The 2026 PGA Tour Season: A Look at the Key Stories
The start of the 2026 PGA Tour season is just around the corner. The Sony Open in Hawaii will kick off this Thursday, starting a year full of expectations and exciting competitions. The defending U.S. Open champion, J.J. Spaun, along with figures like Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa, and current champion Nick Taylor, lead the list of golfers who will compete at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu this week. The season begins with a slight delay due to the cancellation of The Sentry in Maui, caused by drought conditions. The action will continue with four tournaments in California and one in Arizona, extending until the end of February. Even though Scottie Scheffler, current world number one, and Rory McIlroy, Masters champion, remain the rivals to beat, the 2026 season presents a series of intriguing stories. Brooks Koepka, five-time major champion, returns to the PGA Tour after resigning from the LIV Golf League on December 23 and accepting significant financial penalties. Although the PGA Tour opened the door to the return of LIV Golf captains like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cameron Smith, it seems that these players are committed to staying where they are, at least for now.These are the main topics for the 2026 season, the rookies to watch, and the golfers looking to bounce back or win their first major championship.
How to watch the 2026 PGA Sony Open on ESPN
Will Scheffler complete the career Grand Slam?
Scottie Scheffler celebrates after winning the 2025 PGA Championship.
Last season, all eyes were on McIlroy, who became the sixth golfer to join golf’s most exclusive club with his expected victory at the Masters. Now, after Scheffler added the PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2025 to his two Masters green jackets, he is only one victory away from the U.S. Open to become the seventh. The world’s number one became one of the best putters on tour last season by using a new claw grip, perhaps eliminating the only flaw in his game. He was testing a new driver, the TaylorMade Qi4D, at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last month. Scheffler is the big favorite to win the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, from June 18 to 21, as well as the other three majors.What will Rory do for his next performance?
McIlroy’s victory in the playoff over Justin Rose at Augusta National was the biggest story of 2025. What will Rory do for his next performance? McIlroy will start the season again in the Middle East, where he will compete in this week’s Dubai Invitational and next week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic. He is not scheduled to play in the United States until February 12-15 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he is the defending champion. Last season, the 36-year-old player played in Australia, Dubai, India, England, and Ireland. He participated in 16 PGA Tour events in 2025 and expects to play approximately the same number this year. With one more major victory, Rory would equal Nick Faldo of England’s six, the most by a European golfer in the modern era. Another Race to Dubai title on the DP World Tour would also equal Colin Montgomerie’s record of eight.Can anyone challenge Scottie and Rory?
McIlroy and Scheffler have won together 23 times worldwide in the last two seasons. They have clearly separated themselves from the rest on the PGA Tour. Is there anyone else ready to challenge them this season? Tommy Fleetwood, defending champion of the FedEx Cup, has risen to number 3 in the world, but even he knows there is still a big gap.“You know, challenging the two best players in the world, I’m not going to say that’s not something I focus on and I’m not interested in,” Fleetwood said in Dubai on Wednesday. “Of course you are and you want to see where you can get to, but there’s a long way to go. That’s not going to happen next week or in a couple of months.”
Tommy Fleetwood
Will younger players like Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, and Cameron Young take the next step in their careers and be more consistent? Will Xander Schauffele, who won his first two majors in 2024, recover after a painful rib injury derailed much of his 2025 campaign?
“I think it’s an incredible opportunity,” Fleetwood said. “I really think Scottie and Rory, they already are, but definitely when we look back at this time, those two will be right up there amongst the best players of all time. Being next at the moment, you know, that could change next week or in a month, whatever. I just think it’s very, very cool and very special, and I love the fact that I’m in the mix.”
Tommy Fleetwood
What will Brooks Koepka do?
Will playing more frequently help him get back on track? We’ll begin to find out when he plays from January 29 to February 1 at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, just outside of San Diego. Koepka is also scheduled to play the following week at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
Tiger Woods, who is on the PGA Tour’s board of directors, said the tour worked to try to make it equitable for everyone involved. While Koepka is eligible to compete in full-field events and the Players, he will have to earn his place in the eight exclusive events with $20 million purses. He will also not take the place of another golfer. He will be added to the fields.“I think it’s great,” Rickie Fowler said. “He’s wanted to play with us again for quite a while, so I’m very happy that we’re back in the position we’re in now. I think the guys that were involved at the board level and the players that are involved, I think they did a great job figuring out how to [make] this happen.”
