Season Preview: Tiering the World's Best Golfers In 2026

The golf season officially gets underway on Thursday at the Sony Open. To kick off the year, I’ve tiered how the best players in the world currently stack up, along with notes on 10 of the most compelling golfers to watch this season.

Scottie Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler is the best player in the world, and it isn’t debatable. Though golf changes rapidly and even seemingly untouchable players invariably falter, it is highly likely that Scheffler will remain the clear No. 1 player in the world in a year from now. 

Scheffler gained 3.5 shots per round in major championships in 2025, more than a full stroke better than any other player with at least two major appearances. My expectation for Scheffler in 2026 is a major championship win plus at least two additional high-profile victories at tournaments like the Players, the Memorial, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Genesis, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Truist, or the Scottish Open. Win three of those 11 tournaments, with at least one major, and you’ve met the mark. It is a high standard, but it is the appropriate expectation for the best player since Tiger Woods. 

The biggest question surrounding Scheffler in 2026 is whether he can maintain solid putting numbers. He took a significant leap forward in 2025, ranking 22nd on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting after spending the early part of his career as a middling to poor putter. It is that simple: when Scheffler putts well, he wins. Period. If he putts anywhere close to his 2025 level – or even slightly worse – nobody should threaten his position atop the game. 

Tommy Fleetwood

I’m pretty comfortable declaring Tommy Fleetwood the second-best player in the world right now. Ahead of last year’s Players Championship, I created a graphic ranking the best players in the world and placed eight golfers ahead of Fleetwood. My replies were full of people taking exception to Fleetwood’s ranking, accusing me of grossly overrating him. Nobody would say that now. 

I ran some 2025 Strokes Gained per-round numbers, limiting the dataset to signature events and the FedEx Cup Playoffs. I didn’t include, for example, the majors or the Players Championship because I wanted to focus strictly on fields composed exclusively of signature event-level players. Filtering to just those tournaments, Fleetwood was the only golfer within a stroke of Scheffler’s per-round Strokes Gained average, trailing by 0.4 strokes per round. You may believe that Fleetwood’s shaky history under pressure will rear its ugly head late on future Sundays, but I have no doubt that Tommy is capable of winning a major championship in 2026. With heightened stardom following a Tour Championship win that resonated with fans outside the typical hardcore golf audience, Fleetwood is one of the most compelling figures to follow in 2026. 

Rory McIlroy

Does Rory McIlroy have a letdown year in 2026? It may age poorly to suggest that one of the great players of the modern era will take a step back in the middle of his competitive prime, but it’s reasonable to expect a slightly worse season than the one he authored in 2025.

McIlroy spent 12 straight months in 2025 traveling the globe, checking off important, emotional career milestones. Getting right back on the horse and replicating that kind of year as he enters his 19th full season as a professional feels like a tall order.

What hasn’t received enough attention is the leap McIlroy made with the putter last year. He somewhat quietly assembled his best putting season, finishing inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting on Tour for the first time in his career. The question is whether those gains persist while maintaining his excellence in other facets of the game in a landscape in which the standard is constantly rising. McIlroy remaining a top-two or top-three player throughout 2026 wouldn’t come as a shock, of course. Still, it seems entirely plausible (if not likely) that the gap between Scheffler and McIlroy widens this season.  

Jon Rahm

This is a crucial year for Jon Rahm. It’s time for him to reestablish himself as a bona fide killer and return to the winner’s circle. Since his Masters win in 2023, Rahm has won just twice, both at LIV Golf events against mediocre competition in 2024. Outside of contending late in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, his 2025 major performances didn’t meet the elite standard he should demand of himself. Rahm needs to win a major or contend in at least two majors to remind the golf world that his A-game still stacks up against just about anyone’s. 

{{inline-article}}

Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele is one of the best buy-the-dip candidates in professional golf. His 2025 season represented a massive step down from his brilliant 2024, though it’s important to note that injury derailed the start of his season. Despite a slow start out of the gates, Schauffele still performed adequately in majors, one of just seven players to make the cut in all four and record at least two top-10 finishes.

A win at the Baycurrent Classic in October isn’t exactly résumé-defining, but it offers promise that one of the game’s best major championship players is on the right path to a return to elite form. I expect Xander to reestablish himself as a clear-cut, top-five player in the world by the end of the 2026 major season.   

Jackson Koivun

In 2026, we could very well see the professional debut of one of the brightest amateur prospects of the 21st century: Jackson Koivun. The Auburn junior and back-to-back SEC individual champion has already secured PGA Tour status via the PGA Tour University Accelerated program.

Ask around about Koivun in the amateur golf circles, and people familiar with his game will tell you he’s one of the best putters they’ve ever seen at the collegiate level. That’s not to suggest that his game is built solely on putting, a notoriously fickle element. The top-ranked amateur in the world finished third in Strokes Gained: Approach at the Procore Championship in September while recording his fourth consecutive top-15 finish in PGA Tour events. There are no guarantees in professional golf, but Koivun’s outlook is as promising as any in the last decade or so. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him featured on this graphic within two to three years. 

Michael Thorbjornsen

Speaking of highly talented young prospects, have you been paying attention to Michael Thorbjornsen over the last nine months? He’s rattled off 14 made cuts in his last 15 individual starts, with four top-10 finishes. Thorbjornsen is another name that you’ll hear when asking knowledgeable people about the best players to come out of college over the last few years. 

Thor cleans up off the tee, ranking seventh on Tour in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee in 2025. He’s learned to harness his immense power while keeping the ball on the golf course, a valuable asset as he embarks on his second full season on the PGA Tour. Look for the 24-year-old to turn some heads in 2026. 

Ludvig Aberg

The first few years of Ludvig Aberg’s professional career have fallen short of expectations, which feels a little harsh to say about a guy who has already won three times globally since turning pro in the summer of 2023. But expectations are high for Aberg, who has all the makings of a top-five player on the planet. 

Still just 26, Aberg enters the prime of his career with plenty to hang his hat on. He has contended in both of his first two Masters appearances and boasts one of the best combinations of speed and accuracy off the tee in the world. To take the next step, he’ll need improved consistency with some combination of his iron play and short game. I’m optimistic about Aberg’s chances of finishing 2026 as a top-five player in the world. 

Cameron Young

Following a breakout second half of 2025, Lunch With the Boys guest Cameron Young has become a trendy pick to win a major championship in 2026. For much of Young’s career, he has been plagued by awful putting, preventing him from getting tournaments across the finish line. In 2025, that changed in a big way. He jumped to seventh on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting, a 138-spot improvement from 2024. 

Those gains paid immediate dividends, fueling his first career PGA Tour win and a standout Ryder Cup performance. To be considered a serious contender by the time Augusta rolls around, Young needs to tidy up his iron play, a deficiency in the front half of 2025. 

Bryson DeChambeau

I toyed around with dropping Bryson DeChambeau down into a tier of his own, but he belongs in the second row alongside Tommy, Rory, Jon, and Xander. DeChambeau’s iron play let him down in 2025 as he struggled to control his draw, leading to costly left misses in key moments. With cleaner iron play, DeChambeau could’ve won either of the season’s first two majors. 

The Crushers GC captain is undoubtedly one of the best – if not the best – drivers of the golf ball in the world, and he has no issue holing putts under pressure. Bryson needs to develop better command of the golf ball in windy conditions, but as the game stands today, DeChambeau belongs among the best non-Scheffler golfers in the world.