The 2026 PGA Tour season has finally arrived. While it's sad that we didn't get the annual trip to Kapalua to begin the year, golf is back in full swing with the Sony Open. But let's be honest, we're already thinking about The Masters in April — and, for that matter, all four golf major championships after the stellar major season we got just a year ago. Rory McIlroy completed the career grand slam at Augusta, Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Championship and The Open Championship, while dark-horse J.J. Spaun was victorious at the US Open. So what's in store for the majors in 2026?
Obviously, I wish we had a crystal ball. But based on some of the course history that we're in tune with, the form that we've seen from some of the best players in the game of golf recently, and honestly just some vibes, we're predicting the four major championship winners this year before the season gets underway. Surely, this will age well.
The Masters
- Dates: April 9-12
- Venue: Augusta National Golf Club (Augusta, GA)
- Defending Champion: Rory McIlroy
Predicted 2026 Winner: Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau infamously once called Augusta a Par-67 for himself because of his unmatched distance with the driver. Of course, he went on to finish tied for 34th at The Masters that year, which underscored an ongoing struggle for him at the first major championship of the golf season in his career. Through the 2023 Masters Tournament, DeChambeau's best finish in the event came in 2016 as low amateur when he was tied for 21st.
While he was coming off his first U.S. Open win when those comments came about, DeChambeau has actually leveled up in majors since then, The Masters in particular. In 19 major starts since then, he has a win, two runner-up finishes, two more Top 5 finishes, and three more Top 10 finishes. That gives him eight Top 10s overall. But more notable for Augusta is his last two finishes have come in at T6 and T5, showing vast improvement at the vaunted track.
The reality is that DeChambeau wasn't necessarily wrong about the advantage his length can give him at The Masters. It's a course that has been "Tiger-proofed" before because of how driving distance can mitigate some of the challenges, and now Bryson is delivering the same. The key was always improving his approach play and his feel around the diabolical greens.
In the past two years, he's done exactly that. It feels like only a matter of time before he wins a Green Jacket, and following up Rory's historic win at Augusta last year with one of his own this year — and McIlroy having to put the jacket on him — will only further the budding rivalry between the two.
PGA Championship
- Dates: May 14-17
- Venue: Aronimink Golf Club (Newtown Square, PA)
- Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler
- Winner of Last PGA Championship at Aronimink: Gary Player (1962)
Predicted 2026 Winner: Viktor Hovland
We certainly didn't see the Viktor Hovland we were hoping for in 2024 or 2025 after he was coming off of finishing Top 20 in every major championship in the 2023 season, including a runner-up at the PGA Championship and a T7 at The Masters. He self admitted that he was working through some swing changes and the results obviously didn't totally back that up. However, it's definitely worth noting that Hovland seemed to find something at the end of the year.
Outside of a poor T63 at The Open and a WD at the Travelers, we saw the DNA that made Hovland one of the biggest rising stars in golf. He finished third at the U.S. Open quietly, then was Top 12 or better at the Scottis Open, BMW Championship, Tour Championship, and his next two DP World Tour starts.
What stands out more than that is that the ball-striking has returned. Hovland has gained 5.0 or more strokes tee-to-green in six of his last 11 starts and only lost strokes tee-to-green in two of them, one of which was The Open at Portrush. His approach play is once again among the best on the PGA Tour. More importantly, as we head to Aronomink, while major conditions will mitigate this some, this has been a place where you have to go low to win, as 20-under forced a playoff at the 2018 BMW Championship, the last time we saw this venue on tour.
Hovland's current ball-striking form combined with his pedigree and the fit for scoring at a course such as this sets up quite well. Furthermore, while the venue rotates, it also feels notable that Hovland finished Top 3 in back-to-back PGA Championships prior to last season (T28). I think he finally breaks through and gets his first major win.
U.S. Open
- Dates: June 18-21
- Venue: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Southampton, NY)
- Defending Champion: J.J. Spaun
- Winner of Last US Open at Shinnecock: Brooks Koepka (2018)
Predicted 2026 Winner: Tommy Fleetwood
The major championship narrative with Tommy Fleetwood was similar to his PGA Tour record overall before the last couple of years. He had found himself on the first page of the leaderboard quite continually, but couldn't quite get it across the finish line. As fate would have it, the closest he came to that was at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills when he fired an electric final round 63 to finish one stroke behind the eventual winner, Brooks Koepka.
Now, the tournament goes back to Shinnecock this year, and most people are hoping for another stern test like the one in 2018. Koepka won at 1-over with Fleetwood at 2-over. Even if the conditions aren't as dire, though, this is a place that clearly suits Fleetwood's game, and now the Englishman has the monkey off of his back after winning the Tour Championship to conclude last season.
Fleetwood has the entire test throughout the bag. He may not be the longest off the tee, but he's still a more than reliable driver, who can cash in with his ball-striking and approach play. Furthermore, his short game has seemingly improved, especially in big moments. To me, that puts him right in the mix of a traditionally difficult U.S. Open that should test players throughout the bag and mentally.
Arguably few active golfers have overcome as much scar tissue at Fleetwood. He also knows that he can fire a U.S. Open-record round in the worst of conditions, so Shinnecock shouldn't appear too daunting. The rise of Fleetwood will continue this year and he'll follow up his first PGA Tour victory last year by finally adding major championship hardware to his trophy case.
The Open Championship
- Dates: July 16-19
- Venue: Royal Birkdale Golf Club (Southport, England)
- Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler
- Winner of Last Open at Royal Birkdale: Jordan Spieth (2017)
Predicted 2026 Winner: Rory McIlroy
If you were forecasting another win at The Open Championship for Rory McIlroy, the juicier narrative would be to say that he hoists the Claret Jug at St. Andrews in 2027. But what if he returned to the Old Course, a source of heartbreak back in 2022 in the final round, as the defending Champion Golfer of the Year after a win at Royal Birkdale?
Most golf fans remember the last time we were at Birkdale in 2017, when Jordan Spieth completely blitzed the rest of the field. His 12-under final score was three shots clear of runner-up Matt Kuchar and six strokes clear of Haotong Li in third place. It was also seven strokes ahead of T4, which is where McIlroy resided on the leaderboard.
Though he wasn't the supernova that Spieth was at the time, he clearly has good feels around Birkdale as he finished with three straight under-par rounds. More importantly, I maintain that we're about to see a new iteration of Rory. Yes, he may have took his foot off the gas somewhat following last year's Masters win, but he's addressed as much and seems fiery and locked in once again.
Proving that he's not just resting on his career grand slam laurels is going to be the next narrative to combat for McIlroy. He's more than up to the task in terms of skill level and apparent motivation, and Birkdale strikes me as a great place for Rory to fully announce his presence as part of the Scheffler class, wherein he's a threat to win any major nowadays.