A+ : Cam Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy, Chris Gotterup
A : Aaron Rai, Collin Morikawa, Jacob Bridgeman, Kristoffer Reitan, Si Woo Kim, Justin Rose
B+ : Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland, Jake Knapp, Alex Smalley
B: Akshay Bhatia, Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg, Min Woo Lee, Nicolai Hojgaard
B-: Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark
C : J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, Sahith Theegala, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay
C-: Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Sepp Straka, Robert MacIntyre, Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith, Harris English
D: Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry, Bryson Dechambeau, Ben Griffin, Nick Taylor
F: Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Brian Harman, Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley
Now that golf’s second major has passed, I think it’s a good time to grade some of the most prominent seasons to this point, a midway check in report card style.
The thing to keep in mind is that everyone will be graded on their own scale relative to both their expectations and the general public’s expectations coming into the year. For example, Scottie Scheffler’s grading scale is much tougher than Jacob Bridgeman’s, no slight to the Bridge man.
The list and grading includes most of the current top 30 in the OWGR, plus other prominent players I felt were noteworthy enough to include. I broke it down using traditional letter grades and will give a brief reasoning for each player on the list.
Mid-point Grade: A+
Cameron Young:
Young has continued to take his game to new heights in 2026 after emerging late last season. He already has two wins on the year, including THE PLAYERS Championship and a dominant performance at the Cadillac Championship. He also co-led the Masters through 54 holes before ultimately coming up just short with a T3 finish.
The PGA was a disappointing performance, but it came at the end of a very busy stretch. A few weeks off to reset should do wonders for him as he looks to continue building off a tremendous first half.
Matt Fitzpatrick:
Very similar to Cameron Young, Fitzpatrick, who started to emerge again at the end of 2025 after a stretch of golf that left a lot to be desired, has carried that elite form into the 2026 calendar year.
He’s playing the best golf of his career right now, and the approach numbers back up that statement, as do the results. Coming into the year, he only had two PGA Tour wins, one being the U.S. Open, and he’s already more than doubled that total by winning three times: the Valspar, RBC Heritage, and alongside his brother at the Zurich team event. He also had a putt to force a playoff against Young at THE PLAYERS Championship but missed it, ultimately losing by one stroke.
The only fair critique of Fitzpatrick so far this year has been his results in the two major championships. They haven’t been horrible by any means, T18 at the Masters and T14 at the PGA, but for the caliber of golf he’s playing right now, you’d like to see him more in the mix on the weekend.
Shinnecock sets up well for him…
Rory McIlroy:
He became only the fourth player ever to defend the green jacket and, in doing so, picked up major No. 6. He also had a chance on Sunday to win the PGA but didn’t have his best stuff that day.
At this stage, all Rory really cares about is winning majors, and through two of them this year, he has one win and was firmly involved on Sunday at the other. That’s really all that needs to be said for his ranking.
Chris Gotterup:
Another guy who broke out at the end of 2025 and has continued that momentum into 2026, proving that his two week stretch overseas wasn’t a fluke.
He already has two wins on the year, first at the season opening Sony Open and then again with a comeback playoff win over Hideki at the Waste Management.
He’s been a bit more hot and cold this year than some of the names already listed, but he’s cashed in big when he’s been on. He also just added a top 10 finish at a major with his performance at the PGA.
Mid-point Grade: A
Aaron Rai:
Aaron Rai could have finished dead last in every event after his PGA Championship win and I still think you’d have to grade his season an A or higher. That’s how much winning major championships means.
No one realistically would have picked Rai to win a major entering the 2026 season, but he went ahead and won one anyway. Super impressive stuff.
Collin Morikawa:
After a frustrating 2025 and a slow start to 2026, Morikawa broke through seemingly out of nowhere at Pebble Beach and started looking like his old two time major champion self again. But as we all know, at THE PLAYERS he tweaked his back on a practice swing, which led to him immediately withdrawing, and he’s been dealing with it ever since.
Even with the back issues, he’s still produced some high caliber results, including a T7 at the Masters and a T4 at the RBC Heritage.
Hopefully the back is able to return to 100% at some point this season, but simply breaking back through into the winner’s circle already makes his first half of the year very successful.
Jacob Bridgeman:
The Bridgeman has cooled off lately, and it’s the main reason he isn’t in the A+ tier, but he broke through in a huge spot earlier in the year by winning the Genesis Invitational. That came during a stretch where he didn’t finish outside the top 20 in a single start until the Masters.
