Players with the Best Chance to Win Their 1st Major in 2015
It seemed like a simple enough list to compile, the players with the best chance to win their first major in 2015.
But once you start sifting through possible candidates, you find the list isn't all that long.
As a result, based on my looking at performances in 2014, performances in recent majors, experience and just gut feelings, I've come up with a half-dozen PGA Tour stars who appear to be the best bets to get their first next year.
Check out the list and see if you agree with the names on it.
Rickie Fowler
1 of 6
The turnaround in Rickie Fowler's game since December 2013 has been remarkable.
Being taken under the wing of one of the most respected teachers in the game, Butch Harmon, has changed him from the kid from Oklahoma State who wears orange and flat-billed caps to someone who is a serious challenger in major championships.
Fowler was top-five in all four majors this year, being a mistake or two away from possibly winning a couple of golf's biggest prizes in the same year. His swing has become more controlled; it obviously has held up under pressure, and he's only 25 years old.
Just wait until he figures out how to play this game.
Matt Kuchar
2 of 6
Matt Kuchar has grown very nicely into his role as the "best player without a major."
He's made over $31 million in his career, winning seven times.
The Georgia Tech alum, now 36, has posted six top 10s in majors since 2010, but he just hasn't been able to finish one off.
He's obviously doing a lot of things well, and this year he had a T5 at the Masters and T12 at the U.S. Open. But he never really got close enough in either of those to be considered a serious challenger.
It was another nice year on the PGA Tour for Kuchar, a win and a second-place finish to his credit along with nearly $4.7 million earned.
The man needs to get a major title, if for no other reason than shedding that title.
Jason Day
3 of 6
There are very few players on the PGA Tour with the talent of Jason Day.
There are also very few players who have had seasons wrecked by injuries like Jason Day.
Day, a 26-year-old Australian, appeared to be on his way to winning the 2013 Masters, but he stumbled in the last couple of holes, allowing countryman Adam Scott to win.
And when Day won the World Golf Championships-Accentrure Match Play in February, that seemed to be the kickoff to a big season for him. But thumb and wrist injuries dogged him most of the summer, forcing him out of action for over a month on two different occasions.
When he was healthy as the season wound down, running off finishes of T15, T2, T7 before he had to withdraw from the BMW Championship because of a back issue. His back wasn't a problem as he finished T4 in the Tour Championship.
If he can stay healthy, he's a major-champion-waiting-to-happen.
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Marc Leishman
4 of 6
Marc Leishman was a major factor in the 2013 Masters, finishing T4. He also posted a T5 in the Open Championship this year.
The 30-year-old Aussie followed the Open finish with a third-place finish in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, establishing the beginnings of a pattern of playing well in big tournaments.
He has the talent, and while many of his statistics look good, a couple of important ones, courtesy of PGATour.com, driving accuracy and greens in regulation, are not. Leishman hits it long enough, but he won't be able to take that next step up until he improves his accuracy.
He has the ammo; he just needs to shoot it better.
Billy Horschel
5 of 6
Is there anybody who believes the quality of golf played by Billy Horschel in the final three weeks of the FedEx Cup playoffs is good enough to make him a contender in the majors?
Horschel was dynamite, finishing in a tie for second and winning the last two events to become $11.4 million richer.
The 27-year-old is a great ball-striker, and those guys are always good bets on the biggest stages.
And, as he proved earlier this month, the big stage of the FedEx Cup playoffs was not very big at all for Horschel.
Jordan Spieth
6 of 6
It was generally assumed Jordan Spieth would have had at least one major championship to his credit by now.
Those expectations were based on the kind of season the kid, now 21, had last year. A win, two runner-ups and season-long play good enough to get him onto the Presidents Cup team.
So it had to be the progression would lead to a major in 2014, right?
And he had a chance to win the Masters before a pair of bogeys in the middle of the final round resulted in him finishing T2. He was T4 in the Players Championship, but then he hit a lull which lasted most of the rest of the season.
If what he went through was a sophomore slump, then he should be primed to get that major for which many people had already given him.
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