We’re halfway through the men’s Major season, so it’s time to digest what we’ve seen after Scottie Scheffler’s second Masters victory and Xander Schauffele’s maiden Major win.
Scheffler romped home at Augusta to claim his second Major title, shooting a final round 68 to finish four clear of the seriously impressive Ludvig Aberg in his Major debut. It was pretty much over after Scheffler birdied 13 and 14 on Sunday in what was the World No.1 stamping his authority on the sport.
It was his third triumph in four starts, and he would then go on to win the very next week at the RBC Heritage, too.
At the PGA Championship, Schauffele birdied the 72nd hole to pip Bryson DeChambeau in a record week of scoring as he finally secured a very well deserved first Major title. It was a much tighter affair, with Viktor Hovland also in the running late on, in what was a true birdie-fest Major.
There was a point last year – and earlier this year, when he successfully defended the Players Championship – that it was hard to believe he had only won one Major.
Now he’s won two, it still seems mad that he’s only a two-time Major champion. Scheffler went on a similar run in 2022, but it fizzled out in terms of wins. Yet, this year does seem like it could be different.
His ball striking is better (and better than anyone on the planet) and he finally has the putter behaving. He’s favorite to win the US Open next month, and many fans will expect him to be a three-time Major champion by the time the year’s up.
There’s no time for resting on his laurels, though, as he needs to make hay while the sun is shining and continue to eek the most out of this historic run as he possibly can. You never know when your game or confidence can leave you in this incredibly difficult and competitive sport.
Scheffler has truly pulled away from the pack over the last 12 months and I think we’re all half-expecting him to continue doing just that. Would he be disappointed with just one Major win this year? Of course not, but he will surely feel like he can pick off another one at Pinehurst or Royal Troon.
To be honest with you, he already was the second best player in the world in many aspects. He wasn’t getting over the line but in terms of strokes gained and the statistics, only Scheffler was better.
I think that’s fair to be an official take now – and he’s moved to No.2 in the OWGR now as well. Xander has elevated his game in such an impressive way this year to remain 2nd in Data Golf’s ranking with a strokes gained of +2.55 vs the average PGA Tour player (every single round).
His work with Chris Como is paying off and he’s gained 3mph clubhead speed this year, too, according to his PGA Tour stats. He’s noticeably driving the ball further and hitting those high 180s in terms of ball speed.
Had Valhalla been more of a ball-striking test, he may have separated himself from the field a little bit more. He’s got to be fancying his chances to pick off another Major over the next two months – and maybe even add another gold medal to his collection as well.
RORY
McIlroy’s Major drought continues despite admitting the stars could be aligning after his brilliant Wells Fargo Championship win two weeks ago – where he took down Schauffele in the final group.
Schauffele got the last (or most recent) laugh as McIlroy added a T12 at Valhalla to his T22 at Augusta in what can be described as a decent showing in the Majors so far this year.
He’s won three times in 2024 (Dubai Desert Classic, Zurich Classic, Wells Fargo Championship) so his game is clearly still there, he just needs things to go his way.
He rued a cold putter on Saturday at the PGA but finished strong on Sunday to almost crack the top-10. He’s clearly got a lot going on after filing for divorce and attempting to rejoin the PGA Tour’s board, but his play has been great so far this year.
The Northern Irishman is once again among the favorites for the US Open, and he will certainly be a factor at Pinehurst or Royal Troon over the next couple of months.
It’s going to be a huge moment when McIlroy wins his fifth Major, and it could still be right around the corner.
A DISAPPOINTING START FOR RAHM
Jon Rahm was seemingly the only story in December when he made the shock switch to LIV Golf after previously criticizing the league’s 54-hole, shotgun start format. Money was arguably the biggest factor, and it’s seen him become the highest paid golfer, according to Forbes, but he most certainly has not had a Major season to savor so far.
In LIV Golf, Rahm hasn’t finished outside of the top-10, but in the Majors this year he has a best finish of T45, which came in his title defense at The Masters.
He then missed the cut on the number at Valhalla following a torrid start to his opening round where he was four-over after six holes. It was his first missed cut in a Major since the 2019 PGA Championship.
Rahm said he was surprised with his game and blamed his driving. He’ll be hoping to put in some better showings at Pinehurst and Troon.
HOVLAND NOW BEST MALE GOLFER WITHOUT A MAJOR?
Now that Schauffele has ridden himself of the ‘best male golfer yet to win a Major’ tag, is the new man Viktor Hovland?
Hovland played incredibly well at Valhalla after returning to swing coach Joe Mayo following a poor start to the year that included a missed cut at Augusta.
He was right up there as one of the world’s top players last year, where he won the FedEx Cup and put in a stunning display at the Ryder Cup.