However, since his T41 at Augusta, he hasn’t been able to crack the top 30 in four starts, which includes a missed cut at the PGA.
The putting has cooled off drastically after being ridiculously hot during his insane stretch of results.
Still, one victory and four top 10s in 13 starts, including a T5 at THE PLAYERS, is a remarkable start to the year for a guy who had never previously won on tour.
Kristoffer Reitan:
Reitan earned his card through the DP World Tour points list last year, and like many players adjusting to their first season on the PGA Tour, the Norwegian struggled mightily out of the gates. Recently though, he’s completely flipped the script on his season by winning the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.
Winning as a rookie on tour is super impressive and automatically pushes him into the A category for me. I’ll be looking for him to produce more consistent results moving forward.
If the new putter he had in play during his win can stay hot, I don’t see why Reitan’s name won’t continue appearing near the top of leaderboards this year.
Si Woo Kim:
First guy on this list who hasn’t won yet, but the stellar play has been obvious.
For someone I considered more of an afterthought when the LIV rumors were floating around prior to the PGA Tour season, Si Woo has been involved in plenty of storylines this year and has become an important part of the 2026 PGA Tour season narrative.
For a player who had only two top 10s prior to the Tour Championship last season, with his best finish being a T8, he’s completely turned a corner in 2026 by already posting seven top 10 finishes, five of which have been top 5s. I mean, last week at TPC Craig Ranch he made 33 birdies and still lost by multiple strokes… insane.
If he still hasn’t added another win by season’s end, it’ll feel disappointing, but I’ve been super impressed by his season to this point, as everyone should be.
Justin Rose:
Recently, there’s been a lot of negativity and uncertainty surrounding Justin Rose, mainly due to his sudden switch to McLaren Golf irons.
But what the 45, almost 46 year old is accomplishing on tour is seriously impressive at his age. His dominant performance at the Farmers Insurance Open made it feel like he got to play Torrey Pines North for all four rounds while everyone else battled it out on the South Course.
Then he held the outright lead at the Masters on the back nine Sunday before slowly giving it away. That “what if” from that day will haunt him looking back on it. Add in another top 10 at the PGA Championship as well.
Outside of those three events, it’s been pretty blah, but hey, at his age, use the good golf you have left for the majors instead of the American Express. You can’t ask for much more out of a 45 year old.
Mid-point Grade: B+
Jon Rahm:
As always since leaving for LIV Golf, Rahm has contended in basically every LIV event, with a T8 being his worst finish in seven starts. But shockingly, in 2025 he wasn’t able to break through for a win anywhere, paired with, for the most part, his absence from leaderboards on major championship Sundays.
Rahm has mainly ended both of those narratives now after finishing runner-up at the PGA Championship and winning twice on LIV.
Rahm will still need to contend at one of the final two majors this year, no matter how many times he ends up winning on LIV, for him to get bumped into the A tier by season’s end.
Patrick Reed:
It’s been an odd but very good year for the former, and soon to return, villain of the PGA Tour. Reed left LIV at the last minute before the season started and has spent the year playing on the DP World Tour.
He started red hot by winning twice and finishing runner-up once in his first three starts. The question I had to ask myself, though, was how much weight I can really put into those results when comparing them to guys playing week in and week out on the PGA Tour.
To pair with those wins, he’s also had two solid major performances. After Round 2 at Augusta, it seemed like a lock that Reed would be near the top of the leaderboard and in contention all weekend, but he faded over the final two rounds and eventually finished just outside the top 10.
With his very solid play, but somewhat disappointing fade at the Masters, and what now appears to be a majors-only schedule since he hasn’t played a lone DP World Tour event since early March, I couldn’t quite put him in the A tier.
Gary Woodland:
What a special moment it was for Woodland and his family to see him win the Houston Open. He’s shown a ton of courage all year, and it was awesome to see his hard work and perseverance rewarded while battling something much bigger than golf results.
Hoping for more peace and healing ahead for Gary.
Jake Knapp:
It sucks that he’s been derailed by a wrist injury because Knapp was swinging it beautifully, as always, but this year he was actually producing consistent results with it, unlike in 2025.
His worst finish in his opening five starts was a T11, and he also recorded by far his best major finish earlier this year at the Masters with a T11. Before that, his best major finish was a T55, with the rest being missed cuts.
