After his second major championship of the season, he left the PGA Tour to pick up the pieces before next month’s US Open. Serving as the second plate of the PGA Championship is the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which returns to TPC Craig Ranch for the sixth year in a row.
PGA Tour players have eaten at this Tom Weiskopf-designed venue for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the past five years since tournaments have been held there. The winning score has always reached the 25-under range, and last season Scottie Scheffler reached 31 under and won by eight strokes.
The world No. 1 returns this week to defend his title in a field featuring only two of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. Scheffler arrived at the PGA Championship finishing inside the top 15 after holding the first round lead. After carding a 3-under round against Aronimink on Thursday, Scheffler was unable to break par over the next two days, largely due to his putter.
Scheffler, who needs to record a career-high 125 putts in four days at Aronimink, hopes his return to the TPC Craig Ranch friendly will give him more confidence on the greens. That being said, Lanny Wadkins came in after last year’s tournament and redid almost everything about this place.
To better test the PGA Tour’s finest courses, the green complex has been contoured differently, bunkers have been improved and made more difficult, and new turf has been laid throughout the course. Wadkins and the players associated with TPC Craig Ranch are aiming for a winning score of around 15 under, but given their ability, that may be wishful thinking.
Dallas residents Si-Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim are among the players to watch in the field, while five-time major champion Brooks Koepka is riding high hoping for his first PGA Tour victory since his return, or at least a finish that will secure him a spot in the calendar’s two marquee events.
2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson Schedule
date: May 21st to 24th
position: TPC Craig Ranch — McKinney, Texas
Par: 71 | Yardage: 7,385 | Architect: Tom Weiskopf
wallet: $10,300,000
2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson odds
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook
- Scotty Scheffler (+170)
- Kim Si Woo (13-1): When it comes to tee-to-green acumen, there aren’t many players better than Kim. The former Players Championship winner has been ranked second behind Scheffler in the field for the past three months. All of the holes in his long game have been addressed this year. Ranked in the top 10 in terms of drive accuracy, strokes gained off the tee and iron play, Kim’s chances will depend on her putting and making enough birdies. He’s been close to TPC Craig Ranch before, and given the solidity of his game, there’s a good chance he’ll be close again.
- Jordan Spieth (18-1): Spieth is currently spinning plates. Once one part of his game gets solid, another part seems to fall behind. That was evident at the PGA Championship, where he made some great putts on Thursday, but short miss after short miss ruined his Grand Slam chances. Still, all the elements are in place and we should take that as a positive. This year, he has finished in the top 20 six times in 13 tournaments, but has zero in the top 10. Competitive runs have been rare for him in recent years, so I’d like to see it.
- Brooks Koepka (25-1): Speaking of frustrating players on the green. Despite switching to a different TaylorMade Spider putter for the PGA Championship, the five-time major champion was unable to increase his record in that category to six. Koepka is the second-best iron player in this area behind Scheffler over the past three months, ranking third in strokes from tee to green and fourth in total strokes gained. He is in a very good position in the game, but he is expected to make a lot of birdies this week, so it is hard to see a path to the top.
- Keith Mitchell (37-1)
- Pierceson Coody (40-1)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (40-1): After a great start to the year, including a top-20 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and a near-miss at the WM Phoenix Open, Thorbjornsen fell back slightly. He still has a few top-25 finishes since early February, including his final combined tee time at The Players on Sunday, but his quality has declined, due to inconsistency in both his iron play and his putting. Overall, he remains one of the most talented players in the field, even if the match didn’t go the way he wanted it to.
- Ryo Hisatsune (47-1)
- Windham Clark (48-1): He missed out on a spot at the PGA Championship, which was held on a golf course where fairways are a must, but he will be able to overcome his selfishness at TPC Craig Ranch, where rain is forecast all week. Clark looked more connected from the fairway in, as evidenced by his T21 at the Masters and T16 the following week at RBC Heritage. The former U.S. Open champion, who suffered repeated bleeding from putter strokes throughout the season, found a cure last month and could be feeling better this week.
- Davis Thompson (49-1)
2026 CJ Cup Nomination of Byron Nelson
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