For a record 10th time, the U.S. Open returns to Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Penn. The U.S. Open has always been billed as the most difficult test these golfers face versus any other tournament. Following suit, Oakmont has often been labeled as the most difficult golf course in the world. As golf fans, it ought to be fun. As golf bettors, we’re simply aiming for victory.

As we flip the calendar to June, the PGA Tour begins its national open run. We are north of the border this week for the RBC Canadian Open, back in the states next week for the U.S. Open, and then across the pond next month for the Scottish Open, followed by the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

We had not one, but two of our selections finish runner-up last week at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. After Bryson DeChambeau made a mess of the final three holes on Saturday, playing them in 3 over par — and Scottie Scheffler playing them in 2 under par — this major championship never really felt like it was that close again. Scheffler won for the second week in a row, adding a Wanamaker Trophy to his two green jackets, and the world No. 1, for the first time this year, looked like the dominant player we have become accustomed to for the past two seasons.

The second major championship of the 2025 golf season is upon us. It’s PGA Championship week, and as I noted a couple of weeks ago in our early bets column, as handicappers, we are afforded the luxury of having a golf course we have seen regularly on the PGA Tour since 2003. That is not typically the case with major championship venues other than Augusta National.

First of all, this is the sixth Signature Event of the season. It is a 72-player field with no 36-hole cut. Everyone is here except for last week’s champ, Scottie Scheffler. Secondly, we would normally be gearing up for the Wells Fargo Championship this week at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., but we have a sponsorship change. Wells Fargo is out and Truist is in — for at least the next seven years. And finally, Quail Hollow Club, for the second time since 2017, will host the PGA Championship, coming up next week — so, the Tour has chosen a new venue in the interim for this year’s final tune-up prior to the season’s second major championship.

The Grateful Dead once sang that Houston was too close to New Orleans, so we’re onto McKinney, Texas instead — a little over 30 miles north of Dallas. For the fifth straight season, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson is being held at TPC Craig Ranch, but the golf course has undergone some noteworthy changes. What had been Zoysia-grass fairways are now over-seeded Rye grass. What had been extremely wide fairways, have been since narrowed and are now bordered by better than three-inch rough. The golf course is a very big property, a par-71 Tom Weiskoph design, that has been lengthened to nearly 7,600 yards. A birdie-fest is still expected, however.

Thinking two of our pre-tournament picks to win, had the slimmest of chances to do so heading into Sunday’s final round, trailing by six and seven shots respectively — and then to have not one but both of them, Patrick Reed (115-1) and Justin Rose (110-1), both triple-digit long-shots, threaten McIlroy all the way to the bitter end, was stunning and incredibly exciting. 

We’re back. For the 89th time, it is Masters Week — that special place on the calendar in early April is here once again. Ninety-five golfers in all have made their way to Augusta National Golf Club for what always feels like the official coronation of the spring season. 

Cue the organ music, Jim Nantz greeting us with “Hello, friends,” the azaleas in bloom. It truly is a welcome tradition unlike any other.

This year marks the 10th consecutive year that the Valero Texas Open will provide the final tune-up prior to The Masters. The tournament dates back to 1922 but began being held at its current location, TPC San Antonio, in 2010.

It was quite the week in Ponte Vedra Beach at the Players Championship. All seven of our selections made the cut and five of them cashed a top-20 finish for us. Most notably, J.J. Spaun nearly pulled off the huge win….It is now off to Palm Harbor we go as the final stop on the Florida Swing has arrived.

It was quite the week in Ponte Vedra Beach at the Players Championship. All seven of our selections made the cut and five of them cashed a top-20 finish for us. Most notably, J.J. Spaun nearly pulled off the huge win….It is now off to Palm Harbor we go as the final stop on the Florida Swing has arrived.

Often heralded as golf’s “fifth major,” I prefer these days, sans LIV players in the field, to tab the Players Championship as golf’s greatest appetizer. This Thursday marks exactly four weeks until the opening round of the Masters, making the Players, the PGA Tour’s crown jewel, the undisputed world’s best precursor.

This week’s field is made up of 72 players. There will be a 36-hole cut, trimming down to the top 50 players and ties. Bay Hill is a big-boy golf course, for sure. A par 72 originally designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, Arnold Palmer purchased the property in 1976 and began putting his hands on the tweaks and redesigns for the next four decades. Today’s version stretches to nearly 7,500 yards and is wall-to-wall Bermudagrass. The greens are relatively large, firm, and fast, and are some of the more difficult surfaces on Tour to reach in regulation. Much of that may have to do with the thick, penal rough that borders the fairways.

Forty-five days and six golf tournaments remain on the PGA Tour schedule before they put the first peg in the ground at Augusta National Golf Club for the 2025 Masters. The Florida Swing begins this week at the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. for the Cognizant Classic as the march toward the season’s first major championship is officially underway. In shifting from the west coast to the southeast, we go from Poa Annua greens, mountains, elevation change, and the Pacific Ocean to flatlands, palm trees, sand bunkers, Bermudagrass, and often, those infamous Florida winds. Welcome to the next four weeks on Tour in the Sunshine State.

It seems appropriate to call this one-week stop in Mexico “The Bridge.” The Ameca Bridge is the longest golf cart suspension bridge in the world, and it connects this week’s venue, Vidanta Vallarta, to the Nayar Golf Course in the Nueva Vallarta area, transporting golfers between courses, high above the Ameca River. This week’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld also acts as a bridge between the West Coast Swing, having just ended with the Genesis Invitational, and the Florida Swing, beginning next week with the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens.

This is normally where we land in the cleanup hitter’s spot in the lineup, closing out the end of a four-week run on the West Coast Swing, and one of my favorite superfectas in all of golf. From Torrey Pines to Pebble Beach, to Phoenix, and then to the one and only Riviera Country Club, it is quite the quadruple play in golf.

Tiger’s team beats Rory’s team in overtime last Monday night in the TGL. Rory wins at Pebble Beach on Sunday in his 2025 PGA Tour debut. Now WM Phoenix Open week is here, taking up its usual spot as the pre-party for the Big Game on Super Sunday. February is off to a great start.

From high atop the cliffs overlooking La Jolla shores, we travel up the coast to Carmel, California for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. This will be the second Signature Event of the 2025 season and the second straight week in which the players face Poa Annua grass greens.

The pre-season is over and it’s now time for big-boy golf on the PGA Tour beginning this Wednesday in gorgeous La Jolla, California.

For many years in handicapping and betting on golf, I have used the first few weeks of the season to get a feel for things: who is playing well, who is not, as a way to ease into the swing of things, just as one might with the pre-season in other sports.

After making its traditional two-week start on the Hawaiian Islands, the 2025 PGA Tour season shifts back to the mainland for the beginning of the West Coast Swing. First stop: La Quinta, Calif., for the American Express.

The American Express is played over three different golf courses: the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, La Quinta Country Club, and the Stadium Course at PGA West. Each player will play one round at each of the three courses before a 54-hole cut is made. Sunday’s final round is held on the Stadium Course. Nick Dunlap is your defending champion, winning last year as an amateur, the first player to do so on Tour in 33 years.