The Masters Tournament just wrapped up with a dominant final nine holes from World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, now a two-time Masters champion.
At one point in Sunday’s final round, there was a five-way tie for the lead, but Amen Corner decided to be brutal to those not named Scheffler.
The second of four major championships this year will be next month as the PGA Championship is held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
In this edition of Sam’s Section, we will look at who seems to be next in line to become a major champion.
Viktor Hovland
Hovland had a career year in 2023, recording top-10 finishes in 2023 major championships, which included finishing tied for second in the 2023 PGA Championship. The Norwegian finished in the top-3 in last year’s Players Championship and is the most recent FedEx Cup Champion. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy is 18th in strokes gained off-the-tee (0.494). Despite missing the cut at the Masters this year, expect the World No. 6 to be back in the mix for a major championship this year.
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele finished in eighth place at the Masters this year, has finished in the top 10 in two of last year’s major championships and has six top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open. He finished tied for second in March’s Players Championship. Even though the former San Diego State Aztec is ranked No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking right now, he has not won a PGA Tour event since the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open. The stats favor him, however: Schauffele is second on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained (1.934), strokes gained tee-to-green (1.817), eighth in strokes gained off-the-tee (0.744), strokes gained around-the-green (0.496) and third in actual scoring average (68.89).
Ludvig Åberg
Åberg has taken the golf world by storm in the past year, helping the European team win the Ryder Cup. He made his professional debut in June 2023, finishing tied for 25th place at the RBC Canadian Open. The Swedish 24-year-old won his first PGA Tour event in November, winning the RSM Classic. Two months earlier, he won on the European Tour at the Omega European Masters. The former Texas Tech Red Raider finished in eighth place at the Players Championship and was the runner-up in last week’s Masters Tournament. He ranks 12th in total strokes gained (1.116), second in approaches from 150-175 yards (23 feet, eight inches) and 12th in actual scoring average (69.51). It is early in his professional career, but if Åberg keeps playing the way he played in Augusta, Georgia last week, it will not be long before he wins a major championship.
Max Homa
In the last two major championships, Homa has finished in the top 10: the 2023 Open Championship and the 2024 Masters Tournament. He has six wins on the PGA Tour, but it has been over a year since his last win. His last professional win came on the European Tour in November at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa. He ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in approaches from 50-125 yards (15 feet, four inches), fifth in approaches from 100-125 yards (15 feet, 11 inches), 13th in scrambling (66.83%) and has gone the last 123 holes without a 3-putt.
Tommy Fleetwood
Every time I do research on Fleetwood, it always surprises me that he has not won on the PGA Tour. He is the 11th-ranked golfer in the world thanks to his seven European Tour wins. Fleetwood’s last professional win was in January’s Dubai Invitational, getting out in front of Rory McIlroy. He ranks second in driving accuracy percentage on the PGA Tour (81.21%), fifth in scrambling from 20-30 yards out (72.73%), 15th in bogey avoidance (12.67%) and 13th in par-3 scoring average (2.98). The Englishman has finished in the top 10 of the last three major championships (2023 U.S. Open, 2023 Open Championship, 2024 Masters) and came close at the 2018 U.S. Open and the 2019 Open Championship. Fleetwood is due for a big win this year.
Will Zalatoris
In 2021 and 2022, Zalatoris was the most entertaining golfer to watch, with three runner-up finishes in major championships (2021 Masters, 2022 PGA Championship, 2022 U.S. Open) and is coming off a 2023 season where he was sidelined due to injury, but his performance at the Masters showed that he is back like he never left, finishing tied for ninth place. In the 11 major championships Zalatoris has played in, he has finished top-10 seven of those times. Despite his performances under the brightest lights, he only has one win on the PGA Tour at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, beating Sepp Straka in a playoff. Among PGA Tour players, the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon ranks eighth in strokes gained approaching the green (0.720), 10th in driving accuracy percentage (74.64%), third in par-5 scoring average (4.42) and looks to be competitive in many of the tournaments on the PGA Tour this season.