With the consistent play that included five top 10s and a solid showing in his only major start, Knapp lands in the B+ tier. Hopefully he can get healthy soon.
Alex Smalley:
I mean, a runner-up finish in a major, and one where he outright led through 54 holes too.
The result at the PGA was a huge stepping stone for Smalley, I believe, and instantly made him more respected on tour and viewed as a legitimate threat when teeing it up.
He’ll need to back that performance up to prove it wasn’t just a random spike week, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Anyways, tell Smalley before the season started that he’d finish runner-up at a major and he would’ve been thrilled. As with Rai, contending at majors means so much more than doing it at a regular PGA Tour stop.
Mid-point Grade: B
Akshay Bhatia:
The now 24 year old broke through with the biggest win of his career to date earlier this season at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Sprinkled in alongside that are some nice finishes at the Waste Management, where he finished T3, and Pebble Beach, where he held the outright lead for a while before slowly shriveling up on a windy Sunday and eventually finishing T6.
Now, with a win and a couple other tournaments where he was in contention, why is he only ranked a B and not higher?
That’s due to his abysmal play in the two majors so far, missing the cut in both. For a guy who I thought was in a great spot heading into major season to record his first top 10 in one and show better form in those events, he still clearly hasn’t figured them out yet.
I have no doubt he’ll be part of the conversation at one sooner rather than later, though.
Scottie Scheffler:
It’s hard to put a guy who’s won, has three runner-up finishes, including one at the Masters, and another three top 5 finishes into the “B” category…
But those are the expectations Scheffler has created for himself with his sensational play over the last few years.
Not really contending at the PGA, along with that weird blip in his play during the Genesis through PLAYERS stretch, not to mention the other strange run where he played awful on Thursdays for three straight starts, all factor into his midseason grade.
I’d say it’s all but guaranteed, though, that when doing the end of season grades, he’ll have added a handful more wins and found himself back in the “A” tier.
Ludvig Aberg:
He won in 2025, which is why he’s been put under the microscope in 2026 for not doing so, but his play and results this year have been miles more consistent than last season. He already has five top 5s and six top 10s on the year, with some of those results coming in big spots such as THE PLAYERS and the PGA Championship.
When you take your eyes away from the paper results, though, we all know his season has still been somewhat disappointing because of what it realistically could and probably should be if he had any real closing ability right now.
THE PLAYERS was a complete meltdown, and the PGA result could have been a lot better as well. I hope, for his sake and the golf world’s, that he’s able to start closing and producing the wins his talent level suggests he should be.
Until then, I can’t put him any higher than a B.
Min Woo Lee:
Consistency has always been an issue with Min Woo Lee, along with his ability to compete on courses that don’t ideally fit his game.
He’s changed that narrative this year, especially earlier in the season. No wins yet, but he recorded a T5 and T14 to begin the DP World Tour season in late November, then followed it up with a runner-up at Pebble Beach, T12 at the Genesis, T6 at API, T3 at the Houston Open, and a stretch of finishes just inside the top 20 at the Cadillac, Truist, and PGA Championship.
For a guy who only had one top 10 on tour in 2025, although he did win that event, he’s emerged as much more of a week to week threat this season.
Nicolai Hojgaard:
I could understand some pushback here due to inconsistencies in his game throughout the year, but he’s only missed one cut to this point and has posted some really solid results: T3 at WM, T6 at the Cognizant, runner-up at the Houston Open, and runner-up at the Truist.
He has to be thrilled with that when comparing it to his 2025 results.
After mostly struggling since coming over to join the PGA Tour, despite being viewed as one of the more exciting young prospects in golf alongside his twin brother, it finally feels like we’re beginning to see the level of play and results many expected from him when he first arrived.
Mid-point Grade: B-
Xander Schauffele:
Results wise and statistically, it’s been far better than his disappointing 2025 season, but for a guy who won two majors in 2024 and rose to No. 2 in the world rankings, it’s still not up to the caliber of play we know is in there.
It feels a lot like we have pre-major Xander back, a guy who puts up great results on paper and keeps his name on the leaderboard throughout majors but just doesn’t finish the job.
Rickie Fowler:
He isn’t the player he once was, but when comparing his results this season to 2025 and 2024, he’s seemingly turned a corner again similarly to how he did in 2023.
