find himself in a similar position.

Technically, Morikawa is still yet to record a victory since the 2023 ZOZO Championship. However, the Official World Golf Rankings awarded him the win at the 2024 Tour Championship, once the starting strokes at that bizarre tournament were removed from the equation. There’s no question that Morikawa is playing well. In terms of strokes gained, Morikawa was the fifth best player on the PGA Tour last year, the best of his career to date. Having begun 2025 with a runner-up finish to Hideki Matsuyama at The Sentry – coming up short at a mere 32 under-par – the world number four appears to be carrying momentum into the new season, something which I hope will continue all the way to April.

“Such is the nature of the sport, the correct posture with golf predictions is always to expect to be wrong, and then be pleasantly surprised if any of them hit the mark”.

PGA Championship – Bryson DeChambeau

While I would love to pick someone like Ludvig Aberg to win his first major at Quail Hollow this year, I’ve gone for a man who already has a couple of U.S. Opens under his belt – Bryson DeChambeau. In one sense, it’s easy to forget about Bryson since he plies his trade on LIV for most of the year. In another sense, Bryson is ubiquitous on YouTube and golf social media. DeChambeau blurs the line between golf influencer and elite player at times, but there’s no doubt that his ability places him squarely in that latter category when it comes to competing for the sport’s biggest honours.

Bryson is a more well-rounded player than he was when he bombed his way to the 2020 U.S. Open title, as demonstrated by his deft up-and-down from the bunker on the 72^nd hole at Pinehurst last year to secure his second major – although he had an assist from a Rory McIlroy implosion. Still, Bryson’s driving is his biggest weapon – he led in driving distance on LIV in 2024 – and I expect that to be a huge asset at Quail Hollow in May. Plenty of people will have their money on Rory to triumph in a major for the first time since 2014 at one of his favourite venues, but I can’t bring myself to pick the Northern Irishman given his seemingly fragile mentality when within reach of one of the Slams.

Bryson hasn’t won at Quail Hollow, but he does have a solo 4^th and a T-9 in his last two starts there – back in 2018 and 2021, respectively. The stats also suggest that the North Carolina course brings out the best in DeChambeau’s putting, and if he can replicate that this year, he could be going home with the Wanamaker Trophy.

U.S. Open – Scottie Scheffler

I’ve resisted picking the world number one in either of the first two majors of the year, but it’s hard to think that Scheffler will fail to win at least one of the four Slams in 2025, given his dominance of the sport over the past three years.

This year, the U.S. Open will be held at Oakmont Country Club, the scene of Dustin Johnson’s first major win in 2016. The Pennsylvania course is renowned as one of the toughest tests the players face anywhere in the world, so it makes sense that the cream should rise to the top here. Sloping fairways, deep rough and fast greens mean that every aspect of a player’s game will be subjected to a strict examination – but Scheffler has essentially no flaws now that his putting is vastly improved.

My one concern with Scottie is that we do not yet know what effect his recent hand injury will have on his game. Scheffler is yet to make an appearance in 2025 after a glass broke in his hand on Christmas Day, with shards having to be surgically removed afterwards. It seems unlikely that the lasting impact would be serious, but there could be some rustiness in the early part of the season. By June, however, I expect Scottie to be in title-winning form.

Open Championship – Tyrrell Hatton

Last year I tried to add some spice to my predictions by picking a long shot for the Open Championship, but I’ve recalibrated slightly for this season. Tyrrell Hatton is currently ranked 17^th in the world, despite getting no ranking points from his impressive recent performances on LIV, so he is far from being a David in a world of Goliaths. Still, he’s the only player I’m picking this year who doesn’t already have a major trophy in his cabinet – in fact, all the others have two each.

Apart from the fact that the randomness of the Open Championship – where weather and the rub of the green can have a larger effect on outcomes than at other majors – makes the tournament suited to players with longer odds, Hatton is one of the world’s great links players. He’s won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship three times, including in 2024, and although his Open Championship record is mixed – four top 20s in 12 appearances alongside seven missed cuts – his T-6 in 2019 at Royal Portrush could be significant, as that is where the Open returns in 2025.

Hatton is another player who has undoubtedly improved over recent years, although even back in 2020 he was beginning to look like a player with major-winning potential, until COVID somewhat wreaked havoc with the major schedule that year. The big question mark over the Englishman is whether his fiery temperament will prevent him from getting over the line in a major, but it doesn’t seem to stop him winning other tournaments with regularity. If anything, one would think that links courses – where unlucky bounces are commonplace on uneven terrain – would infuriate Hatton more than any other style of golf, but the opposite seems to be the case.

Such is the nature of the sport, the correct posture with golf predictions is always to expect to be wrong, and then be pleasantly surprised if any of them hit the mark. That’s very much the attitude I’m adopting with these picks, especially as my success last year suggests a regression is likely in 2025.

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback and who you think will taste success at the majors in 2025. Leave a comment below to let me know!