PGA Tour: Ten players who could be worth following in 2026

Hopefully by now you've seen the DP World Tour equivalent, which thankfully did not include any subsequent LIV Golf departures.

There are almost certainly none of those in the below list, which was harder to whittle down.

Ready to win

Michael Thorbjornsen

I sense that there's some frustration among the betting community when it comes to this world-class golfer in the making, which I find a little curious. Thorbjornsen turned professional 18 months ago and has played 36 times since. During that run, he has eight top-10 finishes, twice finishing runner-up.

I'd liken him to Angel Ayora on the DP World Tour, these being the two most obvious stars in waiting, yet Ayora doesn't suffer the same criticism. Playing at a demonstrably lower level, guess how many events he's played since graduating from the HotelPlanner Tour? Yes, precisely 36. He's been busy. He has 11 top-10s to Thorbjornsen's eight, but his best is fifth versus the American's second – again, at a higher level.

Perhaps I've misjudged the mood and this is no slight on Ayora, a top prospect from Spain whose swing everyone adores. He's going far. But so is Thorbjornsen and while winning on the PGA Tour can never be something we take for granted, among those yet to do so, there is nobody more likely.

Imperious off the tee – he's gained more than a stroke per round in five of his last 10 starts – and with more and more signs of promise in his approach work, this is the fine-tuning of an elite talent and with no exemptions into Signature Events as things stand, he'll be playing a 'B schedule' of sorts, offering up plenty of suitable chances.

As a former Stanford graduate he'll be worth a look in the Farmers, where last year's missed cut came at a time when his driving was a big issue, while both the Phoenix Open and the Mexico Open make sense too. Houston, Texas, Colonial... there are abundant opportunities before he sizes up returns to places we know for he likes.

But here's the thing: that tournament in Illinois where he finished second on his third start as a pro may be a long way from his thinking when July comes around. By then, he might have his sights trained on another event in Illinois this year, the Presidents Cup. There's absolutely no doubt he's that good.

Bud Cauley

Do golfers who've been off for significant periods, whose careers have been under threat from serious injury, ever fulfil their potential? Sometimes – Patrick Cantlay is a case in point, even if he's not completed the journey by becoming a major champion – but more often than not their potential is capped.

Maybe that's the case with Bud Cauley, whose career was almost ended by a serious car accident and the complications that followed. From the autumn of 2020 to January 2024 he was on the sidelines, and this is more than two years after the accident itself, which had cost him several months already. It has been a long journey back.

But I don't think he needs to achieve all that was expected of him when he earned a PGA Tour card playing on invites, to merit a place on this list. And while his best form has almost exclusively come in the southern states where he's most comfortable, there are plenty of opportunities across them, outside of the Signature Events he's eligible for.

Cauley produced four top-10s in the spring of 2025, twice in Florida and twice in Texas, had already been fifth in Mississippi, and ended the season hanging around near the leaders in Tennessee. This is where he's at his most effective but let's not forget that it was in California that he first showed us what he's capable of.

That was almost 15 years ago now and at the time, a PGA Tour win appeared certain. Things have been complicated but, now able to pick his own schedule, this rock-solid ball-striker with an improved short-game should be competing for titles in 2026. It's not inconceivable that he does so at a very high level, either.

Mac Meissner

A former Walker Cup golfer who was close to the top of the tree as an amateur, Meissner's professional career has been one of steady progress, of looking over his shoulder rather than ahead as he fights for status. Now, after a couple of solid PGA Tour seasons, he looks ready to take the next step.

He secured status for 2026 when chasing home Cameron Young (at a distance) in the Wyndham Championship, a natural fit for a golfer born in Charleston whose iron play has been his strength, but what's striking is how well he sustained this form. From late July to his sign-off in November, Meissner played well every time he teed it up.

