Revisiting Our 2025 Golf Predictions

If January 1st is the day where we set our New Year’s resolutions, July 4th should probably serve as our day for a mid-year check-in. Well, that and hot dogs and cannon balls.

At the start of the year, our team put together predictions for professional golf and the golf industry. Some of our predictions have not yet had the opportunity to come to fruition. I’m particularly interested to see if Brendan is correct and Rory McIlroy keeps his opening tee shot in bounds at the Open Championship. However there are plenty that have already been decided. Let’s grade a few, shall we?

Prediction: “The 2025 Tour Championship will be the final edition of that farcical tournament in its current format.” – Joseph LaMagna

I’m going to give Joseph a passing grade here. Technically, he was wrong. But that’s because the PGA Tour is ditching the starting strokes in favor of a winner-take-all format. Not only that, they didn’t announce the season-ending tournament’s structure until the end of May! So Joseph wasn’t correct about the “farcical” format going by the wayside, but no one could have seen an in-season change coming. I think we all expected many more meetings inside the moat before something like this saw the light of day.

Prediction: “Bryson DeChambeau will have an illegitimate excuse (equipment not optimized) for why he misses the cut at a major.” – Matt Rouches

Another passing grade but technically an incomplete for Matt. Bryson has missed a cut at a major, the U.S. Open, but it wasn’t because of an illegitimate excuse. However, after a T-2 at the PGA Championship, Bryson did say one of the most head-scratching comments of the year. “What I really think needs to happen, being pretty transparent here, is just get a golf ball that flies a little straighter,” he said. “Everybody talks about how straight the golf ball flies. Well, upwards of 190 [mph ball speed] like Rory and myself, it’s actually quite difficult to control the golf ball.” Yeah man, that’s like, the whole game. I do love the idea of Bryson showing up to the 2027 Open Championship at St. Andrews with a self-correcting golf ball. We would have fully entered a simulation at that point.

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Prediction: “Brooks Koepka will be left off the U.S. Ryder Cup team.” – Will Knights

Fly the banner. Brooksy has two MCs and a lackluster showing at the U.S. Open in his three major appearances so far in 2025. He hasn’t finished better than T-17 in his last five LIV starts and WD’d from LIV Dallas after having a temper tantrum. Barring the largest late-season comeback we’ve seen in years, Brooks will not be at Bethpage. And that’s a shame. Not only because a good Koepka would be incredibly valuable, but the content around Brooks at team events is always good fun.

Prediction: “Nelly Korda will win two majors and (more importantly) earn enough points to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame.” – Meg Adkins

Technically, this could still come true. But for now this is a failing prediction. Nelly hasn’t finished better than T-17 in her three major starts of 2025. She’s still No. 1 in the Rolex Ranking but 2025 has undoubtedly been a letdown for Nelly on the course. Maybe Meg and Matthew can get Nelly on The Mixed Bag sometime soon and inspire some confidence.

Prediction: “Before we even get to the first round of the U.S. Open, we will get multiple articles from the assembled media citing unnamed Oakmont members who are upset about the slowed-down green speeds.” – Brendan Porath

Unfortunately, Mother Nature rendered this one pretty much impossible. But I can’t grade lightly here, this is a fail for BP. We did get some reporting of members upset over broken lockers, though. That was something that we certainly didn’t see coming.

Prediction: “Nick Dunlap suffers a sophomore slump.” – Matt Rouches

Not only has Dunlap slumped, he’s had a shockingly poor season. But at just 21 years old we aren’t going to skewer the kid just yet. Still, Matt gets an A for this prediction.

Prediction: “Richard Bland successfully defends one of his two major championships, drawing comparisons to prime Brooks Koepka.” – PJ Clark

Fail. Not only did Blandy not defend either of his senior majors from last season, he didn’t even play the U.S. Senior Open! What does it say about LIV and The Cleeks that they wouldn’t let Dicky B defend his title? Or was this Bland’s decision? Either way, it was disgraceful. PJ needs to get his olds in line.

‍This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.