Why Scottie Scheffler Will Rule the PGA Tour Again in 2026

With the 2026 PGA Tour season firing up next week, the SI Golf staff offers thoughts on what we might see, including Scottie Scheffler's odds of winning a fifth straight Player of the Year award.

Scottie Scheffler won the first of two 2025 majors at the PGA and comes into 2026 needing just the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Are you ready for the 2026 golf season?

More than three months have passed since the Ryder Cup, four months since the Tour Championship and—gasp!—five months since the British Open, the last major championship of 2025.

SI Golf is previewing the new year, from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf and more. We kicked off our preview series by predicting the major champions and continue today with a Fact-or-Fiction style look at how world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler may fare in 2026.

Agree or disagree with us? Tell us on the SI Golf X account.

Fact or Fiction: Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods are the only players to win four consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year awards. Scheffler will stand alone after winning his fifth straight in 2026.

Bob Harig: FICTION. This is nothing against Scheffler. He might very well do it again. I just think the law of averages comes into play. Can he really do it again? Will someone else step up? I see the latter happening with a more “normal” year for Scheffler.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Scheffler’s run has been awesome, but consistently maintaining that level of play is just so difficult. I’m essentially following Bob and basing my case on the law of averages, but those averages say we’re due for a new POY. A current member of the world top 5 is most likely to swipe the crown off Scheffler, perhaps Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy or Tommy Fleetwood.

Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 British Open by four shots and will defend in July at Royal Birkdale. / Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Max Schreiber: FACT. Remember, this is an award voted on by the players. In 2023, Scheffler won twice and Rahm won four times, yet Scheffler still claimed the honors. If he puts together ungodly strokes-gained numbers and collects two to three wins, his peers will likely grant him the hardware again, just because he’ll still be golf’s benchmark. 

John Schwarb: FACT. I consider one major and two signature-event titles to be the baseline for Scheffler this year—he’s bagged at least that in three of the last four years (let’s call the 2022 Arnold Palmer and WGC-Match Play signatures). So if he does that, someone else will need a monster year and the Tour’s depth makes that difficult. The Tiger-esque run continues.

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