After a year where some incredible stories unfolded across the nine Majors in the men's and women's game, 2023 promises more of the same as the game's legends, amateurs and present-day stars come together to compete for the world-famous trophies of the showpiece events.
In 2023, there will be some venues hosting a Major for the first time, while other Majors will be returning to familiar and much-loved territory. In the men's game, players look to emulate Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Smith in taking home some of the game's biggest prizes. Meanwhile, in the women's game, players will aim to follow in the footsteps of 2022 winners Jennifer Kupcho, In Gee Chun, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson and Ashleigh Buhai.
Amid whatever upheaval is taking place in the game, the year's showpiece tournaments offer a reliable and familiar haven for four days of top-class action. Let’s look ahead to the 2023 Majors and the venues that will host them.
Men:
The Masters: Augusta National, USA
The Masters is the only men's Major with a permanent home, so Augusta National once again hosts the first of the year. Just as its home is reliable, so is its place in the calendar, beckoning spring since 1948 with the final round scheduled – with some notable exceptions – for the second Sunday in April.
There is always much to look forward to at the Masters, with the venue and traditions every bit as vital to the tournament’s appeal as the action that unfolds on the flower-laden course. Augusta National is, of course, immaculate. Then there's the family-oriented Par-3 Tournament that precedes the main event, the members adorned in their iconic Green Jackets, the boiler suits worn by caddies - the list of quirks and traditions associated with Augusta National is long.
The action shouldn’t be bad either, with Augusta National allowing LIV Golf players to tee it up among some of the current best players plying their trade elsewhere, former winners and amateurs. The tournament will also be the first where players will experience the extended 13th hole, which has become a source of controversy in recent years as driving distances have increased. Considering everything, it is hard to imagine the potential for a more iconic and dramatic start for the year’s Majors.
- Dates - 6-9 April
The PGA Championship: Oak Hill Country Club, USA
Unlike the Masters, the PGA Championship has been moved around the calendar many times through the years. For now, though, it has settled into the weekend before the USA's Memorial Day, meaning in 2023, the action gets under way on 18 May at the scene of three previous PGA Championships, Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Rochester, New York.
There is no doubt the venue is befitting of such a prestigious tournament. The club, which was established in 1901, began as a nine-hole course with a converted farmhouse for a clubhouse. In 1921, the club’s location changed along with its fate as it moved to a larger 355-acre plot.
The course, originally designed by Donald Ross, has had several renovations since, most recently in 2019, by Andrew Green. His work ensured it was brought closer to Ross’s original design, leaving narrow fairways, gentle doglegs, and sizeable elevation changes. The signature 13-hole also features the Hill of Fame, which honours the game’s greats. Back at the grand mock Tudor clubhouse, visitors will find the Wall of Champions honouring every player to win a championship at the club.
- Dates - 18-21 May
The US Open: Los Angeles Country Club, USA
After the 2022 US Open at the Country Club of Brookline, Massachusetts, the 2023 tournament moves to the opposite side of the country for Los Angeles Country Club’s Major debut, with the action taking place on the North Course. While the venue is unfamiliar, the date is not – the last round is scheduled for the third Sunday of June. As ever with the US Open, players can expect to find a long course with tight fairways and difficult rough.
Until recently, the private club - which was established in 1897 and moved to its present Beverly Hills location 14 years later - had chosen not to host big tournaments. That changed when it opened its doors for the 2017 Walker Cup. Several players involved in that tournament are likely to compete, including Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler.
Meanwhile, players will be treated to spectacular views of downtown Los Angeles on the signature 11th hole of a course redesigned by Gil Hanse in 2010 following five years of work to bring it closer to George Thomas’s original design. Five years later, in March 2015, a 16-month renovation began on the historic clubhouse.
- Dates - 15-18 June
The Open: Royal Liverpool Golf Club, England
The Wirral’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club is one of 14 venues that have hosted The Open in its 150 tournaments. After first hosting in 1897, it will be the venue for the 13th time in 2023 as the tournament takes place in its familiar mid-July place in the calendar.
Despite hosting the tournament frequently over the years, Royal Liverpool had a 39-year gap between events after 1967. However, after changes were made to the tees, bunkers and greens, the oldest Major in the world returned to the venue in 2006, where Tiger Woods claimed his third and most recent Open title after losing his father Earl just two months earlier. He famously sobbed on the shoulder of Steve Williams after holing his final putt. Royal Liverpool most recently held The Open in 2014 where, on another memorable occasion, Rory McIlroy edged out Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia for his first, and to date, only Open title.
