With 2025 now here, we can now look forward to another big season of golf with The Sentry set to kick things off this coming weekend.
Scottie Scheffler will not be in Hawaii but there is a strong representation from the PGA Tour as the players look to kick off their season in the best possible way.
Of course, predicting just how players will do across the year is nigh on impossible given how volatile the game of golf is.
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However, that’s what former PGA player Smylie Kaufman has been trying to do, including who could make the biggest comeback of the year.
Smylie Kaufman names who’ll join Justin Thomas in a big comeback in 2025
Speaking on the latest episode of his Smylie Show podcast, Kaufman got onto the subject of players who could make a big comeback in 2025.
And while pondering a few big names, Kaufman suggested that both Viktor Hovland and Justin Thomas to get back among the winners.
“I agree with Viktor because when you drop to 8th in the world ranking is it really that bad? But with Viktor it really was. When I speak to him you know he’s grinding, he’s going through this motion pattern change and listening to him he was excited but you could tell he was anxious. He was excited to get back with Joe Mayo,” Kaufman said.
“I go with two guys here though. And it really is Viktor or Justin Thomas for me. I don’t know if JT would be considered as comeback of the year but the way I define this is if you’re in a different tier to where we had you before, like JT has been a tier below where we expect. Same with Viktor Hovland. We talked about him, Scottie Scheffler, Rory and Jon Rahm, just those four dudes.
“I think JT, how many times did we speak about JT’s game? Not a whole lot because there wasn’t a lot to talk about. We didn’t see him in that elite status which when you look at his history, 17-time winner, that’s where he should be looked at. So to me, I go back and forth between those two players.
“I think Viktor Hovland has worked his tail off. I’ve heard from sources he’s been grinding. JT went straight to the grinder after not being picked for the Presidents Cup. Right now in the OWGR if we use as a base, JT is currently 20th and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him jump inside the top six or seven.”
How did Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland do in 2024?
In fairness to Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland, both players are still inside the top 20 in the OWGR, which shows how good they are.
However, such is the standards they’ve set in the game that we now criticise them for not hitting the same levels.
For Thomas, his form was very erratic but he did finish the year well by coming second at the Zozo before playing well at the Hero World Challenge to come third. However, his majors form was a concern, with two missed cuts, an outside top 30 at The Open, and a respectable 8th at the PGA.
With Hovland, there were similar inconsistencies. The Norwegian finished third in the PGA and also second at the FedEx St Jude. But outside of that, Hovland struggled.
He missed the cut at The Masters, US Open and The Open, which for a top ten player, is remarkable.
Kaufman, then, might not be too far off in his prediction here.
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