The new golf season kicked off last week as most of the PGA Tour’s top players descended on the Kapalua Plantation Course, where Hideki Matsuyama shot a historic 35-under par to clinch the title.
The golf season has already started, GOLF Subpar hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz felt it was the right time to look ahead to the upcoming important season and predict who will win golf’s biggest prizes in 2025.
As always, the main conversation about the championship revolved around Rory McIlroy and his attempt to break a 10-year drought.
While neither Knost nor Stoltz picked McIlroy to win the 2025 Masters, Knost sees McIlroy picking not one, but two majors in 2025, starting with the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
“There will be a guy in the field named Rory McIlroy who kind of likes Quail Hollow,” Knost said. “He only won there four times. He has 10 top-10 finishes in 13 events. Some of the lines he takes make this golf course look like a pitch-and-putt golf course.
“I know the whole world will choose Rory to end its serious drought – it has been going on since 2014 – but I think Rory will do it here on the PGA.”
Knost sees McIlroy lift the Wanamaker Trophy and then highlights his return to major championship glory with victory in the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. As you may remember, McIlroy holds the course record at Royal Portrush (61) and was famous for making a quadruple bogey on the first hole of the 2019 Open on his way to missing the cut.
Knost believes this time will be different for McIlroy, who will win a major championship in his home country.
“I just think it’s going to be a big year for this guy,” Knost said. “Last time The Open was here, he started with a small eight on the first hole. People talked about him all the time. He comes from Northern Ireland. He is a hometown favorite. He had the weight of the country on his back and hit two balls out of bounds to start the tournament.
“I feel like he’s looking for revenge when the case comes back to Royal Portrush. Rory McIlroy is choosing a second major this year.
While Knost believes McIlroy will break his major drought in a big way, Stolz doesn’t see the four-time major winner adding to his trophy case in 2025.
But he sees two other European stars winning major titles in 2025, including Jon Rahm’s victory that silenced his critics at The Open.
“He didn’t have the best performance on the big stage last year, did he?” – Stoltz said. “I went to LIV. People sleep on it a bit. I think his motivation to win major championships is as high as ever. He hears the narration. He knows it. I think he wants to prove everyone wrong.
“The way he drives the golf ball. Windows it can hit. He can hit low, high, short and so on. I like him at some major championships, but I feel the Open is where he will succeed. Why not this year?”
