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<\/p>\nIt is almost the new year, and for a sport that has been accused (fairly) of being stuck in the past and allergic to change, golf has hit the accelerator in recent years. Which sets up 2026 to be interesting in ways that extend beyond the golf course and who wins what major.<\/p>\n
The Athletic\u2019s golf staff made two predictions, highlighting the possibilities for what we can expect on and off the course.<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler will not complete the career Grand Slam<\/p>\n
At this point, it\u2019s just easier to presume Scottie Scheffler will win any golf tournament he deigns to enter, and after winning two majors in 2025, he\u2019s now three-quarters of the way to the career Grand Slam. The U.S. Open is all that eludes Scheffler from becoming the 10th man to win it, and the seventh in the modern era. Fresh off Rory McIlroy\u2019s own entry in golf\u2019s most exclusive club, it\u2019d be entirely too easy to assume Scheffler just takes care of business at Shinnecock Hills this June and does it in his first try. To that, I only caution that it took McIlroy more than a decade to win the Masters, and eight all-time greats, with names like Palmer and Trevino and Watson, all ended their careers one major short.<\/p>\n
Success at the U.S. Open has eluded Scheffler comparatively. He has four top-10 finishes and twice in the top three, but I dare you to point to a moment on any Father\u2019s Day where you seriously believed him to be the eventual champion. He\u2019ll figure it out, but I like his chances better at Pebble Beach in 2027 than I do on Long Island in 2026. \u2014 Hugh Kellenberger<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler will complete the career Grand Slam<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a little uncomfortable to admit, you know, given the nine-win 2024 and the two-major run of 2025, but Scheffler is only getting better.<\/p>\n
When we look back on Scheffler\u2019s peak, I think we\u2019ll realize the three months starting this time last year as he recovered from hand surgery were the strangest outliers in an all-time apex. He talks often about the offseason being where he adds things to his game, works on his body and tries to take another leap, and the infamous ravioli incident shuttered that all-important stretch. For three months, his driver took a (relative) dip and the little details like distance control took time to recover.<\/p>\n
But if you take a step back and look at the entire picture, his putting became an all-world strength. His overall tee-to-green game was right back at 2024 levels down the stretch. And now? In theory, he\u2019ll have that offseason he didn\u2019t get last year. Ruh roh.<\/p>\n
If there were two (quite contrived) critiques left of Scheffler last, they were that he hadn\u2019t proven himself on a links course, and he sometimes struggles to meet the erratic, incalculable tests of certain U.S. Open venues. Well, he dominated the Open at Portrush so handily that he removed any doubts about that. Next, he\u2019ll head to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock looking to both complete the career slam and remove the final question mark. Let\u2019s keep in mind he\u2019s finished T7 or better at four of the last five U.S. Opens, so the narrative is a little silly. But even more importantly, he will likely be preparing for this all offseason. Good luck. \u2014 Brody Miller<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n How can Rory McIlroy top his 2025? (Andrew Redington \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy wins a sixth major<\/p>\n
Last year, the Northern Irishman ended an 11-year-long winless drought in the majors by finally slipping on the green jacket. There were some ups and downs following that momentous victory. The ups being a team win at an away Ryder Cup and an individual win at the Irish Open. The downs include disappointing weeks at the remaining major championships and some chippiness with the media in between. But now, nine months removed from achieving his greatest accomplishment, the career Grand Slam, McIlroy will settle into a more neutral headspace and position himself to build his major resume even further. McIlroy says that the majors and the Ryder Cup are his sole focus now. I have an inkling that establishing a narrower goal, while also playing with significantly lessened external pressure, will help McIlroy\u2019s chances to win a sixth major in 2026 \u2014 Aronimink, the site of next year\u2019s PGA Championship, would be my best guess. \u2014 Gabby Herzig<\/p>\n
Tiger Woods will be named the 2027 Ryder Cup captain<\/p>\n
The U.S. Ryder Cup captaincy will be revealed at some point in the first half of 2026, and the 15-time major champion will take the job. At the Hero World Challenge, Woods refused to rule out the possibility: \u201cNo one\u2019s asked me about it,\u201d he said. That\u2019s a cagey answer. Here\u2019s why I think Woods will do it. First, by 2027, Woods won\u2019t be nearly as busy with his duties shaping the PGA Tour \u2014 the objective right now is that the new competitive model will be implemented in 2027. Secondly, he\u2019s turning 50 at the end of the month. Being the Ryder Cup captain will be the perfect addition to Woods\u2019 \u201cnext chapter.\u201d He\u2019ll be making an impact in golf, but he won\u2019t be required to push his body to its brink to recover in time for tournament appearances. Thirdly, if anyone is going to whip the back office of the U.S. Ryder Cup organization into shape, it\u2019s Woods. Oversight and silly mistakes won\u2019t be acceptable, and the U.S. team leadership will convince themselves they need Woods to help recover from the disaster at Bethpage Black. \u2014 Herzig<\/p>\n
![\"Tiger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2250555544-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Tiger Woods is coming off two surgeries in the last year. (Jared C. Tilton \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Tiger Woods makes his Champions Tour debut<\/p>\n
Tiger will turn 50 on Dec. 30, making him eligible for the Champions Tour. It could not come at a better time for the circuit, which has reached a nadir as it struggles to make anyone in particular care about aging pro golfers wringing out a few more paychecks. The PGA Tour should be considering whether it\u2019s a worthwhile investment, period, and I suspect new CEO Brian Rolapp is way more willing to consider such a radical move. But Tiger Woods represents an opportunity, and the Champions Tour can offer him a chance to compete against his actual peers \u2014 and drive a golf cart, a not insignificant factor after his 2025 was wrecked with even more injuries.<\/p>\n
The idea of Tiger being a regular fixture feels far-fetched, but could he center a schedule around the U.S. Senior Open, with a few strategic appearances at venues (or sponsors) he has a propensity for? Tiger still draws crowds and TV audiences. The Champions Tour desperately needs both. \u2014 Kellenberger<\/p>\n
The PGA Tour unveils an entirely new schedule\/model<\/p>\n
New CEO Brian Rolapp has sent signals he\u2019s ready to blow it all up and create a stronger PGA Tour that makes sense for the modern era. Now we\u2019re seeing players talk openly about the possibility of a 20-event schedule that starts after the Super Bowl and gives them a week off after majors. There\u2019s talk of moving high-profile venues like Pebble Beach and Riviera to the summer. Nothing seems off the table. Point being: the tour is ripe for change. Exclusivity. Scarcity. Trying to make events actually matter.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s unclear how cutting hundreds of hours of programming works for an upcoming TV deal, it\u2019s very clear Rolapp is open to reducing the schedule bloat to find a model that creates demand in viewers. The signature event model may have accidentally created a situation where the big events are too closed off and\u00a0the small events lack any intrigue. Lose-lose. One thing I\u2019m eyeing: What does Rolapp\u2019s committee think of the playoff model? He talked in August about how it\u2019s so important for the audience to understand what\u2019s at stake each round. That seems pointed toward the often silly FedEx Cup. \u2014 Miller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is almost the new year, and for a sport that has been accused (fairly) of being stuck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-379983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}