Will Scottie Scheffler’s reign as the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year end at four?
The candidate pool is deep with resumes that — as of July 6 — would easily trump the world’s top-ranked player, who has finished in the T-5 a ludicrous nine times in 2026 but has just one win to show for it.
So, if Scheffler’s dominant first six months aren’t good enough to bring home the postseason hardware than who’s tracking better? Glad you asked, here are five names to consider — and the work they’ve put in thus far to be in consideration to dethrone Scheffler.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Chris Gotterup just tied up the elder Fitzpatrick brother with three wins on the season by capturing the 2026 John Deere Classic. All that the 31-year-old Englishman did between mid-March to late April was win the Valspar Championship, the RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic (which he won with his brother, Alex). He finished solo second at the Players to Cameron Young and was T-18 at Augusta.
And if you think he’s cooled off, his last five events say otherwise. Besides being 16-for-16 on made cuts, Fitzpatrick has banked more than $13M in the first half of the year and ranks second in shots gained approach to green.
If you were building a case against Fitzpatrick, it would begin and end at the aforementioned 2026 Players which brings us to ....
Cameron Young
It’s not all about money but despite having one less win on Tour this season than Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young’s bottom line looks quite similar than his Players final round counterpart. That’s the benefit of bagging the year’s biggest purse and taking home the newly-minted signature event in Doral a few weeks later.
Outside of the wins though, Young’s 2026 also mimics Fitzpatrick — 100% made cuts, six T-10s, top 20 in scoring average ... the list can go on.
Bottom line is it’s a coin flip between the two and has been for the better part of four months with Fitzpatrick currently holding the slight advantage with better finishes at Shinnecock and Cromwell while the season took its two-step through the northeast.
Chris Gotterup
Speaking northeast, the pride of New Jersey has now played himself into a conversation with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy when it comes to winning.
Yes, that’s right Gotterup — now the world’s No. 7 player — has won five or more times over the last 25 months. Only something that Scheffler (10) and McIlroy (5) can say.
Perhaps more impressive than even the winning is just how dominant Gotterup has been to get it done on Sunday. His winning tournament final rounds in 2026 look like this: 64, 64, and 62.
Wyndham Clark
He probably has the least well rounded “six months” of the four mentioned here coming on late ... but what a surge!
Clark’s first top 10 finish of the season came at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which he won in late May. Since then it’s been non-stop glory for Clark including T-5s at the Memorial and Travelers, with the career crowning achievement coming at Shinnecock on Father’s Day.
Despite the slow-ish start, Clark ranks inside the top 25 in almost every major statistical category and has recently found his short game (ranking exactly 25th in putting). The translation here: More is coming for the 2026 U.S. Open champ.
Scottie Scheffler
OK, fine this is cheating but Scheffler has simply played more — and played better, quite frankly — golf than Rory McIlroy in 2026 despite the latter’s Masters repeat in April. And if these two names cancel each other out in the exercise to find a fifth nominee, then consider the aforementioned Alex Fitzpatrick who won in New Orleans.
Eight tournaments played, eight cuts made. Seven T-25 finishes, five of those coming inside the top 10. It’s a succinct resume but it stands out in the pile.
And if not the younger Fitzpatrick than our best nominee is Gary Woodland, the 2026 Texas Children’s Memorial Open winner with four T-10 finishes this year while battling PTSD from brain surgery.