Only once did he finish down the field, that away from his comfort zone on poa annua greens in California, but otherwise he was consistently close to the lead. It's a platform from which he can quickly build this year and by the time the Tour reaches the east coast, there's every chance he's ready to pick up a smaller title.

On paper his driving does need to improve but those mediocre 2025 stats reflect a real struggle over the first six months. From July to the end of the campaign he averaged +0.36 strokes-gained off-the-tee, which would place him in the top 30. From tee-to-green he averaged over a stroke, which puts you among the best of the rest, somewhere in the top 20, perhaps even the top 10.

More of the same and we'll just have to wait for the kind of putting week he produced at the Wyndham, as he had a year earlier. Like so many young golfers, familiarity has been key to unlocking the part of the game that will determine whether there's more promise, the kind we saw late last season, or something altogether more spectacular.

Pierceson Coody

If you were to ask me to name three geniuses off the tee, I probably wouldn't say McIlroy, Scheffler... you know... I'd go Coody, Penge, Ayora.

Yes, Pierceson Coody was statistically the number one driver on the PGA Tour last season, blending power with above-average accuracy. We don't need to get hung up on the sample size, or the fact that if pushed we would all rather have Rory McIlroy hit a tee shot for us. The point is Coody is elite at a key part of the game.

Long considered one of the brightest prospects around and a three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner from limited starts at that level, Coody could well go one better than when finishing second in the ISCO Championship in 2024. He played through the pain that weekend and struggled for months afterwards, the result being a return to the KFT for large chunks of 2025, but is back where he belongs now.

Despite a mixed schedule, he still managed a couple of top-three finishes on the big tour last season and with his elite driving supplemented by elite approach play when last we saw him, everything looks in place for another step up the ladder.

We'll just have to see whether two abysmal putting displays in his last six starts speak to a wider issue. If not, all systems go.

Set to go up a level

Min Woo Lee

It was a strange season for Min Woo Lee, who dominated the Houston Open for a chunk of the weekend then rather fell over the line, and was thereafter unable to kick on in the way I and many had hoped. This is a huge talent with plenty of the tools: he's long, he's got some of the best hands in the game, and he can hole everything on his day.

What's missing is a measure of control, perhaps a mode other than 'attack', and certainly some improvements to his approach work. This time last year we were talking about how his putting had potential to come back around following knee surgery. Now, we can talk about how the final piece of the puzzle might well have been found.

OK, so it's too early to go that far but if the first stage is acceptance, then hearing Min Woo talk about what he needs to do to dial in his irons was encouraging. If the second stage is to show that the work is beginning to pay off, his iron play was definitely improved during the final months of the DP World Tour season, where he contended often.

Certainly, if he can solidify these hints of improvement and go from well below average to just above average, that will be enough for the Aussie to contend more frequently. If he can go even further and make his approach play a strength, we will soon be considering him the best Australian golfer on the planet, one capable of joining the elite.

Davis Thompson

I thought long and hard about whether to include Thompson, but he's long been a player I rate and there are reasons to expect him to leave behind a frustrating 2025 season in which he failed to back up his win the previous summer.

The player who went toe-to-toe with Jon Rahm so early in his career is hardly hiding below the radar, but after a year which yielded just a single top-10 finish, he does now have a few questions to answer. He's been slipping down the betting as a consequence of lots of mediocre golf and is back on the outside of Signature Events, needing to earn another crack at them.

Of course that's no bad thing when it comes to picking out players to follow – as it stands he'll seldom cross paths with the elites of the PGA Tour – and Thompson did offer something to work with towards the end of last year, registering four top-25s in his final five starts versus five of them in the previous 22.

The putter is what's holding him back and while he does still have something to prove, having lost half a stroke per round from January to June, he was marginally positive from July to November. This is largely thanks to an extremely good display in the Open but he gained strokes in four of his final eight starts versus four times in 19 before that.

