April will be here before you know it, and coming along for the ride with it will be the start of golf’s 2023 major championship season. Beginning at Augusta National for the Masters, as it typically does, the majors will go a long way to defining the game’s best next year.

While eyes around Augusta will be drawn to Tiger Woods and the return of Phil Mickelson, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy will resume his quest for the career grand slam. The four-time major champion is still without a green jacket in his closet and will attempt to become the sixth man to collect all four majors. Scottie Scheffler will also look to defend his green jacket after spending most of 2022 ranked as the top golfer in the world.

Moving onward past Augusta, Georgia, the focus will shift to Rochester, New York, for the PGA Championship. A year removed from Justin Thomas’ memorable seven-stroke come-from-behind victory at Southern Hills, the two-time PGA Championship winner will vie for his third Wanamaker Trophy at Oak Hill Country Club. Meanwhile, good friend Jordan Spieth is seeking his first, which would help him complete his own career grand slam.

A new major championship venue will be unveiled at the U.S. Open in June. Los Angeles Country Club will host its first major, also the first that will take place in the Los Angeles area across the last three decades. Past champions Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau should expect a stern test from the relatively unknown site.

Then, as it has done since 2019, The Open Championship will put a bow on the major season. The 151st edition of the event will have big shoes to fill as it follows in the footsteps of Cameron Smith’s victory at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake will host The Open for the first time since McIlroy’s win in 2014 and wrap up what should be yet another fantastic major stretch.

Odds via Caesars Sportsbook

2023 major championship predictions

The Masters | Augusta National | April 6-9

Jon Rahm (12-1): If I had to bet on one player winning one major over the next 10 years, Jordan Spieth at the Open Championship and Jon Rahm at the Masters would both be at the top of the list. Rahm has been a beast at Augusta National. Among golfers with at least 24 rounds played at the Masters in the strokes-gained era, the top four in that category looks like this: Spieth (2.75 per round), Rahm (2.56), Tiger Woods (2.54), Phil Mickelson (2.25). That’s nine combined green jackets, and Rahm will eventually add to that total. — Kyle Porter

Xander Schauffele (18-1): Despite how successful Schauffele was in 2022, he disappointed in majors. I expect this to change in a massive way in 2023, and it all begins at Augusta National. His missed cut at the 2022 Masters was an anomaly as he possesses prior finishes of T3 in 2021 and T2 in 2019. With one of the higher major championship floors, chances are the 29-year-old will be in the mix come the final round and will hopefully be the one to slip on the green jacket. — Patrick McDonald

PGA Championship | Oak Hill Country Club | May 8-11

Will Zalatoris (25-1): Do I feel good about the back injury? I do not. Do I feel good about getting somebody who was three strokes from winning half the majors in 2022 at 25-1 for the second major of 2023? I do. Zalatoris is straight up nasty at major championships, and he’s possibly the best ball-striker in the world. He has finished in the top eight in six of his first 10 major starts (which is outrageous), and over the last 12 months, nobody has a better number than his 1.88 strokes gained ball-striking. Two pretty elite ball strikers duked it out last time there was a PGA at Oak Hill, and I imagine Zalatoris is going to walk in their footsteps this time around. — Kyle Porter

Collin Morikawa (20-1): The last time the PGA Championship travelled to Oak Hill Country Club, Jason Dufner edged Jim Furyk by two strokes, and to me, those two players scream pinpoint iron play and accurate driving. While the course will have lengthened significantly since, those two statistics will remain prevalent. Over the last 12 months, only one player ranks inside the top 10 in both strokes gained approach and driving accuracy. That’s right, two-time major champion Morikawa. — Patrick McDonald

U.S. Open | Los Angeles Country Club | June 15-18

Xander Schauffele (18-1): Schauffele’s U.S. Open career has been wild. He has six starts, and his worst finish is a T14 in 2022 at Brookline. His worst finish. In every other U.S. Open he’s played, Schauffele has gained at least 2.7 strokes , and all five of his other showings have been top sevens. The bottom line with Schauffele at U.S. Opens is that he contends. He’s in the mix. He’s always around the lead at the end of the event. At 18-1, that’s all you’re asking for. I do believe Schauffele will win multiple majors by the end of his career, and the U.S. Open will be one of them. — Kyle Porter

