5 Bold Predictions For Pro Golf In 2025

The new year is upon us—and all of professional golf is hoping 2025 is more eventful than 2024.

Although we did have a fruitful major season headlined by an epic U.S. Open and two statement victories by Xander Schauffele, pro golf was mostly in a funk this past year.

Both the PGA Tour and LIV’s TV ratings struggled mightily. Sunday Tour coverage was down roughly 19 percent compared to 2023. Golf Channel’s daily viewership was down about 21 percent as of two weeks ago. As other sport-centric channels like MLB Network and NBA TV held around even, Golf Channel’s steep drop seemed to signal that there is a golf-specific issue at play.

Namely, there is a growing apathy among golf fans. Yes, they will watch the majors. Beyond that? It’s hard to make a compelling argument for why they should tune in any given weekend.

The broadcast is beyond bloated and has no obvious stopping points like we see in other sports. Tiger just turned 49—it’s unlikely he plays more than a few tournaments outside of the new TGL simulator league. The Tour lacks buzz-worthy stars and the most popular active golfer on the planet is competing on LIV.

As for LIV, we’ve seen little to no growth in its audience. Some of the events are well attended but not even 90,000 people watched the LIV Championship on TV where Jon Rahm came out victorious. A new TV deal with Fox Sports could help get more channel flippers on board. Still, it’s going to take a gargantuan turnaround for golf fans to get invested in the LIV product.

The state of golf also remains gloomy on account of the Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund having yet to strike a deal. We’re now 18 months beyond the framework agreement. The original deadline was New Year’s Eve … 2023.

While predicting when a deal will get done is a fool’s errand—honestly, who knows at this point?—I have some other predictions for pro golf in 2025.

In no particular order, here are five of my boldest predictions for 2025.

1. Scottie Scheffler will have four (or fewer) wins

Nobody in professional golf is on the level of Scheffler. He won nine times last year if you include the Olympics and Hero World Challenge. Scheffler was totally dominant, ranking No. 1 in Strokes Gained approach and No. 2 in Strokes Gained off the tee. Even his typically wonky putting was pretty respectable as he ranked No. 77, above-average on Tour.

I don’t think we appreciate what he did. This was among the best Tour seasons we’ve ever seen in the modern era. Winning nine times requires sublime golf and some fortuitous bounces.

For that reason, I’m predicting some regression. Maybe it’s a bad omen that Scheffler cut his hand during the holiday break and won’t be able to play in Hawaii to start the year.

I’m thinking he ends up with around four wins this year. He might still be the best golfer in the world but it’s hard to imagine him continuing to steamroll everyone at this pace. It would be the story in golf if that happens.

2. The Europeans will upset the Americans at Bethpage

No road team has won the Ryder Cup since the Europeans staged an incredible comeback at Medinah in 2012.

Of the last nine Ryder Cups, that was the only road victory. And it took something magical to rally from a 10-6 deficit on Sunday.

I’m thinking another road victory is coming.

The depth on the American side doesn’t feel as impenetrable as past years. Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa are great but do you know who the fourth-highest ranked American by Data Golf is right now? Justin Thomas, who hasn’t won a tournament in almost three years (more on Thomas in a moment).

I’m looking at the back half of what this roster could look like … and the Americans don’t have a ton of meat there. Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau and … Sahith Theegala? Wyndham Clark? Some of these guys are not playing well at all.

While the Americans need some guys to get into form, Europe might actually have the better roster on paper.

Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg are all top 10 golfers in the world. You would assume that Viktor Hovland, who started to improve the last few months of this year, will be a lot better in 2025. Shane Lowry has also been solid and is an easy depth pick.

Figuring out the other five guys will be tough but I don’t think the Euros are at any disadvantage when comparing the top seven. I would say their core is better than the American core.

Add in talk of U.S. players getting paid and I think we have the makings of a road win next September.

3. JT will return to form, winning multiple times (including a major)

Buried under a lot of pro golf’s struggles, a lot of fans probably wouldn’t know that Thomas is the No. 10 player in the world right now.

I wouldn’t say JT is back but we’ve seen some excellent signs from the 15-time Tour winner. He had five top-10 finishes in his last 13 starts of 2024 and he seemed to find something the few times we saw him in the fall.

In the summer of 2023, Thomas fell to No. 73 in the world. His normally superb iron game let him down that season as he ranked No. 39 in Strokes Gained approach.

This past year, Thomas has rebounded to rank No. 9 in Strokes Gained approach. His putting remains a liability but it just feels like we are due for him to get things going in the right direction. A player of his talent level can’t be held down forever.

I’m predicting a bit of a JT renaissance in 2025. He’ll win at least twice, one of those a major.

4. Even the majors will have real TV rating issues

As more golf fans fall into the pattern of watching only the majors, common sense would indicate those four events (and the Ryder Cup) should be consumed even more.

That line of thinking says people who are not watching golf on a week-to-week basis will become more invested the few times per year when the biggest tournaments roll around.

I would like to be wrong about this but I think golf’s problems are much bigger than that.

Just look at last year when the Masters had 9.58 million viewers on Sunday. If you take out the two pandemic years, that was the lowest viewership since 1993. And while Scheffler drained all the drama by the last few holes, the Masters has had plenty of blowouts over the years where more fans watched. More people watched Trevor Immelman shoot 75 in the final round and still win the 2008 Masters with virtually no drama.

Last year’s Open Championship on NBC/Peacock had 3.39 million viewers, the lowest total since 2015. And last year’s event was a compelling tournament until Schauffele pulled away late.

My point is that there are multiple issues with how golf is presented on TV. Commercial load is a massive problem but fans are watching the Masters less—and there are almost no commercials in that broadcast.

There is something deeper here. Less people are being entertained, even when it comes to the majors.

I don’t see that magically changing in 2025. In fact, I think it will continue to be a bear market for major TV ratings unless there are some particularly engaging circumstances—like Scheffler and DeChambeau battling it out late on a major Sunday.

5. The McIlroy major drought will finally end

By a simple matter of data, McIlroy is destined to finally end a major drought that is stretching beyond a decade now.

He’s too good and too involved for one of these not to drop his way.

For one, McIlroy is almost guaranteed to be involved at the U.S. Open where he has five consecutive top-10 finishes and back-to-back runner-up finishes. He loves U.S. Open golf which puts more of a highlight on his prodigious driving.

And maybe even more important is how next year’s PGA Championship is at Quail Hollow, a place where he has feasted in recent years. He has won there four times during the Wells Fargo Championship, including last year.

I also like the 2025 Open Championship being at Royal Portrush which was where McIlroy grew up.

After eight top-10 finishes in majors the last three seasons, I think McIlroy is due to get one in 2025.

So those are my five bold predictions for this year. What are your predictions?

Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: Justin Thomas will get back on track in 2025. (GETTY IMAGES/David Cannon)