January 27, 2025 9:02 am

Spring is on the horizon. It’s time for Jon’s golfing predictions for 2025. Will they be as hopless as ever?

The PGA Tour has kicked off in the Hawaiian Islands and the European Tour (now known as the DP World Tour) is underway in the middle East. So, it must be time for me to make my usual appallingly bad predictions on the golf majors and other golfing stories.

Liv players to return

Before I begin with my normal wide of the mark guesses on winners of majors, a few words on LIV and the current disjointedness of the men’s professional game. It seems surprisingly quiet at the moment. However, come The Masters in April, a way forward will become clear. The return of the LIV players to the fold will be laid out and peace will return to the grand old game. At least I hope that is what will happen.

The new TGL Golf is an exciting, lighter-hearted addition to the menu for golf watching. I think it will gather momentum, but year one is likely to be a slow burn. Watch out for some tweaks to the format for next year, but anything that engages more viewers to the sport is great. I am still of the opinion that the old Pro Celebrity Golf on BBC, back in the age of the dinosaurs, was the best marketing for golf that there has ever been.

Watch out for Keegan Bradley

So, the 2025 Major scene will start like all others (Covid Year Exempted) with The Masters from Augusta in April. Straight away, I am going for a left field one here with Keegan Badley. He finished last year playing his socks off when he was appointed US Ryder Cup captain. For that reason I will be cheering for him to win The Masters. I would love to see him try to combine the roles of playing and captaining a US Ryder Cup team. Anyone who has had the joy of being a club captain at a golf club, knows how the responsibility can affect your game.  All those extra concerns such as whether the catering for the match is organised, who is playing with who and are they happy with their pairings? In my book that is at least 3 points to Europe, before we even tee off at Bethpage.

Ludwig and Rory to win

The USPGA is the next major and this year it is at Quail Hollow North Carolina. This event has a history of being the breakthrough tournament for the up and comers. I am pinning my colours to the Ludvig Aberg mast on this one. He has such a cool demeanour. I love the fact that when he gets to the ball, he hits it without a lot of faff. After watching Keegan Bradley win The Masters as the king of faff, this will be very refreshing. Go Ludvig.

Onto the brutal US Open then in June and the venue is Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Over the years, the winners of the US Open at this venue have been a who’s who of golfing brilliance. Examples include Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Ernie Els. With a pedigree like that I am swaying towards one of the new generation of greats, Xander Schauffele. He is another unruffled character. The US Open is nearly always set up as a war of attrition. I think he thrives in those arenas.

The final major of the year is The Open and it returns to Royal Portrush on the Northern Irish coastline. This is a truly amazing venue and will be very dependent on the weather. It won’t be as bad as storm Eowyn, but the wind should blow and the rain should fall. I am going to stick my neck out here are say that finally Rory McIlroy is going to end his drought in the majors. He will emulae Shane Lowry, the previous winner of The Open at this venue, and bring home the trophy.

Ryder Cup fever

With no Solheim Cup this year, it will be the Ryder Cup to take centre stage at the end of September. Played at the brutal Bethpage Black course in New York, in front of a rowdy, partisan New York crowd, it will be a spectacle to behold. As ever, I cannot wait. That weekend, the out of office goes on the email account. Family and friends know that it has to be something life threatening for my wife and I to be distracted from the tv. With coverage starting at around midday till midnight, plenty of snacks and drinks will be needed to keep us going. As ever, I just wish for a close tournament. I know it sounds a bit sappy, but let’s hope the game of golf and sportsmanship is the winner. Although, I fear this time it will be tough.

While we are on the Ryder Cup, I do strongly disagree with payment being made to the players for taking part for the US Team. I admit this is mitigated by the fact that much of their fee is then donated to the charity of their choice. Rory was right when he said the 2 weeks of the year that golf is played for the true spirit of the sport, The Olympics and the Ryder Cup, are the 2 most exciting. These guys make money out of playing in the Ryder Cup. Their endorsements are increased and there are plenty of other sweeteners. Upfront payments seem a little crass to me. Perhaps I’m just an old fogie.

Sadly, I fear, Team Europe will fail to win an away Ryder Cup again.  The last time this happened was the miracle at Medinah. If they pull it off again, I will christen it Breathtaking at Bethpage. Maybe it’s not got the same ring to it, but it would be special.

So there endeth my journey into the future of the golfing year 2025. As ever, I strongly advise you not to rush to BetFred and stake your mortgage on my predictions.  I certainly won’t! But I hope you have enjoyed reading them. Let’s see in the autumn whether I can at last claim to have done a mystic Meg and got at least one guess on the money. Thanks for reading.

By Jon Woodroffe – Master Professional, World of Golf London

Categorised in: Tip of the month