Euro stars

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

Whatever your thoughts on the system, even the idea of the DP World Tour passing along some of its brightest talents to the PGA Tour, there surely has to be a way for golfers of the talent of Neergaard-Petersen to access the best Tour in golf. There always has been, in fact. It's just a little clearer now.

But such is the competitive nature of the other best Tour in golf that he almost didn't manage it. Heading to the 14th hole of the final event of the season, his chances had all but gone. Then he played those final five holes in five-under, coming within a whisker of making a play-off and, just as importantly, grabbing one of those cards.

A top amateur at Oklahoma State and 12th in last summer's US Open, Neergaard-Petersen is ready for the PGA Tour and since earning his card, he's won the Australian Open for good measure. Heartbreaking though that was – had Cameron Smith won as he looked set to, I'd have been as pleased with that prediction as just about any I've made, if prediction is the right word – it underlined the kind of talent, the kind of grit, we're dealing with here.

It won't be easy, not without access to the biggest events and the highest purses, not without having played a season on the Korn Ferry Tour to prepare, but this world-class ball-striker should cope. I believe he'll threaten to win at one of the schedule's tougher venues, be that PGA National, Copperhead, Colonial, or even Torrey Pines more immediately.

Marco Penge

While some players half-commit to the idea of the PGA Tour, Penge is all in. He's moving to the US, he isn't playing in the Middle East, and all being well I doubt we'll see him in Europe until the Scottish Open. In some ways that's a shame, but anyone wishing he had to go to China to defend his title is in effect wishing to limit his progress. I really don't understand it.

Anyway, one of the most rapid improvers of 2025 now faces a new challenge and his experience of playing in the US is limited, more so than Neergaard-Petersen. But when you drive it like he does, when your approach play has come as far as his has, when you putt well and when you've built layers of confidence by winning regularly, you deserve the benefit of any doubt.

We've seen some good players stopped in their tracks when embarking upon their rookie seasons on the PGA Tour. We've seen others who take it in their stride and establish themselves. Penge looks for all the world like he'll expand the latter group but don't assume his Florida base makes that the ideal place for a breakthrough.

Mexico is one good option although with that event now moved to late October, he'll hope not to need to play in it.

Comeback trail

Max Homa

Reunited with his former coach and back hitting the ball as we know he can, Homa looks ready to re-establish himself this year.

The turnaround has already been impressive and you won't find anyone on the circuit whose first six months and last six months of 2025 contrast so starkly: Homa lost 1.18 strokes tee-to-green through June, then gained 1.03 strokes in the same category from July.

That transformation yielded two top-10s, two top-20s and just one missed cut, which somewhat ironically came during the week of his second-best ball-striking all year long only for his putting to go to pieces. But then, when last we saw him, that club also confirmed that it had turned as he produced a complete display in Utah.

Doubtless working hard since, aware that the season quickly heads to his home state of California where he's been so effective down the years, sure of an invite to Riviera and with obvious chances at Torrey Pines before that, it won't be long until we get an idea of where he is. I suspect the answer will be 'not far away'.

Oh captain...

Keegan Bradley

Such is the depth of the PGA Tour that I could've chosen any number of players for the final spot in this list of 10. I've not said much about the Korn Ferry Tour graduates and it'll look silly to have omitted Johnny Keefer when he wins his first title, nor have I covered Luke Clanton, David Ford, Michael Brennan, and various other star youngsters.

But I wanted to note something significant about Keegan Bradley: that he turns 40 right before the US Open, which takes place in New York. There's a story waiting to be written. And I do believe that being free from the burden of Ryder Cup captaincy, including the genuine conundrum over whether to pick himself, could help him to contend again at the very highest level, such is the quality of his long-game.

We haven't seen him competitively since August and who knows, maybe his post-Bethpage despair has resulted in a lack of motivation. Based on what we know about Bradley, though, more likely is the opposite is true, and that he returns more determined than ever to compete for majors. Few would begrudge him a second, 15 years on from the first.