More renovation work has been carried out at the course to prepare for the 2023 tournament, including constructing a new par 3 15th, which will play as the 17th hole during the tournament. Players will encounter difficult bunkering requiring accurate driving on a pristine course nestled at the tip of the Wirral peninsula.
- Dates - 20-23 July
Women:
The Chevron Championship: The Club at Carlton Woods, USA
Two weeks after the first men’s Major of the year, the Masters, the first of five women’s Majors, The Chevron Championship, takes place at The Club at Carlton Woods in Houston, Texas for the first time.
That marks a clear break with tradition as the tournament had been held at Mission Hills Country Club in California from its inception in 1972 to last year. Jennifer Kupcho proved to be the final winner of the trophy at that venue, holding off the challenge of Jessica Korda by two shots for her maiden Major title and prize money of $750,000.
The date of the 2023 tournament is also different from usual. While it has traditionally been played in late March or early April, in 2023, it moves to the second half of April for the first time. The action will take place on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course, which opened in 2001 to huge acclaim. Players will be confronted with undulating greens, plenty of bunkers and lakes in its lush parkland setting.
- Dates - 20-23 April
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: Baltusrol Golf Club, USA
After last year’s event at Bethesda in Maryland, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship moves to Springfield, New Jersey’s Baltusrol Golf Club for the first time as the second women’s Major of the year gets under way one week after the men’s third, the US Open.
The course is no stranger to Majors, though, and has hosted the US Women’s Open twice, most recently in 1985 when Kathy Baker claimed victory. On that occasion, the tournament was held at the Upper Course, whereas 2023 will see the tournament play out at the Lower Course - the scene of the vast majority of Majors that have taken place at the club over the years.
The Lower Course is the less hilly of the two, but the wide fairways are still gently undulating as they approach tricky contoured greens. The course has also hosted the men’s US Open four times and PGA Championship twice, most notably when Phil Mickelson won the Wanamaker Trophy for the first time in 2005.
With such a memorable history of hosting big events, it's a suitably storied venue for such a showpiece occasion.
- Dates - 22-25 June
US Women's Open: Pebble Beach, USA
The 78th edition of the US oldest women’s Major, the US Women’s Open, takes place at one of the world’s most iconic courses, Pebble Beach in California, for the first time in the tournament’s history.
The venue isn’t the only change about the 2023 tournament, either. The date has also been moved. After taking place the week after the USA’s Memorial Day since 2018, it moves further on in the calendar in 2023, to 6 July.
The course, which will also host the tournament in 2035, 2040 and 2045, is a challenge to the world’s best players and is known for its small greens. It also features one of the most photographed holes in the world – the iconic par 3 7th, which juts out towards the Pacific Ocean, leaving many a player's tee shots at the mercy of its frequently brutal and unpredictable winds.
- Dates - 6-9 July
Evian Championship: Evian Resort Golf Club, France
After the decision to change the venue for the Chevron Championship, the fourth women's Major of the year is the only one that can now claim a single home across its history – the Evian Resort Golf Club in France, where the tournament has been held since it began in 1994. Having been held in June, July and September in the past, the tournament found a regular late-July slot in 2019, which is where it remains for the 2023 tournament.
Last year, Brooke Henderson became the first Canadian to win the tournament. She claimed the title in enthralling fashion after getting to grips with a picturesque course, situated on the banks of Lake Geneva, that features fast greens, thick rough, and jaw-dropping views of the nearby Alps.
- Dates - 20-23 July
AIG Women’s Open: August Walton Heath, England
The final women’s Major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open, will take place at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, over the second weekend of August – one weekend later than the 2022 tournament.
It will mark the first time the tournament has been held at the course, and the first time the tournament has been held in England since 2019 at Woburn. Walton Heath - as its names suggests - is an acclaimed heathland affair that was once described by Jack Nicklaus as "wonderfully pure".
The course was also the venue for the 2011 men’s Senior Open, but it's perhaps best known as the venue for the 1981 Ryder Cup, where Europe suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the USA.
After the final putt drops on at Walton Heath on Sunday 13 August, the curtain will come down on another huge year of Majors where, no doubt - across nine tournaments, 36 rounds and less than five months - many more stories of triumph and heartache, to be recalled for years to come, will have been written.
- Dates - 10-13 August
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