Rickie Fowler
“Yes, there are opinions on both sides,” Woods said. “We’re not going to satisfy everyone. We know that. But the idea is to improve our tour from what it was. With the addition of Brooks to the tour, it does that. It makes it a better place to play. Now, with the players who have earned the capital, and there are four more years of potential capital earning for these players, the fact that they own the tour, if Brooks plays, it puts more money in their pockets. It’s a win for everyone.”
Tiger Woods
How will the future of the PGA Tour be?
Woods and other members of the Future Competition Committee are looking towards 2027 and ’28, as PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has pushed his vision of “parity, scarcity, and simplicity” as a way to revamp the tour. In other words, the 2026 season could be the last time golf fans see 38 events during the FedEx Cup season. While the changes may not arrive until 2028, future PGA Tour schedules will start later (after the Super Bowl) and end earlier (before the start of the NFL) and will have fewer events and more free weeks. The goal, according to sources, is to return to the largest US markets while still playing on the most iconic courses.Apparently, the two tournaments in Hawaii are at risk of being eliminated due to logistical costs, as well as some other long-standing tournaments.“There will be some eggs that will be spilled, smashed and broken, but I think in the end we will have a product that is much better than what we have now, for everyone involved,” Woods said at last month’s Hero World Challenge.
Tiger Woods
Golfers Who Could Win Their First Major in 2026
Tommy Fleetwood holds the FedEx Cup after his victory at the PGA Tour Championship.
Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood no longer carries the burden of never having won on the PGA Tour after capturing last season’s Tour Championship. He played as well as anyone outside of Scheffler last season, when he had eight top 10s and 15 top 25s in 19 starts. Fleetwood finished in the top four in each of the three FedEx Cup playoff events.“I had a lot of great finishes, and I think the big story was that I hadn’t won on the PGA Tour,” Fleetwood said. “I managed to do it, but I still felt like I wasn’t doing anything. The question is, what was different? It was an incredible run of form and I played great, but I never felt like I was doing anything that different. I was just playing, that’s what happens when you play really well, you’re playing how you know you can play, and that’s the key.”
Tommy Fleetwood
Ludvig Åberg
The free-swinging Swede had six top 10s and 11 top 25s and earned his second PGA Tour victory at the Genesis Invitational last season. His iron play wasn’t as good as in his rookie season, but he’s too good not to turn it around. Åberg finished second and seventh in his first two Masters starts.Russell Henley
At 36 years old, Henley is playing some of the best golf of his career. Last season, he earned his fifth PGA Tour victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and finished in the top 15 in strokes gained: total, tee to green, approach, and around the green. He finished in the top 10 in each of the last two U.S. Opens and Open Championships.Cameron Young
Young’s professional career seemed to be faltering until he finally won on the tour at the Wyndham Championship on August 3rd. He finished in the top 11 in each of his last five outings in 2025. He has performed well in the majors with six top 10s in his last 15 starts in the four majors, including a tie for fourth place at the 2025 U.S. Open.“It’s high,” Young said of his confidence. “I feel like I’m in a good place. I’ve checked some career boxes over the course of the last six, seven months, and for me it’s really just a matter of building on all the evidence I had before that my good golf is good enough to do all the things I want to do in the game of golf. Yeah, so I’m really excited to start the season and hopefully continue the momentum I had at the end of last season.”
