Now we are swiftly moving towards the spring of 2024, the eyes naturally turn to the golfing world and its forthcoming major season. The Masters at Augusta is the first of the sporting Big Four to be played having started on the 11 th of April. In the three months that ensues another three tournaments would be determined in the form of the PGA Championship (May), the US Open (June) and The Open Championship (July), and a combined prize request of a staggering 70m.
However, who are the defending champions going into this year tourney? And can they at all hope to save their crowns? Here we go and you may make predictions.
The Masters, Jon Rahm
Spain Jon Rahm is also the current champion of The Masters, a tournament played in the legendary Augusta National Golf Club. The flames of his passion and his unparalleled abilities have made him an object of fun and name in his ten years career in the tour and last year he won the angler jacked in a truly brilliant display of golfers acumen which made his opponent bow in submission. He had gained an early lead in the tournament of last year when he was at nine under par going to the final day but he was nonetheless two strokes behind Brooks Kopeka and had to deliver a herculean performance to win.
Championship Sunday, with his second major ever.
Looks sent the pressure to the overnight leader. He played a three over par to put himself out of the race and Rahm took over to shoot a calm two under to win the title and the $3.25m that came with it. He is hoping to be the first male since Tiger Woods 21 years ago to win the tournament in consecutive years and the bookies are definitely of the opinion that he is capable enough. The online golf betting odds suppliers have set the golfer as a +900 joint favourite to win the glory, alongside the aforementioned Koepka and Rory Mcilroy.
PGA Championship- Brooks Koepka
The PGA Championship, which will be played this year in Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky, will have Brooks Koepka as a defending champion. The weather bred American did not have to wait long to shake off his disappointment at Augusta and went on to win his first major in four-years at Oakhill in less than a month.
The 33 year old has survived a roller coaster few years in which though he was on the top echelons of the sport, he is now at the lower echelons and made his way back. His second place at the Masters and a win at the PGA Championship confirmed him to be a contender once again but a win at the PGA Championship has told the world that he is someone to reckon with.
Big game and big golfer who was a champion in major championship strokes, Koepka was dominant in major championships in the late 2010s. He had to display his bouncebackability again last year when he claimed back-to-back victories in both the PGA Championship and the US Open between 2017 and 2019.
Having played a terrible first day, he awoke all of those games and six strokes behind the lead. But back-to-back 66s on Friday and Saturday launched him into the lead, and he never looked back. 67 on the final day was sufficient to hold off a late run by Scottie Scheffler to win it and he will be hoping to win the trophy the same way that he did five years ago
U.S. Open- Wyndham Clarke
The US Open of last year was a comical old thing. Day one Ricky Fowler and Xander Schauffele were out of the gates on fire as the pair shot eight under par and jumped out to an enormous lead on the leaderboard. With the passing days, however, pressure was building up on the difficult course at Los Angeles Country Club. Do you need golf rangefinder? Go online and check the best golf rangefinder at a reasonable price at mileseeygolf.com.
By the fourth day Wyndham Clarke had followed leader Fowler who had run away and they both went into Championship Sunday ten under par. But the veteran Fowler was the one who could no longer cope up with the pressure. He finished with a 75 in his last round to mean that he was out of the race and this left Clarke to do the fight with a definite Rory McIlroy in the race to win the trophy. Neither of the two men was in the least weak. They both ended on final round score of 70 and Clarke won by 1 stroke giving him the first major victory in his career.
2018 Open Championship Brian Harman
Veteran American Brian Harman had never really been a major threat before. He did come second at the US Open in 2017, but other than that the best he could do was tie at 12th place at the Masters, in 2021. But that ended in Liverpool last July when he was able to create an early lead and not look back.
But by the end of day two he sat a mighty ten under, one shot off the shock-leader in Sunday, five ahead of home favourite Tommy Fleetwood. The lead was becoming about as formidable as it was possible to make it, however stranger things than a last-day fade have come to pass and he had to keep his whites about him, in order to have the win. Anyway he did that in the end.
An even 69 in the third day kept his five stroke lead intact and it would need a titanic effort by those chasing him that he could be caught and surpassed. That never happened and Harman was left to savour his first major win, with a 6-stroke lead sealing the Claret Jug and a cool $3m prize money.