It’s not every day that the world’s two best players collide in primetime.
That’s exactly what golf fans will get when Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy lead the second Optum Golf Channel Games in its return to Trump National Golf Club Jupiter on Wednesday, December 16.
Team Rory features the back-to-back Masters winning McIlroy along with Matt Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim and Haotong Li. Team Scottie is comprised of the reigning FedExCup champion, who has tapped a trio of 2026 PGA Tour winners in Chris Gotterup, Michael Brennan and Jackson Koivun to defend the OGCG title.
The 2026 teams include six of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking – most notably Nos. 1 and 2, the event captains. Fitzpatrick, who has four worldwide wins this year, is No. 3 in the world.
Not far behind is Gotterup, at No. 6. He won three times this year on Tour and helped lead the U.S. to a Presidents Cup victory. Brennan, world No. 18, is also a multiple winner on Tour this season, most recently last month in Japan.
Scottie Scheffler’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 20
Wins: 3 (The American Express, FedEx St. Jude Championship, Tour Championship)
Top-10 finishes: 13
Scheffler is returning as captain in the second edition of the Optum Golf Channel Games. The world No. 1 earned his second FedExCup title this year.
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Jackson Koivun’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 9
Wins: 1 (3M Open)
Top-10 finishes: 3
Koivun is making his event debut. After dominating in college at Auburn, the 21-year-old won in his third Tour start as a pro and made the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team.
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Chris Gotterup’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 23
Wins: 3 (Sony Open, WM Phoenix Open, John Deere Classic)
Top-10 finishes: 7
Making his event debut, the 27-year-old won three times this season on the PGA Tour and helped lead the U.S. to a Presidents Cup victory.
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Michael Brennan’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 27
Wins: 2 (Wyndham Championship, Baycurrent Classic)
Top-10 finishes: 4
Also a first-timer in the Games. Coming off a break-through Tour victory in 2025, the 24-year-old picked has picked up two more titles this year.
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Koivun rounds out Sheffler’s side. After winning another national title and player of the year at Auburn this spring, the 21-year-old won in his third start as a Tour pro (3M Open) and starred in the Presidents Cup.
Kim more than held his own at Medinah for the International team. Though he hasn’t won on Tour this season, the South Korean has a remarkable 11 top-10 finishes. Li, the only player besides the captains who competed in the inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games, is a four-time DP World Tour winner.
Rory McIlroy’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 19
Wins: 1 (Masters)
Top-10 finishes: 8
McIlroy is returning as captain for the second edition of the Optum Golf Channel Games. The six-time major winner and Grand Slam champion won his second-consecutive Masters title in April.
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Haotong Li’s 2026 season:
Worldwide starts: 28
Wins: 0
Top-10 finishes: 2
Li competed on Team Rory last year. The 31-year-old Chinese star is a four-time DP World Tour winner.
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Min Woo Lee’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 22
Wins: 0
Top-10 finishes: 6
Lee is making his Optum Golf Channel Games debut. The 28-year-old Australian earned his maiden PGA Tour win last year and finished T-4 this year on the FedExCup list.
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Matt Fitzpatrick’s 2026 Season:
Worldwide starts: 24
Wins: 4 (Valspar Champ., RBC Heritage, Zurich Classic, French Open)
Top-10 finishes: 10
Fitzpatrick is also making his event debut. The 32-year-old Englishman has had a banner year, winning three times on the PGA Tour and once on the DP World Tour.
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“The inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games proved that a unique format showcasing the best players in the world under the pressure of a running clock produces a kind of energy we don’t normally see in our sport,” said Tom Knapp, Golf Channel EVP and GM. “That energy translated to the viewers at home and we’re excited to build off of last year’s momentum with this group of elite golfers, leaning into what worked well last year and implementing some new challenges this year.”
The rapid-fire golf competition, which will feature fan-favorite challenges such as the Team Relay and 14-Club Challenge, will be hosted under the lights in Jupiter, Florida, on Golf Channel and USA Network.