Four of the five major champions on the women’s side in 2023 were first-time winners. As for the men? Two of four.
As the golf world moves on from 2023 and looks ahead to 2024, we got to thinking, who is most likely to add a major championship to their resume for the first time in the new year? Several writers on Golfweek‘s staff have made their picks, some surprising, some not so much.
Men’s 2024 major venues: Augusta National Golf Club (Masters), Valhalla Golf Club (PGA Championship), Pinehurst No. 2 (U.S. Open) and Royal Troon (Open Championship).
Women’s 2024 major venues: The Club at Carlton Woods (Chevron Championship), Lancaster Country Club (U.S. Women’s Open), Sahalee Country Club (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship), Evian Resort Golf Club (Amundi Evian Championship), The Old Course at St. Andrews (AIG Women’s Open).
Ludvig Aberg
It’s difficult not to keep riding this Ludvig Aberg train.
He earned his first professional win on the DP World Tour just a couple of weeks before becoming the first Ryder Cupper who hadn’t yet played in a major. In November, he verified his PGA Tour credentials with a win in the regular-season finale.
Ranked 3,064 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of 2022, he has zoomed up to 32nd on the strength of those victories as well as three other top-10s in five FedEx Cup Fall series events.
He’s just 24, about eight years younger than the average age of major champions, but he is already one of those guys lingering around the top page of the leaderboard on the weekends.
Aberg doesn’t seem like the type to be awestruck and while his first trips around Augusta National (Masters), Valhalla (PGA Championship), Pinehurst (U.S. Open) and Royal Troon (Open Championship) in 2024 will be eye-opening, there’s just this feeling he’ll defy history and find a way to come out on top in one of them.
— Todd Kelly
Nasa Hataoka
It’s easy to look at Hataoka’s major championship record and see that she’s due. With nine top-10 finishes in 29 career starts in majors since 2017, Hataoka has twice lost in playoffs at the majors (2018 KPMG Women’s PGA and 2021 U.S. Women’s Open).
In 2023, she finished in the top 4 twice, leading eventual winner Allisen Corpuz by one stroke going into the final round at Pebble Beach. The 24-year-old is a six-time winner on the LPGA and a six-time winner on the JLPGA.
— Beth Ann Nichols
Viktor Hovland
He’s had some pretty good chances already, putting up a strong fight until late on the back nine on Sunday at the 2023 PGA Championship. His ball striking is certainly major-championship ready and he’s improved his short game tremendously.
With wins at the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship, he’s proven to me that he can deliver in big spots. He can handle the pressure and he’s getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Mental toughness is an underrated asset in his arsenal. His game also travels well – he could win any of the four majors. Given the heater that he finished the 2022-23 season on, it’s when, not if, Hovland will win a major.
— Adam Schupak
Ludvig Aberg (again)
Aberg is a future No. 1 golfer in the world. Period. He drives it long and on a string, and earns nothing but praise from every one of his playing partners. Since turning pro in June, Aberg has already taken home two titles: the DP World Tour’s European Masters and the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic. However, the Masters in April will be his first major championship start. I have no doubt that he’ll adjust to the environment, and his game should translate to golf’s hardest tests.
— Riley Hamel
Linn Grant
This time last year I called my shot with Rose Zhang at the U.S. Women’s Open and nearly nailed it as she finished T-9 at Pebble Beach. For 2024, I’m going with Linn Grant at either the Amundi Evian Championship or the AIG Women’s Open.
The 24-year-old is the latest Swedish talent to pop up in the women’s game, where she already has five LET wins and one LPGA victory under her belt. Grant was 3-2 as a rookie at the 2023 Solheim Cup and always shows up to compete on the biggest stage.
She has finished inside the top 20 each of the last two years at both the Evian and Women’s Open and made the cut in all four majors she started in last year (and top 20 finished at three of them). Overall across nine major appearances she’s missed just one cut, as an amateur in 2018. In six major starts as a professional, she’s finished top 20 in all of them but one, a T-53 at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
— Adam Woodard
Will Zalatoris
A year ago in this space, our Riley Hamel picked Will Zalatoris to breakthrough, and it made all the sense in the world.
Why wouldn’t the Wake Forest product be next? Consider that in 2022, Zalatoris tied for sixth at the Masters (a year after finishing runner-up to Hideki Matsuyama), lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff at the PGA Championship, missed a birdie putt on the 72nd hole that would have sent the U.S. Open to a playoff and finished the major season with a top 30 at St. Andrews.
But that’s when a back ailment derailed the young superstar, and he underwent a microdiscectomy surgery soon after pulling out of the 2023 Masters.
It’ll take some time for Zalatoris to get back into tournament shape as he couldn’t even pick up a club for four of five months, but don’t forget this was someone we all expected would follow Scottie Scheffler’s trajectory of winning once and then winning a bunch. If he gets healthy in 2024, it could be his time to shine.
— Tim Schmitt
