Smylie Kaufman picks three golfers who can land a maiden major win at the US Open including European who is ‘built for major championships’

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The PGA Championship is in the bag and a familiar winner in Scottie Scheffler was the man to get it done but when it comes to a fresh face winning one of the big four, Smylie Kaufman has predicted it’s between three from outside the USA.

Kaufman watched on as Scheffler dominated the field at Quail Hollow to win by five shots and re-assert his dominance as world number one.

It means the last run of majors have been won by huge names who have won them before, with Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau all on that list.

However, that doesn’t mean we won’t see a fresh face win one of the remaining two in 2025 and according to Smylie Kaufman, there are three standout candidates.

Smylie Kaufman names three potential winners of the US Open

Smylie Kaufman was speaking on the latest episode of his Smylie Show podcast, and was looking at the players who have yet to win a major, but could be next.

And according to Kaufman, it is two Europeans and a LIV Golf star who stand out the most to him.

“Viktor Hovland to me has been all over the place at times when it comes to his golf game over the last year or so. He won earlier this year in an unexpected fashion but he is still to me one of the most talented players who has not won yet,” Kaufman said.

“Ludvig Aberg would be another guy too, who I think his game is built for major championships. Ludvig has already contended at The Masters a couple of times. Those would be the two that come to mind first.

“But there are plenty of other guys. Joaquin Niemann is a very talked about player from LIV Golf. He finally got his first top 10 in a major. That was a knock against him that he had won five times on LIV and had yet to have a top 10 in a major championship but he got his first top 10 at Quail Hollow, so maybe that is all he had to do, to get his first top 10 to go and win at the US Open at Oakmont.”

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Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Joaquin Niemann’s major records so far

The three players named by Kaufman here are all talented enough to get over the line in a major and it’s no surprise he’s picked them.

Of course, so far, their best finishes in majors are all different and until they do get one won, there’ll always be question marks.

Niemann’s first top ten feels like a milestone, while Aberg and Hovland have already secured runner-up positions in their short careers so far.

With the US Open up next and then The Open to round things out, there’s every chance one of these budding superstars adds their name to the list of major winners.