Cameron Young
Viktor Hovland
With only 28 years old, Hovland has already won seven times on tour, including last year’s Valspar Championship. He constantly modifies his swing, but when he’s on form, few are better at hitting the ball. He has five top 10 finishes in his last 13 major starts. He was solo third at the 2025 U.S. Open.Candidates for Return
Jordan Spieth
The two-time major champion was recovering from surgery on his left wrist last season. He showed signs of life with a tie for fourth at the WM Phoenix Open and a 14th-place finish at the Masters. He had eight top 25s and four top 10s in 19 starts. Spieth has only won twice in the last eight seasons and hasn’t done so since April 2022. It’s time for him to lift a trophy again.Max Homa
Homa was ranked fifth in the world in April 2023 and seemed to be one of the next superstars of the game. However, he has struggled a lot for much of the last two seasons and missed the cut in nine of 24 starts in 2025. He is now ranked 140th in the world, but perhaps a reunion with former swing coach Mark Blackburn will help turn things around. Homa has only qualified for the Masters to date.Rickie Fowler
Fowler needed sponsor exemptions to get into the field at six signature events last season, which drew controversy, but helped him get into The Open and ultimately the FedEx Cup playoffs. He tied for sixth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and seventh at the BMW Championship. Fowler qualified for all eight signature events and the Players Championship this season.Nick Dunlap
In 2024, Dunlap became the first amateur in 33 years to win on the PGA Tour at the American Express. He won again as a rookie after turning professional at the Barracuda Championship that same year. However, last season was a disaster, as Dunlap missed the cut in 12 of 25 starts. He has fallen to 174th in the world.Luke Clanton
The former Florida State star was a two-time runner-up on the tour while still in college at the John Deere Classic and the RSM Classic in 2024. His first full season as a professional wasn’t as good. He had two top 25s in 18 starts and missed seven cuts. He is one of the longest hitters on the tour off the tee (312.6 yards) and is solid with his irons, but he needs to improve his putting and work around the greens to compete.In recovery
Tiger Woods watches at the Hero World Challenge.
Tiger Woods
The 15-time major champion underwent his seventh back surgery on October 10th, this one to replace a disc in his lower back that was causing him pain and mobility issues. He said in early December that he had only begun chipping and putting. After Tuesday’s TGL match, he said he has progressed to hitting short irons. Will Tiger be ready for the Masters on April 9th?“I’m moving to short irons, so that’s it,” Woods said. “I need a little bit more than that to be able to play out here. At my speed right now, I could probably play the Stinger hole. Just roll it up there from the tee. But no, I’m progressing, which is nice. I’m getting there and getting stronger. It’s just one of those things where it takes a long time for the bone to heal and the bone to settle.”
Tiger Woods
Justin Thomas
The two-time PGA Championship winner underwent a microdiscectomy procedure to correct a disc problem that was causing him hip pain in mid-November. Like Woods, JT said he had only [recently started chipping and putting again](https://www.instagram.com/p/DTOY52lgY9H/).Sahith Theegala
Theegala seemed poised to break through in 2025, until an oblique and neck injury forced him to miss much of May and all of June. He is playing in Hawaii this week and says he is healthy. Ranked 120th in the world, the 28-year-old is not currently in the fields for exclusive events or majors. He has a lot of work to do.Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris, the 2021 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, has battled back injuries for much of the last three seasons. He underwent a second surgery to repair two herniated discs in May and missed the remainder of the season. One of the best ball-strikers in the world when healthy, Zalatoris showed promise with a 15th-place finish at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa in early December.Billy Horschel
Horschel, an eight-time PGA Tour winner, underwent surgery on his right hip in May, which sidelined him for the rest of the FedEx Cup season and took him out of contention for the Ryder Cup team. He returned and played two events in the fall, as well as the Hero World Challenge and the Grant Thornton Invitational. “Mr. TGL” has looked healthy in his first matches in the indoor golf league.Beginners to follow
Johnny Keefer
Keefer, a former Baylor star, was named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year after leading the circuit in top-five finishes (six), top-10s (nine) and top-25s (15) in 2025. He broke the KFT record for single-season scoring average (67.95).Christo Lamprecht
In 2023, the former Georgia Tech golfer won the Amateur Championship and was the lowest amateur at The Open. The 6-foot-8-inch South African led the KFT in driving distance (331.1 yards) last season.Marco Penge
Penge, 27, won three times on the DP World Tour and tied for 28th at the PGA Championship last season. He was runner-up to McIlroy in the Race to Dubai, earning him a PGA Tour card. He recently switched from Mizuno clubs to PXG.Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen
Neegard-Petersen, 26, earned his PGA Tour card by tying for third at the DP World Tour Championship. An Oklahoma State All-American, he held off LIV Golf’s Cameron Smith on the 72nd hole to win the Crown Australian Open in December.Neal Shipley
Shipley is technically a freshman and is not eligible for the Rookie of the Year award. He made 10 starts during the 2024 season after becoming the second golfer in the last 25 years to earn low amateur honors at the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year.