So far, he has four top 10s on the year, including one runner-up finish and a few other top 20s. Will he contend at a major this year like he did in 2023? We’ll see, but even if he doesn’t, Fowler has to be pleased with the results he’s accumulated to this point in the season.
Justin Thomas:
I, for one, thought Thomas was going to struggle coming back from the back surgery that sidelined him to start the season, and that initially looked true when he returned at the API and fired back to back 79s to finish dead last. But he quickly shut me up the following week with a T8 at THE PLAYERS.
After a stretch of mediocrity following that result, he’s started producing again lately, finishing T23 at the Cadillac, T13 at the Truist, and T4 at the PGA in his last three starts.
My expectations for Thomas were already low entering the year because of the surgery, but to already have a top 10 at THE PLAYERS and a top 5 at a major is honestly somewhat shocking to me. Super impressive stuff.
Wyndham Clark:
This would have been an F grade if it weren’t for his win last week.
Even though it came at TPC Craig Ranch, a win is a win, and shooting an 11 under 60 on Sunday is impressive no matter the circumstances.
It’ll be interesting to monitor Clark moving forward. Has he turned a corner again, or was it simply a spike week with the putter?
Mid-point Grade: C
From this point every player will just have a short sentence or two write-up.
JJ Spaun:
Yes, he won this year, but outside of that it’s been pretty grim.
A surprise major winner from last season looking to back up that “surprise” label hasn’t done a great job of it so far, missing multiple cuts this year, including both majors to this point.
The win is really the only thing keeping this season from being a complete disaster.
Russell Henley:
Henley really emerged and took his game to new heights last year, so it always felt likely there would be some regression in 2026.
There have still been some great outings, including a T6 at the API and a T3 at the Masters, but overall it’s been relatively average.
Tyrrell Hatton:
His Masters performance gives a huge boost to his grade.
He’s sort of failed all the assignments worth 5% this year but came close to acing the 40% midterm.
Another way to put it is that his LIV play has been lacking, but a T3 at the Masters sure does a lot for your overall season.
Sahith Theegala:
2025 was filled with poor performances and injuries, which led to a horrid season, but in 2026 he’s shown flashes again, with most of them coming earlier in the year since he doesn’t have a finish inside the top 20 since late March.
Still, four top 10s already this year is fantastic when you look back at his 2025 Data Golf page… that was dark.
Sam Burns:
He’s still yet to win since 2023, and now he just feels like the perfect definition of average.
Like Hatton, his involvement over the weekend at the Masters boosts his midseason grade a ton. It ended up as a T7, but honestly it felt like a much better result than that.
Outside of that and Pebble Beach, where I still can’t believe he hit iron off the tee on 18 with a chance to potentially win, eventually finishing T6, the season has been exactly what I said before: average.
Patrick Cantlay:
I feel very similarly about Cantlay as I do Burns, a guy who’s won plenty of times on tour but just hasn’t gotten across the line in multiple years now.
It’s been more of the same in 2026 as it has been the last couple of years: pretty average play and results with a few backdoor top finishes sprinkled in.
There still hasn’t been a tournament this year where, come Sunday, it truly felt like Cantlay was going to win it.
Mid-point Grade: C-
Tommy Fleetwood:
I’ve been extremely disappointed with Fleetwood’s follow-up campaign after finally winning on the PGA Tour at the Tour Championship last year.
Honestly, I feel like all the early discussion about his new clothing sponsorship, what company’s clothes he’s wearing each week, and what hat he has on has kind of sheltered what he’s actually done on the course.
Now, on paper, it doesn’t look half bad with five top 10 finishes, but a T33 and missed cut in the majors so far is what I keep coming back to, just not great. It’s also only really felt like he had a legitimate chance to win once at the Truist, and in typical fashion, he didn’t seize the moment.
Jason Day:
The 38 year old is well past his prime, but he still shows up every now and again similarly to Rose, just without the same Sunday closing ability, maybe, despite also being seven years younger.
A runner-up finish at the Amex plus giving himself a chance to win the Masters on Sunday, which didn’t go particularly well and dropped him to a T12, are the highlights of his year.
The approach play has really been struggling lately, though, and that’s something he needs to fix.
Jordan Spieth:
No top 10s on the year keeps him from being any higher, but seven top 20 finishes keeps him from being any lower.
