Golf's majors come into view - the main contenders for Masters, The Open, US PGA and US Open in 2025

The so-called fifth major, The Players Championship, has come and gone, as have some other big tournaments on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, while the new LIV Golf season is four events in.

What we’ve discovered from that lot is that Rory McIlroy, with two PGA Tour wins so far this year, has a spring in his step, as does Joaquin Niemann, who has achieved the same feat in the LIV Golf League.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, hasn’t yet fired on all cylinders and admitted last week that requiring surgery on his right hand after suffering a nasty cut as he made ravioli on Christmas Day had definitely held him back a bit.

As for hopes of seeing Tiger Woods in major action this year, that seems unlikely after the former world No 1 ruptured an Achilles earlier this month whilst training and underwent surgery for the umpteenth time in his career.

It’s ironic, of course, that, after such a long wait from the end of one major season to the start of the next one, the game’s biggest events come thick and fast and here is a taste of what’s in store for 2025:

The Masters - 10-13 April, Augusta National

The field for the event’s 89th edition currently stands at 92, with recent additions being the aforementioned Niemann after the Colombian secured a special invitation along with Dane Nicolai Hojgaard, as well as recent PGA Tour winner Joe Highsmith and newly-crowned Latin America Amateur champion Justin Hastings.

Scheffler is heading to Georgia as the defending champion and, having won two of the last three stagings and finishing in the top 20 in all five of his appearances in the event so far, the American will definitely be the man to beat once again amidst the azaleas and pines.

For McIlroy, it’s the week that can confirm his place among the game’s greats and, on the evidence of how he ended last season and has continued to play well in the early part of the new calendar campaign, the Northern Irishman has good reason to believe that attempt No 11 to complete a career grand slam could be his most realistic one yet.

The biggest challenge he probably faces is staying out of his own way, which, admittedly, is easier said than done, while exciting weeks could also lie in store for both Ludvig Aberg, who finished second on his debut last year, and Bob MacIntyre, who is heading back to Augusta National for the first time since 2022 and will take huge confidence from two strong performances there so far.

US PGA Championship - 15-18 May, Quail Hollow

Having won here no less than four times in PGA Tour events, McIlroy will certainly be relishing this assignment, as will Justin Thomas after the American made his major breakthrough in the same event here in 2017.

On the strength of landing the title for a second time at Southern Hills in 2022, Thomas clearly has the knack of raising his game for this tournament and, as evidenced by him going close in the Valspar Championship at the weekend, his golf is clearly heading in the right direction after a quiet couple of seasons.

In contrast, it’s been a case of onwards and upwards for Xander Schauffele, particularly last season and the American will be the defending champion in North Carolina before being in the same position in the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush a couple of months later.

US Open - 12-15 June, Oakmont

Admittedly helped by what Shane Lowry conceded himself had been a “bitterly disappointing” closing 76, Dustin Johnson came out on top when the USGA event was last held at the Pennsylvania course in 2016. Johnson, of course, is now a LIV Golf player and, apart from an odd flurry, has lost his major mojo since signing for the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.

Another LIV Golf player Bryson DeChambeau, on the other hand, seems to have been galvanised by the majors now being the only stages where all the world’s top players come together and the defending champion, having denied McIlroy in a dramatic finish at Pinehurst last year, will be bidding to win this particular one for a third time in six years.

The Open - 17-20 July, Royal Portrush

After having to wait 68 years to stage the Claret Jug event again, it’s just been a six-year gap on this occasion for the County Antrum venue to welcome back the world’s top players once more for the final major of the season.

For local hero McIlroy, it will be a welcome chance to make amends for him missing the cut in 2019, when the wind was taken out his sails as his opening tee shot went out of bounds and not even a brilliant second-round 65 could keep him around for the weekend, which belonged to one of his closest friends in the game.

Shane Lowry spreadeagled the field with a third-round 63 before going on to win by an impressive six shots from fellow links lover Tommy Fleetwood and, having also been in the mix at Royal Troon last year, there’s every chance that Lowry will be to the fore again.

Portrush man Ricky Elliott will be hoping to use his local knowledge to good effect once again on Brooks Koepka’s bag, the five-time major winner finishing joint-fourth six years ago, when MacIntyre also made the top ten on his major debut and effectively used that week as a springboard to now be a world’s top-20 player.