The term “breakout” means different things to different people. For Ben Griffin last year, that meant finally stepping into the PGA Tour’s winner’s circle alongside Andrew Novak at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.
Griffin was one of many golfers to break out in 2025. The former mortgage loan officer won three times on the PGA Tour, recorded two top-10 finishes at major championships, and joined Bethpage Black’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. He rose from No. 68 to No. 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking. It wasn’t too shabby.
But he wasn’t of Break candidate. Instead, it was JJ Spahn. A year after coming from the brink of losing his PGA Tour card, Spawn has made a breakthrough in 2025 thanks to continued improvement in his approach play and increased distance off the tee.
Spaun started the year ranked 115th in the world and finished 2025 in 6th place. He had a dramatic victory at the US Open, but was eliminated in the FedEx Cup Playoffs at the Players Championship and the St. Jude Championship.
These are classic cases of breakouts in golf terms.
Cameron Young achieved his long-awaited first win on the PGA Tour. Tommy Fleetwood did the same thing and won the FedEx Cup while climbing to No. 3 in the world. Despite this, both have been labeled by some as “breakout candidates” as they both need to break through to another level, this time on the major stage.
Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa lead notable return candidates on 2026 PGA Tour
patrick mcdonald
For our purposes, we’ll primarily focus our thinking on Spaun’s camp, players in the world’s top 100 or below that we believe can make a big leap forward. Players casual golf fans didn’t know about, or at least didn’t care about at the beginning of the season, will be glued to their TVs by the end of the season.
5 2026 PGA Tour Breakout Candidates
Official World Golf Ranking
