IT’s been a strange year for so many players accustomed to smoother waters.
Who would have predicted before the first tee shot of 2026 that Chris Gotterup would have more wins than Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy combined?
No one will — or should — be concerned with Scheffler. He won his season opener in the California desert, and nothing else. He also has five runner-up finishes and five other finishes in the top 4. Four of those runner-up finishes paid out more than his lone victory.
The margins are thin in golf, even for the No. 1 player in the world.
McIlroy isn’t the least bit stressed that his one title this year was a repeat at Augusta National. Yes, he would love to win another FedEx Cup title. Odds are it would be sweeter to get another Race to Dubai title in Europe, especially at the expense of Patrick Reed.
Cameron Young is the defending champion at the Wyndham Championship. And to think it was only a year ago when Young had never won on the PGA Tour. Since then, he was a lone bright spot for the Americans in his Ryder Cup debut, he won The Players Championship and a signature event at Doral, and he had at least a share of the Sunday lead at two majors without bagging one.
But there’s something else about Young and this odd season.
He won the Cadillac Championship when he was No. 4 in the world. That was May 3, and no one from the top 10 has won a PGA Tour event since then. It’s not getting any easier out there, if it ever was.
Half of the PGA Tour members among the top 30 in the world ranking have yet to win this year.
The world ranking of the other three major champions sounds like numbers drawn in Bingo — 44 (Aaron Rai at the PGA Championship), 34 (Wyndham Clark at the US Open) and 56 (Ryan Fox at the British Open).
It was the first time three major champions in one year were outside the top 30 since 2009 delivered Angel Cabrera (69), Lucas Glover (71), Stewart Cink (33) and Y.E. Yang (110).