He continues to shoot himself in the foot anytime he gains momentum or sees his name near the top of the leaderboard. The different parts of his game also remain incredibly volatile. One round it looks like he’s back to 2015 Spieth with the putter, and the next it looks like he’s never made a putt in his life. The same can be said for the other areas of his game.
He has to find a way to minimize his mistakes when he gets in contention, but right now it just doesn’t appear he has that in him.
Sepp Straka:
He won twice last year, but he’s seemed pretty irrelevant so far this season.
There’s been one runner-up finish at Pebble Beach, but outside of that there really hasn’t been anything memorable to speak of. A lot of average to below average results. Definitely disappointing.
Robert Macintyre:
There have been a few good results, but his play in the majors, including two missed cuts, really leaves a sour taste on his season to this point.
The approach play has been bad.
Brooks Koepka:
It feels like he’s on the cusp of breaking through in a big way. The play has honestly looked better than the results so far this year.
He just needs to consistently figure out the putter.
I think a lot of people could confidently pick him again at Shinnecock.
Cam Smith:
I probably wouldn’t have even included him on this list due to his irrelevancy over the last couple of years, but his result at the PGA kind of forced my hand.
That result is doing all the heavy lifting for his season grade.
I hope he’s able to parlay it into a solid stretch of consistent golf moving forward.
Harris English:
When I hear the word average, I think of Harris English. No disrespect, and maybe that’s too harsh for a Ryder Cup player and someone who had multiple runner-up finishes in majors last year, but to start this season, in his first six starts he finished no worse than T28 and no better than T22. That honestly might be more impressive than contending, and it pretty much sums up his season.
But for a guy who won last year and had multiple strong major results, you’d still like to see more from him.
Mid-point Grade: D
Hideki Matsuyama:
Outside of his win at the start of 2025 and his playoff loss at WM this year, Hideki has been on a pretty brutal two year stretch. He has only four top 10s during that span, including DP World Tour events. You’d expect more from a player with his pedigree and status in the game.
Shane Lowry:
I don’t really care that he almost won the Cognizant. It was an awful field, and he completely bottled it down the stretch. Outside of that event, it’s been a season filled with frustration.
Now 39 years old, it feels very possible we’re starting to see the beginning of a permanent decline.
Bryson Dechambeau:
His two wins on LIV are the only thing saving him from an F grade.
A player who had risen to the occasion so often in majors over the last couple of years, and whose name always seemed to appear on weekend leaderboards, has been embarrassing in them so far this year, missing the cut in both.
Winning on LIV doesn’t make up for those performances on the biggest stage.
Ben Griffin:
The breakout player of 2025, who won three times, has struggled to carry that same magic into 2026, but we’re finally starting to see him turn a corner lately.
A solo third at the Cadillac and a T14 at the PGA are encouraging, but outside of that it’s mostly been missed cuts and finishes outside the top 30, which obviously isn’t what he would’ve hoped for entering the year.
Nick Taylor:
He had won in each of the last three seasons coming into this year, so I thought it made sense to include him, and being Canadian, I wanted a couple Canadians on the list too.
So far it’s been an extremely average year for Taylor, although he does continue to look more comfortable in majors after almost exclusively missing cuts in them earlier in his career.
The back nine at the PGA sucked because he was honestly a lot closer to winning it on Sunday than his eventual T26 finish suggests.
Mid-point Grade: F
Max Homa:
He still simply hasn’t found it and doesn’t look remotely close to the player he once was.
Weirdly, it feels like the Masters is about the only place where he can still produce a decent result.
Viktor Hovland:
This one sucks because he’s such a great character in golf and obviously an incredibly talented player.
But he continues battling his game ever since peaking in late 2023. He has only one top 10 this year, a T10, and kind of like Spieth, he seems to completely blow up and remove himself from tournaments anytime he starts putting together some nice golf. Just look at his weekend play at the RBC Heritage.
Brian Harman:
Zero top 10s, one top 20, and two top 25s.
That’s really all I have to say about the 2023 Open Champion’s season so far.
Corey Conners:
A T13 is his best finish this year after multiple top 5s and close calls last season.
He just hasn’t been nearly the same player, and the approach play specifically has become much more inconsistent.
Keegan Bradley:
He’s said it himself, but the gut wrenching Ryder Cup loss has clearly impacted his play this year.
Only one top 15 finish on the season and multiple missed cuts just isn’t good enough for a player of his caliber.
