CHUBBY CHANDLER PREDICTS 2025 MASTERS WINNER
We caught up with former professional golfer Andrew “Chubby” Chandler as he looks ahead to the 2025 golf calendar, as well as looking ahead to the main events of the year. Check out what Chubby had to say, at what is a really intriguing time for golf.
Q: What do you see happening in 2025?
There’s so many young guys coming round. I’ve had a bet this week on the golf and I’ve backed a guy, Frank Capla and there’s a guy in the odds who is 33/1 in a tournament last week who I’ve never heard of. It’s quite amazing that Corn Ferry throws up a lot of good players, as does the American College System, so it’s getting harder and harder to be a good player in the game.
Scheffler will win the Masters.
The US PGA is at Quail Hollow, so that would be Rory.
The US Open is at Oakmont. That’s for Xander. Suits his game. Proper US Major course.
The Open is at Portrush. It depends how windy it’s going to be.
Tommy Fleetwood will go close a lot but whether he wins anything, I don’t know. If you watch him, I don’t think he putts well enough. We never seem to see him holing any puts, do we. I think Hatton could win something though so put me down for Hatton. He’s got a Major in him somewhere.
It would be interesting to see if I get any right. I’d like to see Rory win a Major. Seeing him sat in that scoring room looking up at the screen was horrific. When he hit it four feet past on the 18th, you knew it turned more than he thought.
Q: Looking forward to the Masters, who have you got? And how do you see the event going?
I think if Scotty Scheffler gets the glass out of his hands then he wins because it’s the perfect golf course for him. The best starting player, probably the best chipper, drives it straight, great attitude, wins by five. But the Masters is a really good test because they’ll all get together and the viewing figures will be meaningful. The viewing figures will be 20% down and then you’ll suddenly have everyone panicking because Tiger’s not playing, unless he does play!
Look at the viewing figures for the father and sons thing. The problem is, no one has replaced him. They haven’t found someone who wins 10 tournaments a year with the lifestyle off the course to match. They haven’t found them. This is sport. There’s less and less characters in sport. It doesn’t matter what sport it is. Football, cricket - there’s more money, it’s more intense and everyone is better trained. The Masters will be a fantastic test to see what’s going on.
Q: How do you see the Ryder cup going later this year?
I think the Ryder Cup will be a tie. Europe will nearly win it. I think Donald is such a good captain that I think we’ll nearly win it but I wouldn’t be surprised if we did win it. I’m only saying a tie to be different!
For Europe, I think we’ve seen just about everybody who’s got on the team. I think you could name 18 people and get 12 right. The new guys that have come into that 18 are very good. I’m not sure how good the next fringe is.
The US team, taking payment for the Ryder Cup, that’s Cantlay again, and Tiger. There’s nothing like making yourself look greedy. When they make all these statements do they ever think about how they look saying it? It’s just staggering.
Who makes these decisions? Who takes themselves out of the bubble and looks at what they’re doing. If you wanted to make yourself look crass, you’d do exactly what they do. It’s the same as TGL golf. It’s all the same people, and Tiger is not short of a bob or two. When he’s got as much as he has, why is he getting involved on how much they should get paid? What’s all that about?
It would be the worst thing for Europe if they went down that path now after what they’ve all said. I don’t think anyone begrudges them getting £100k to go to charity but at the end of the day, you can’t have that, and everything Rory’s said and what Shane Lowry said, and then say you want paying. You can’t have that.
