Rory McIlroy will be desperate to win major number five in 2025 and finally end his decade long drought but with his best chance likely to come at The Open at Royal Portrush, a LIV Golf star has been tipped to beat him to the punch.
McIlroy came agonisingly close to winning the US Open in 2024 but fell short after missing two short putts on the final four holes.
Overall, though, McIlroy’s year was a good one and he won the DP World Tour Championship and captured his sixth Race to Dubai title in doing so.
As we know, The Open returns to Northern Ireland and Royal Portrush in 2025. The stars could well be aligning for McIlroy on that front.
However, while some believe McIlroy will prevail, one golf pundit believes another Brit will win out.
Tyrrell Hatton tipped to beat Rory McIlroy and win The Open in 2025
Speaking on the latest episode of their Rex and Lav podcast, Golf Channel pair Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner got into their predictions for 2025.
And while Hoggard went for Rory McIlroy to win The Open, Lavner believes his Ryder Cup teammate will usurp him.
“Rory McIlroy wins The Open Championship at Portrush,” Hoggard said. “
“We all remember how it started last time at Royal Portrush. It’s going to be an emotional week for Rory going to Northern Ireland. Last time it didn’t start all that well for him but when you always lean back on Xander Schauffele, I always seem to lean back on Rory McIlroy winning a major championship.
“There is a window though when it comes to Rory. He doesn’t have that long a window to win majors and there will be a lot of pressure. But if you look what he did with his game at the end of last season, you have to like, from the start, on a limited sample size, he’s going to focus on what the best way is for him to execute, like he did not do at Pinehurst. I’m picking Rory.”
Disagreeing with that pick, counterpart Ryan Lavner went with another British player, but this time, Tyrrell Hatton.
“I don’t think Rory will stack up to the moment. I’m going with another LIV player, I’m going with Tyrrell Hatton,” Lavner quipped.
“He finished fourth in the LIV standings. He closed out the year going one, two, six, five in official golf ranking events, playing some of the best golf of his career. Although his major championship form is not great, the Open actually represents one of his best chances. Tyrrell Hatton still in the prime of his career and I don’t see any reason why he will have a drop in form now he’s settled into LIV.”
Will Rory McIlroy win a major in 2025?
That is the big question on everyone’s lips and if he can produce his best form, there’s no reason he can’t prevail.
Smylie Kaufman believes McIlroy will win the PGA at Quail Hollow. It’s a golf course McIlroy has had huge success at, and even won there in 2024.
The big problem for McIlroy is that with every passing year and the older he gets, the pressure just gets more and more extreme.
| Major | Rory McIlroy’s finish in 2024 |
| The Masters | T22 |
| US Open | 2 |
| PGA Championship | T12 |
| The Open | CUT |
The Masters is obviously the big one he wants. But right now, we’re sure he’d take any, with The Open in Northern Ireland being a dream as well.
Rest assured, then, that McIlroy will be going all out to win in 2025, even if some do fancy Tyrrell Hatton to beat him to the punch.
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