Part of the beauty of the PGA Tour calendar is its ups and downs. The season traverses the Hawaiian Islands, reaching the desert on at least one island this year, moving along the California coast and moving to Florida with a major championship on the horizon.
The first half of the 2026 PGA Tour schedule began with some questions. Will there be another trip to Kapalua where players compete for the first title of the season at the Plantation Course? Will the Sony Open, one of the longest-running events on the PGA Tour calendar, disappear in the near future?
There were some questions (read between the lines), especially given the whispers of August’s West Coast playoffs being played at the three venues already played, but the players provided answers.
Answer in a playful manner. The answer comes in the form of performance. And even in the case of Tiger Woods, he answers in the form of a one-word response. Those who rose to the challenge were rewarded with victory, promotion to a new category, and an award that truly came from you this time.
Without further ado, here are the winners of the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing.
MVP: Chris Gotterup
There are several candidates here, including Scotty Scheffler and Jacob Bridgman, but the clear winner is Gotterup. The big-hitting right-hander went from just a guy to potentially a man. of He defeated Hideki Matsuyama at the WM Phoenix Open and rose to No. 5 in the world.
His power off the tee and incredible touch on and around the greens are easy to identify and deserve praise, but it may have been his demeanor that was most impressive. Everything seems to bounce back on him. No moment feels too big or too small for a man who has won four games in the last three seasons.
Monday Morning QB: Scheffler’s first round
If there was a hot take show dedicated to golf, Scheffler’s first-round performance It’s going to be a major headline. After starting the season with a dominant win at American Express, Scheffler opened the next three tournaments with rounds of 73, 72 and 74. Despite leading the PGA Tour in overall scoring average, world No. 1 Scheffler ranks 116th based on first-round scoring alone.
There are two sides to this conversation. First, Scheffler is still fighting despite a tough start. He finished the playoffs in Phoenix with one stroke left, finished two strokes behind winner Collin Morikawa at Pebble Beach, and cracked the top 10 at Riviera. The other aspect is that he may have missed out on some significant wins from a career standpoint, including the tournament record number of wins, the win at Pebble Beach, and receiving the trophy from Woods.
All of this would be unfair criticism for most golfers, but given what Scheffler has proven he can accomplish and his level of play over the past few years, the microscope is zooming in harder on him than on any other golfer.
The Unsung Hero: Jake Knapp
Over the past three months, the second-best players in the world based on actual strokes gained are: …Drum roll please… Jake Knapp! Not Rory McIlroy or Tommy Fleetwood or Jon Rahm, who is allergic to LIV Golf’s winner’s circle and always sits in second place. Rather, he is a player who has only won once on the PGA Tour.
In five starts, Knapp has combined his immense distance with the driver with serious menace on the greens to better than finish T11 to start the 2026 season. Mr. Knapp, the favorite candidate in the Tempo Town mayoral race, is knocking on the door to a big victory. Don’t be surprised in Florida either. (He’s currently No. 43, so keep an eye out for a spot on the Official World Golf Rankings, where the top 50 earn invitations the week before the Masters.)
One for the old guys: Justin Rose (and Adam Scott)
There is a parallel world in which two of the first three major champions of 2025 include Rose at the Masters and Scott at the US Open. With so many through lines between the two careers and players, perhaps the wise veteran could pull off a few more draws this season as his form is still on point.
Rose left the field at Torrey Pines to climb to No. 3 in the world and become the PGA Tour’s oldest winner since last season’s St. Jude Championship. The Briton’s eyes are set on Augusta National, where he has gone through 72 holes without losing to anyone twice, but is yet to don the green jacket.
Scott, meanwhile, was somewhat forgotten until his second-round 63 at Riviera vaulted him into the top five, his best finish since the end of the 2024 season. Both players, both 45 years old, still have plenty of speed and can reach mid-180mph, giving them plenty of room to compete.
Will Tiger Woods be captain of the 2027 US Ryder Cup? PGA of America wants decision by Masters, according to report
Robbie Calland
I’m just happy to win: Collin Morikawa
It had been so long since Morikawa won, and the trophy was long overdue for the two-time major champion. Morikawa, who hasn’t had a match since the 2023 ZOZO Championship, may have surprised himself in various ways in how the match unfolded at Pebble Beach, but the performance ended in victory.
You can debate whether his iron play, the pinpoint accuracy of his scoring clubs, and the performance of his ceiling approach is as high as Scheffler’s, but it’s more than that. More and more. Winning takes away a lot of that mental anxiety. The anxiety you saw last season when he lashed out at the media not once, but twice, and when he fired his caddy not once, but twice, and three times…you get the point.
Yes, he still gets it: Tiger Woods
Woods excited the golf world by Possibility of participating in the Masters It was off the table.
“no.”
But let’s take it a step further. What would happen if we watched Woods before the Masters? Well, Woods has resources this season that he never had in his career so let’s use our imagination. You may be wondering what this is. PGA Tour Champion.
Woods, now 50, could set the tone for his first tournament since the British Open in 2024, perhaps by starting at the PGA Tour Champions, with tournaments held over the last two weeks of March at La Paloma Country Club in Tucson, Arizona, and Newport Beach Country Club in California. Although there is little pressure to play with his longtime teammates, Woods would be wise to jump at the chance to see himself play competitively once he is allowed to ride in a golf cart.
