As we start to close the book on the 2023 golfing season, it’s time to look ahead to 2024 and predict what’s in store. This year saw lots of great golf and exciting storylines – with a smattering of Ryder Cup drama thrown in for fun!
All four majors threw up different winners, with Brooks Koepka earning his 5th major title and Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark securing their first. It begs the question, who’s going to dominate next year? We’ve picked the top five golfers to focus on in 2024 based on the bookies’ odds for next season’s majors. UK bettors can access non-GamStop bookmakers through BettingNonGamstop.com to see the best odds, but here’s what we found:
Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm won The Masters in 2023 and is the bookmaker’s favourite to do so again next year. The Spaniard looks set to end this season as the world number three and has more than enough potential to keep racking up win after win.
Funnily enough, he won’t be doing it on the PGA Tour in 2024! Rahm was recently revealed as the latest big-name golfer to join LIV Golf. He’s still eligible to play PGA Tour events, including all four of the major events. So, we’ve kept him on the list because who’s to say he won’t sweep up more majors next year?
Rory Mcllroy
2023 continued a redemption arc for Rory Mcllroy. The Northern Irish golfer will likely finish as the second-best golfer in the world, backing up his year-ending number 1 finish in 2022. He made headlines throughout the year with a series of big wins, plus a big Ryder Cup bust-up!
Despite not winning a major since 2014, Mcilroy is picked by many bookies as the second favourite for the first big event of the year. It would be particularly poignant for the four-time major winner to scoop his maiden Masters Tournament win 10 years after securing his last major crown.
Scottie Scheffler
27-year-old Scottie Scheffler is heralded by many as the best American golfer of the last few years. He’s the world number one and a one-time major championship winner, yet his 2023 performances were sub-par in the big events. That’s probably why he’s not higher up this list, but bookies still see him as a potential threat in 2024.
His golf outside of the majors was exquisite, winning tournament after tournament and netting enough money to break the PGA Tour earnings record for a season. We think all golf fans are secretly rooting for this star next year in the hopes that we’ll see him towards the latter stages of more major championships.
Viktor Hovland
The first Norweigan to win on the PGA Tour and European Tour, Viktor Hovland has a bright future ahead of him. At only 26 he’s got so much room to grow, yet has already gone from number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in 2019 to number four in the professional rankings this year.
That’s quite a jump in four years – and he even went from 10th in 2022 to 4th in 2023, showing constant improvements. Hovland won back-to-back events in August, bagging the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship in consecutive weeks.
Based on how he ended this season, odds of 13.00 seem like a steal for this young talent. Perhaps he’ll break through in 2024 and win his first major before targeting the world number one spot. Going from amateur number one to professional number one in five years would be quite the story.
Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka is a five-time major champion who now plys his trade on the LIV Tour. He can still play PGA Tour events and showed up big during two of the four majors in 2023.
Fans of his will remember the epic battle with Jon Rahm in Augusta where he narrowly missed out on winning. But, he bounced back to claim the PGA Championship a few weeks later, edging out Hovland and Scheffler.
It means his current trophy cabinet for major events looks like this:
- 2018 PGA Championship Winner
- 2019 PGA Championship Winner
- 2023 PGA Championship Winner
- 2017 US Open Winner
- 2018 US Open Winner
Are you spotting a trend? When Koepka wins a major, he tends to back it up the following year! We’ll be honest, it’s surprising to see him as the fifth favourite for The Masters considering his form – and that he was runner-up this year. Nevertheless, you should keep an eye out for him as there’s every chance he’ll win back-to-back PGA Championships again.
You’ve seen what the bookmakers think, but we’re interested to know your thoughts too. Who do you expect to dominate the 2024 year in golf outside of the five names mentioned above?