Four Hot Takes Going into the Rest of the 2025 PGA Season
Through one major, through 19 tournaments, and already some of the biggest storylines we’ve seen. From Rory McIlroy completing the grand slam by capturing his masterpiece to Justin Thomas winning his first major in three years, the 2025 season has already been one to remember. That being said, we still have three majors, a Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup, and dozens of other tournaments that could make this year one of the most memorable in golf history. Will Scottie Scheffler stay at number one? Will Rory McIlroy fall off or continue his greatness? Will we ever see another grand slam winner? All these questions are sure to be answered at one point, but why not in 2025?
Rory McIlroy Matches Scottie’s 2024 Campaign
At the base, saying that Rory McIlroy will match Scottie’s campaign in 2024, where he won nine tournaments, and has arguably one of the top three seasons ever, seems crazy, but is it? Scheffler started his campaign the same as Rory, winning at both the Players and the Masters, but the one thing Scottie doesn’t have… history at the other majors. Will Rory win nine or ten tournaments, probably not, but can he win another major at Quail Hollow and take Scheffler’s place at number one? As Rory said in a recent interview with Jimmy Fallon that the burden of Augusta was constantly on him, and now that he has the jacket, it's lifted. He’s not just the most confident golfer in the world right now, but also has the perfect game to win his second major in a row. Quail Hollow, where the PGA is held, is perfect for his long drive game, and now that he doesn’t have the whole golf world waiting for him to win the green jacket, he should have more support than ever. The question stands, though, if Rory wins at Quail, with the Open being back near his home in England, could we see just the third player to win three majors in one year since 1930, joining the likes of Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan?
Jordan Spieth Becomes the Seventh to Capture the Grand Slam
The feeling of a bounce-back year from Jordan Spieth has been lurking all year, and as he continues to gain confidence, one question remains: Can he complete the Grand Slam? With a win at the PGA in mid-May, he would become the seventh player to achieve such a thing and making a lot of people change the defining moment in Jordan’s career from his water balls in 2016 to an illustrious career. With two top 10 finishes already this year and a top 15 at Augusta, Jordan has had one of his better starts to a season campaign in years. Considering we just saw JT win for the first time in three years, a win for Jordan, especially with the magnitude of a major, wouldn’t be surprising. The main thing with Spieth this year has been his inconsistency with his driver and his attitude with such clubs, but both can be fixed, and hence lead to a season to remember for the 31-year-old. Ask any golf fan, and the sport is better with Jordan in contention, and I think this year we could truly see such a thing again.
Bryson Repeats at the US Open
Over the past year, a lot of people have just looked towards Bryson Dechambeau for his genius marketing and ability to turn the public into major fans of himself while on LIV, but that isn’t nearly the most impressive thing from the long driver. Over the past five majors, Bryson has finished at least top six in all of them, only missing out on the cut at last year's Open Championship. He has vaulted himself into the top ten rankings of the FedEx Cup while only playing four tournaments a year due to his LIV deal, but has made the most of them. His win at Pinehurst No. 2 last year also showed a much more diverse Bryson, as his clean-ups and recovery wedge play showed aspects of the SMU star that we hadn’t seen before. His confidence with the Majors is also superbly high, which is vital for a player to win, even saying in a recent interview that the LIV matches help prepare him for the PGA majors due to the loudness and environment of them. While he will help the US greatly in the Ryder Cup, the players should be scared of Bryson in general, but especially this version, looking for revenge after a small collapse at Augusta.
LIV and the PGA plan for a Future Agreement
Even with Rory McIlroy stating earlier today that the golf world doesn’t need an agreement immediately, he did say, along with the rest of the golf world, that it most likely needs to be resolved at one point. Players like Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm have consistently shown their bumpiness in the process over the last year, with some LIV players thinking it was going to be more of a short-term money grab as opposed to something more permanent. What most likely needs to happen is some type of allowance and agreement with both leagues to pay the players more but for all the stars in golf to be in every tournament, because while the current agreement makes the Majors even more fun, it makes the rest of the tournaments on tour feel less valuable due to some of the best not being eligible for them. The next step in such agreements has to be from the LIV side, as they are the ones who left and hence the ones who would need to make the change to come back. If players like Koepka start leaving LIV in the near future, it could create more discourse that would lead to a more forced unitation to stop arguments, but either way the fans of golf most likely just want to see all their favorite players every weekend, not just at the exclusive four weekends throughout the year.
