WHO IS YOUR 2026 PGA TOUR PLAYER OF THE YEAR?
CAM YOUNG
by Bob Harig
Cam Young answered a lot of questions this year, winning two of the game’s biggest tournaments and contending in two major championships. Is it enough to be considered for Player of the Year? His argument is as strong as any other player.
While the FedEx Cup playoffs can potentially alter the outcome – Scottie Scheffler, with just a single victory but so many close calls, is still a possibility, along with others – Young has done much to put himself in the strongest position.
Winning the Players Championship and hitting such a pressure tee shot on the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass was certainly one of the year’s feats. He beat Matt Fitpatrick, who also has a strong year to consider, to win the PGA Tour’s top trophy.
All of this came after a breakthrough win a year ago at the Wyndham Championship, which seemed to loosen the stranglehold on Young, who had trouble breaking through. After that six-shot victory, he finished fifth at the FedEx St Jude, was tied for fourth at the Tour Championship, went 3-1 in his first Ryder Cup kept it going into this year with strong performances at the Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational before winning the Players Championship.
That propelled him to a strong Masters, where he tied for third after a final-round 73, just two shots back of McIlroy, who defended his title.
“I always believed I was capable of winning a tournament, but I hadn’t yet so it’s nice to be able to say I believe that I can win a PGA Tour event and also be able to look back and say I’ve done it before,” Young said. “I think it’s all positive for me having the win (at Wyndham) here and moving on to play some really nice golf.”
Young captured his third title at the Cadillac Championship in early May, then went through a bit of a lull before a close call at the Open last month saw him finish a shot back of winner Ryan Fox after posting a score that appeared for a time to possibly be good enough.
“It was a miracle in a sense that I had a chance really coming down Sunday,” Young said of a final-round 64 at Royal Birkdale. “Like you wouldn’t have thought that the winning score was going to be backwards. So put together a great round and that’s a couple hours of being frustrated. After that, hey, I played some great golf, every bit good enough to win a major championship. You just kind of put your head down and go to the next week. I feel like I did.”
Young tied for eighth at the Rocket Classic before his title defense at the Wyndham and now can look ahead to the FedEx Cup playoffs, where he perhaps can challenge Scheffler.
In the past year, he’s won three times and posted 13 top-10 finishes and is now ranked third in the world, with eight of those top-10 finishes and two victories coming this year. With a bunch of contenders in the mix, Cam Young still stands out.
MATT FITZPATRICK
by Ann Liguori
Let’s say I’m voting on the ‘PGA TOUR Player of the Year’ ballot right now, Saturday, August 8, 2026, my choice in what is one of the tightest Player of the Year races ever would be….drumroll please…
Matt Fitzpatrick!
Yes, I know there are compelling arguments for several players. Cameron Young has won twice, including THE PLAYERS Championship, and finished runner-up at The Open Championship. Scottie Scheffler has been a model of consistency, with 11 top 10 finishes and five runners-up, and currently sits atop the FedExCup standings. Wyndham Clark won his second U.S. Open. Chris Gotterup has won three times this season. Rory McIlroy, as always, is part of the conversation.
But if I’m casting my ballot today, I’m going with Fitzpatrick.
Why? Winning matters.
Fitzpatrick has won three times this season, tied for the most victories on the PGA TOUR, and he’s done it against quality fields and on different kinds of golf courses. His victory at the RBC Heritage, one of the TOUR’s Signature Events, was particularly impressive. Add eight top 10 finishes and the No. 2 position in the FedExCup standings, and that’s a season defined by both winning and consistency.
Cameron Young presents the strongest challenge to Fitzpatrick. His victory at THE PLAYERS carries enormous weight. It’s the PGA TOUR’s flagship event, played against one of the deepest fields in golf. Young then strengthened his case considerably with a runner-up finish at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Two wins, eight top 10s and that Open performance puts his season right up there at the top.
And then there’s Scheffler. It’s remarkable that we’re even debating a Player of the Year award involving the world’s No. 1 player when he has “only” one victory. But that’s how good Scheffler has been everywhere else. Eleven top 10s and five runner-up finishes speak to an extraordinary level of week-in, week-out excellence. He’s also No. 1 in the FedExCup. Simply extraordinary!
Wyndham Clark has something none of those three players has this season – a major championship! Winning the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills automatically puts him in this discussion. Clark has two victories overall this season and is fourth in the FedExCup standings.
Chris Gotterup shouldn’t be forgotten, either. Three wins in one season puts him in select company and gives him the same number of victories as Fitzpatrick.
So what separates Fitzpatrick for me?
He has combined victories with consistency better than anyone in this race. Three wins. Eight top 10s. No. 2 in the FedExCup. And one of those victories came at a Signature Event.
There’s still plenty of golf to be played, and the FedExCup Playoffs could reshape this discussion.
But the ballot isn’t in front of me at the end of the season. It’s in front of me today.
ANN LIGUORI is an internationally renown sports radio and television personality, talk show host, journalist, author, golf reporter and trailblazer for women in sports media. She was the first woman to host a call-in sports show on WFAN-NY, where she hosted ‘Hey Liguori, What’s the Story,’ for 25 straight years and continues to host ‘Talking Golf with Ann Liguori.’ Ann was also an original host with her own series on The Golf Channel. She has covered 28 Masters, U.S. Opens, PGA Championships, the Olympics, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, Super Bowls, Major League Baseball, the NFL, and has interviewed hundreds of top names in sports, Hollywood, music and business for her radio shows and her ‘Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori’ cable show, which aired weekly for 17 years, She is the author of “Life on the Green: Lessons and Wisdom from Legends of Golf” and “A Passion for Golf, Celebrity Musings about the Game.” Listen to the award-winning ‘Talking Golf with Ann Liguori’ show on Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-golf-with-ann-liguori/id1886736071
BOB HARIG is one of the most respected and knowledgeable golf writers in the business. His resume includes stints at Sports Illustrated and SIRIUS XM PGA Tour radio. He contributes to a golf newsletter on Substack called the Daily Drive. https://www.the-daily-drive.com/ Bob has covered more than 140 major championships — including every one of Tiger’s 15 major wins as well as all of Phil Mickelson’s and Rory McIlroy’s six each — and events on every golfing continent. He’s written three books on golf, including his most recent “Tiger v. Jack: Golf’s Great Debate.” https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-v-Jack-Golfs-Debate-ebook/dp/B0FLZ4MNRW?ref_=ast_author_mpb
