It’s that point once more!
We sat down with three-time Ryder Cup captain and Golf Care ambassador Bernard Gallacher to talk about what 2024 has in retailer for the boys’s and ladies’s golf recreation.
Bernard additionally gave us his early shouts for the 2024 males’s Main winners. Right here’s what he needed to say…
It’s troublesome to see 2024 being something apart from a continuation of 2023 so far as golf is worried.
In my opinion, the gamers almost certainly to dominate on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour are Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Victor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa—all of whom are vying for that number-one spot on the World Rankings. And, in fact, though Jon Rahm has joined LIV, he’ll nonetheless be a dominant pressure, too.
Nevertheless, the likes of Tom Kim, Tyrell Hatton and Tommy
Fleetwood all even have the sport to achieve the very prime, and I’m excited to see
extra from them.
After all, cash is necessary to all skilled golfers. In spite of everything, that’s the enterprise they’re in, however with large prize funds on supply each week on the PGA Tour, the problem for the gamers—particularly the highest gamers—is to discover a schedule that enables them to win large but in addition time their efficiency peaks across the Main calendar. It may be a troublesome balancing act, for positive.
The 2024 Majors
It’s not simple today to foretell the Main winners. For instance, who would have picked Brian Harman to win The Open or Wyndham Clark to win the US Open in 2023? Nevertheless…
The Masters
I’m going for Rory McIlroy to win the Masters in 2024
and full his profession Grand Slam.
If he had been to do it, he’d be a part of an unique membership of solely
5 different golfers within the historical past of the sport to have finished so—Gene Sarazen, Ben
Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Participant and Tiger Woods.
There are not any weaknesses in Rory’s recreation, and if he has a very good week on the greens, he can go residence with the coveted Inexperienced Jacket.
USPGA Championship
The second main of 2024 is the USPGA Championship, from 13-19 Could at Valhalla Golf Membership in Kentucky.
Rory gained it the final time it was performed right here in 2014, so
he’ll be one of many favourites to repeat that success. Nevertheless, I’m going with Scottie
Scheffler—the 2022 Masters champion—to take the crown this time.
Valhalla is a course I do know myself, because it hosted the 2008 Ryder Cup when Nick Faldo’s Europe had been overwhelmed 16½ – 11½ by a US workforce captained by Paul Azinger. It’s a protracted course with thick tough and quick greens.
The US Open
The 124th US Open is being performed on the iconic
Pinehurst Course in North Carolina. Martin Kaymer gained when it was final performed
right here in 2014.
It’s a protracted course at 7,560 yards, however reasonably unusually for a US Open course, tough is stored to a minimal with bunkers lining the fairways as a substitute.
The upturned greens are essentially the most troublesome function of this course.
Martin Kaymer’s placing was distinctive when he gained, and whoever wins this time
can even want an incredible week on the greens.
I’m going for Max Homa to win this one.
The Open
The final and oldest of the 4 Majors is our Open in July,
and 2024’s venue, Royal Troon, is one in all my favorite golf programs.
It’s an outstanding seaside hyperlinks course on the Ayrshire coast that all the time produces excellent winners with its quick, slender fairways and wonderful greens.
Henrik Stenson prevailed the final time the Open was performed
right here in 2016, after a memorable battle with Phil Mickelson. Previous winners right here additionally
embody Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Mark Calcavecchia and Justin
Leonard.
My shout for 2024, although, is Tommy Fleetwood.
Ladies’s golf in 2024
Very like within the males’s recreation, I don’t anticipate many surprises
in girls’s golf in 2024. I feel all of the gamers who did properly in 2023 will
proceed to take action.
The good Lilia Vu gained final yr’s British Open at
Walton Heath convincingly by six strokes and completed the yr prime of the
girls’s world rankings. She’s going to proceed to dominate.
Others I additionally admire embody:
- Céline Boutier, who performs each within the US and Europe. She gained the 2023 Evian Championship and has additionally gained six instances on the LPGA Tour and 5 instances in Europe.
- Former world primary and Olympic gold medallist Nelly Korda is one other I like. She has one Main to her identify and has represented the US within the Solheim Cup 3 times.
- Minjee Lee. She’s gained two Majors, 10 instances on the LPGA Tour, and twice in Europe. It clearly runs within the household, too, as her brother, Min Woo Lee, performs on the PGA Tour and lately gained the Australian PGA Championship.
- Charley Hull additionally had an incredible 2023, ending runner-up within the US Ladies’s Open and the Ladies’s British Open at Walton Heath. She performs each on the LPGA Tour and the European Girls Tour. She’s acquired the potential to achieve the very prime.
- Canadian Brooke Henderson is one other prolific winner on the LPGA Tour with 13 wins, together with 2 Majors. Georgia Corridor additionally performs on the LPGA Tour and the Girls European Tour. She gained the 2018 Ladies’s Open and has additionally gained twice on the LPGA Tour.
- Final however not least, Lydia Ko is one other excellent participant, with 19 wins on the LPGA Tour, together with two Majors and 7 wins in Europe. She was the youngest participant to be ranked world primary, at simply 17 years previous.
So there you may have it. Bernard’s gone early together with his predictions for 2024. Do you agree with him? Get in contact and tell us!
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