He has six PGA Tour wins, two DP World Tour wins and four top-seven finishes in his last seven Majors.
If it’s not him, the other contenders for best male player yet to win a Major have to be Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Tommy Fleetwood, Will Zalatoris, Joaquin Niemann, Ludvig Aberg, and Tyrrell Hatton.
These ‘best players yet to win a Major’ have seemingly won Majors fairly quickly based on the past few years, so there’s every chance we’ll see them pick off one or two over the next couple of years.
TIGER WOODS…
For the first time I’ve found myself doubting Tiger Woods’ ability to win tournaments again after his showings at the first two Majors.
Or, now I’ve written that out, his chance to win a PGA or US Open.
Woods’ showing at Augusta was incredible. To make the cut after playing less than two rounds all year when some huge names missed the cut – including two reigning Major champions in Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman – was extraordinary. He ended up last of the players to make the weekend, but I could forgive him for a bad, rusty round.
His showing at the PGA felt different, though, as he now had five competitive rounds under his belt for the year, but the rustiness still showed. He was one-under after 16 holes in round one before falling away, but it got me thinking that even if he was playing well, I would have found it hard to believe he could shoot 21-under around that course.
Schauffele, Scheffler, McIlroy, Rahm, Hovland and co. are just so good that when they’re on form (like Scheffler at Augusta and Schauffele at Valhalla) they’re realistically too fresh and too good for a rusty, 48-year-old Tiger Woods. Around a big and soft course like that, anyway, that isn’t Augusta.
For him to win a Major again – which I do still believe he can do – I’m starting to think it can only come at The Masters and The Open, and he has to have had some competitive reps a week or two before. One tournament per month doesn’t seem to be working for him at the moment at least, so why doesn’t he try and get some reps in a regular PGA Tour event?
He’s fighting for the PGA Tour in the boardrooms and would be well aware of what his presence at a regular event could do for the viewing figures in the face of a battle vs LIV Golf, and he’d love nothing more than to finally get past Sam Snead and win his 83rd PGA Tour title.
He looked much better physically at Valhalla, which was a huge positive. I just hope he can continue to play as much as his body will allow him to. If he’s feeling sharp and can hit it well and putt and chip like we know he can, he can easily still win again.
That just seems like quite a big ‘if’.
BRYSON
When Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV Golf in 2022 for a huge fee while struggling with form and injuries, golf’s great showman had been somewhat forgotten about on the Major stage.
Yet, he is well and truly back, and he is now a firm crowd favorite thanks to his entertaining style of play and his new-found love for content creation, which has seen him grow his YouTube channel to over 600,000 subscribers. I wrote earlier this week that DeChambeau’s move to LIV Golf was perfect for him – and it really seems like it has been.
Away from YouTube and inside the ropes, DeChambeau looks more than ready to win his second Major title. He clearly learned a lot from his slow fall back at Augusta, where he held the round-one lead and eventually finished T6th.
At Valhalla, he matched the previous record score-to-par in a men’s Major of 20-under (just a shame Schauffele beat it) and reminded us all of why he was such a big loss for the PGA Tour.
He’s fun to watch and he’s a generational talent (you don’t win the NCAA Division 1 title, US Amateur and US Open if you’re not).
His career continues to be a fascinating and enjoyable one to follow. It’s great to have him back.
WHO WILL STOP THE AMERICAN RUN OF MAJOR WINS?
Americans have now won five Majors in a row (Koepka, Clark, Harman, Scheffler, Schauffele) after a run of three consecutive international winners (Fitzpatrick, Smith, Rahm).
So will they make it six in a row or can an international player stop them?
Scheffler, Schauffele, Koepka, Morikawa, DeChambeau and Homa are among the strong US contingent favored for the US Open, but European golf is looking very strong right now.
McIlroy, Rahm, Hovland, Aberg, Fleetwood, Lowry, Fitzpatrick, Hatton, and Nicolai Hojgaard are all capable of winning the biggest events, and many have thrown in some very strong performances so far this year.
Then there’s Australia’s Cameron Smith and Jason Day, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, and Korea’s Tom Kim.
I’m not sure that this really means anything, but it’s one to follow.
SPIETH AND JT STILL NOT QUITE BACK YET
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are two of golf’s biggest names with 28 PGA Tour wins and five Majors between them – but they still don’t quite seem to be in that upper-tier right now.
The pair haven’t won in over two years (Spieth 2022 RBC Heritage, Thomas 2022 PGA Championship) and you feel that the game needs them back challenging and winning Majors.
Thomas looks like he’s making a return to form after a poor season by his standards last year, while Spieth has just one top-10 and four missed cuts in his last eight starts.