Patrick Cantlay (25-1): There are numerous names I like for this championship including Morikawa and Tony Finau, but I will land on Cantlay. The California kid hasn’t had the best track record in major championships but may have found something at the end of 2022 with finishes of T14 at the U.S. Open and T8 at The Open. His back still poses problems for him when the weather turns sour, but summertime in Los Angeles should provide the pathway for the world No. 4’s first major championship title. — Patrick McDonald

The Open | Royal Liverpool Golf Club | July 20-23

Jordan Spieth (16-1): At this point, it’s kind of an auto pick for me every year. He only has one finish outside the top 10 in his last five starts and that was a T20 at Royal Portrush when his game was held together with nothing more than hot glue and hope. There is seemingly an intangible quality when it comes to Spieth and Open Championships, something that all the strokes gained data in the world can’t quantify. I know that sounds like a justification or a reason for me to shoehorn Spieth into these picks, and perhaps that’s the case, but links golf and Open golf are more spiritual, more magical than any other version of the sport — and nobody is better suited to those whims than Spieth. — Kyle Porter

Cameron Young (50-1): If Young goes through a sophomore season resembling his freshman campaign, this number will be long gone come July. Runner up to Cameron Smith at the 150th Open at St. Andrews, Young has proven capable of competing with the best players in the world no matter the conditions. He is long off-the-tee and has all the tools in the shed. Given the success of his first links golf experience, he should contend once again. — Patrick McDonald

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A rollercoaster second round of the 2022 LIV Golf Jeddah saw Peter Uihlein’s name climb to the top of the leaderboard. Ultimately signing for a 7-under 63, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy backed up his round of 5-under 67 on Friday and now sits alone at the top at 12 under.

Beginning his day on the second hole, Uihlein shot out of the gates with four consecutive birdies and applied pressure on overnight leader (and team captain) Brooks Koepka. Another birdie on the 10th saw the LIV Chicago runner-up reach 10 under for the tournament before finding the water on the difficult par-4 13th leading to a double bogey — his only mistake of the day.

Needing to recover quickly, Uihlein did just that with a birdie on the par-4 14th and an eagle-birdie finish to his second round. At 12 under, he finds himself only one stroke clear of Koepka and three ahead of former Masters champions Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia.

Not only will Uihlein need to deal with the stress of capturing the individual title, but he and his closest pursuer must keep an eye on the team portion of the event. Currently at 30 under, Smash GC commands a six-stroke lead over the Fireballs, which won last week at LIV Bangkok. With a triumph, Smash GC would ascend to fifth in the team standings, which would grant it first selection of which team to face on Day 1 of the Team Championship at Trump National Doral.

The leader

1. Peter Uihlein (-12)

Uihlein’s play both on and off LIV Golf has been sneaky good the past few months and has continued at LIV Golf Jeddah. Kicking off his LIV Golf campaign with a podium finish at LIV Golf London, the 33-year-old has since added a T7 result on the Asian Tour, a runner-up effort at LIV Golf Chicago and a top-10 finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour.

He sits eighth in the season-long points race and with a win could conceivably climb into the top three to earn a massive payday. Nothing will be given to Uihlein in the final round as he goes up against Koepka, a four-time major champion with whom he has a history. Rooming together in Europe while both traversed through the Challenge Tour, the two grew close and will surely make for a comfortable final grouping.

Other contenders

2. Brooks Koepka (-11)

T3. Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia (-10)

T5. Abraham Ancer, Paul Casey (-9)

T7. James Piot, Dustin Johnson, Sihwan Kim, Anirban Lahiri (-8)

Following up an 8-under 62 is always a difficult task, but Koepka acquitted himself nicely in the second round. Signing for a 3-under 67, his biggest mistake came on the par-4 13th. Finding the desert off the tee, he compounded one poor swing with another and found the water with his approach to put a double-bogey on his scorecard. Able to bounce back from this mishap, Koepka added birdies on the par-3 16th and par-5 18th to come in at 11 under for the tournament. 

Koepka has never been a glass half full type of guy and his comments following his round confirms he still has stuff to work on. He was disappointed with his driving on Friday and Saturday, and it was his putter which fell flat. Still, he is only one stroke off the Uihlein’s pace, and if he is able to piece together the entirety of his game, a score similar to that of Round 1 may be in store for Sunday.

Team leaderboard

With Kevin Na’s WD, Iron Heads GC must use each team member’s score (3) in the final round.

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