5 PGA Tour Players Who Look Ready to Win Their First Major in 2023

Will Zalatoris, Patrick Cantlay, Tom Kim, Tony Finau, and Xander Schauffele are all on the cusp of a major championship victory.

A new year is upon us, and that means a new set of major championship winners will soon be crowned.

The talent pool is deeper than ever in professional golf, so predicting outcomes will be a tall task. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few standout candidates who could hoist their first major championship trophies in the new year. Whether that’s because they’ve sniffed a major title in the past, or they’re riding some clear momentum into the upcoming season, these are five PGA Tour players we’re eyeing as contenders for the 2023 Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open.

Will Zalatoris

In 2022, Will Zalatoris finally secured his first individual PGA Tour win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Considering that the Wake Forest product was runner-up in back-to-back major championships before he secured that maiden victory, we’re liking his chances at one of golf’s four premier events in 2023. So far in his short career, Zalatoris has been just a putt or two away from winning three out of the four majors. At the 2021 Masters, he finished three strokes behind Hideki Matsuyama and he wasn’t even a full PGA Tour member yet. With a good deal of experience playing well on golf’s biggest stages, Zalatoris is a prime candidate for a major win in 2023.

Patrick Cantlay

At No. 4, Patrick Cantlay is the highest ranked player in the world without a major championship victory. The 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year might not have the best recent history at the majors, but his record of eight PGA Tour victories—including four in one season—makes him a solid pick. Cantlay has shown that he has what it takes with his ultra-calm demeanor and clutch putting. So far in the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season, he’s ranked first in putting and he has the best birdie average on Tour at seven per round. If he can drain some clutch putts and channel his winning mindset into the majors, Cantlay will have a strong shot at a win next year.

Tom Kim

Tom Kim may be just 20 years old, but his well-known talent and fiery spirit could help him win a major championship this upcoming season. Winning both his first and second PGA Tour events in a matter of months, Kim became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice before his 21st birthday. Anytime a player’s name appears beside Woods’s, it’s time to pay attention. Kim’s youthful spirit might be a key factor in his ability to contend in majors. If you watched the Presidents Cup, you're familiar with his passion and innate ability to close out. Plus, all four major-winners in 2022 were in their 20’s.

Tony Finau

Finau has the entire world of golf willing him toward his first major victory, but that isn’t why he has a good chance to pull it off in 2023. At the end of the 2021 season, the 33-year-old won for the first time on tour since 2016. Finau has always been a top-tier player, but for a stretch of several years, closing out proved to be difficult, and fans started to notice. After he finally broke that winless streak at the 2021 Northern Trust, things really turned around. In 2022, Finau won back-to-back events at the 3M Open and the Rocket Mortgage Classic—it was his best season to date. Last month, Finau also ran away with the Houston Open, where he led or co-led after each round. Finau’s momentum is building, and it’s building rapidly. He’s now won three times in his past seven starts, after only winning once in his first 188 starts on Tour. If that trajectory means anything, a major championship victory is surely on the table.

Xander Schauffele

At No. 6 in the world, Xander Schauffele is another top-ranked player who somehow doesn’t have a major championship victory. Like Finau, Schauffele has historically been placed in that not-so-fun category of PGA Tour players who have the tendency to underperform during pressure-packed final round stretches. The Southern California native has won seven times on the PGA Tour—and he has an Olympic gold medal. A few of those victories, however, came at limited field no-cut events (not exactly major-like environments). So, Schauffele’s record was strong, but there were some clear gaps. That is, until he won the Travelers Championship in June. With a deep field including four of the world’s top-10 players, the Schauffele narrative shifted in Cromwell, Conn., where he outlasted up-and-comer Sahith Theegala. Schauffele proved he has the close-out bone in him, even at a stacked event. With all of Schauffele’s other assets—he’s top 10 in Stroked Gained: Total and Approach—that's more than enough to consider him a serious major championship contender in 2023.