2026 Truist Championship Power Rankings: Top 10 Golfers To Watch

May 5, 2026

Ian McNeill ranks his top-10 PGA Tour players to watch at the 2026 Truist Championship from Quail Hollow Club. His data-backed insights into who is primed for success.

If you were looking for the perfect tune-up spot for what we expect from the PGA of America in 2026, what better place than the very venue it chose just 12 months ago? Quail Hollow returns to center stage as the PGA Tour’s final stop before next week’s championship at Aronimink, offering one last opportunity to sharpen form under major-like conditions.

A Signature field featuring 17 of the world’s top 20 (barring World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler) ensures a leaderboard stacked with proven contenders and rising threats alike. With its demanding, all-around test, the course should once again provide a clear indicator of who’s ready to carry momentum into the season’s second major.

But how does this elite field stack up at the top -- and who, if anyone, should you be targeting on pre-week betting boards? Without further ado, here are my top ten players to watch at the 2026 Truist Championship!

No. 10 - Kurt Kitayama

To this point in the 2026 season, surprises in the Signature Events have proven few and far between. After Akshay Bhatia and Jacob Bridgeman at Riviera captured two of the first three Signature crowns, the next four multi-million dollar prizes on Tour have been shared exclusively among the game's blue-chippers.

Perhaps Quail Hollow can give some hope to the second tier -- as two of the last four PGA Tour events held in the Queen City have been won by Wyndham Clark (then No. 80 in the World Golf Rankings), and Max Homa (World No. 417 in 2019).

As the 34th ranked player in the world, Kurt Kitayama won't be nearly as overlooked as either of those past champions, but anyone paying attention to the numbers will tell you he has every too necessary to tackle the demanding confines of Quail Hollow.

In five Signature Starts thus far in 2026, the UNLV product has already logged three top 10s -- including a runner-up finish at noted Quail Hollow comp in Riviera. Over his last 36 rounds, Kitayama sits tenth in this field in driving distance, sixth in approach play, and just last week, gained 7.1 strokes to the field with his ball-striking at Doral on a similarly distance-intensive setup.

Importantly, Kitayama's upside on this stage isn't purely a projection. In his first PGA Tour win, he stared down the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Viktor Hovland to capture the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational. And last summer, he put together one of the more impressive weekends of the year en route to his 3M Open victory, closing with rounds of 60-65 to erase an eight shot deficit through 36 holes.

When Kitayama brings his A-game, he can hang with anyone in the sport. His elite ball-striking profile is exactly what I look for in projecting upside, especially with his long-standing weakness on the greens showing clear signs of improvement in 2026 (gaining strokes putting in six of his last nine starts).

A big week feels within reach, and if he finds his way into contention, he’s already proven he can elevate on a Sunday afternoon.

No. 9 - Adam Scott

Adam Scott was 16 shots off the lead after R2 of the @cadillac_champ. He then shot four better than anyone in the field on the weekend to finish T4 🤯#AussiesOnTour pic.twitter.com/KAowQB2fO8

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) May 4, 2026

While Scott was ultimately unable to recover from an opening-round 76 at Doral, he continued to prove himself among the Tour's most prolific ball-strikers.

In what ended as a T4 finish in Miami -- matching his best result of 2026 -- Scott led everyone on approach (+6.53), and beat the entire field by four shots over Saturday and Sunday -- logging 14 birdies and zero bogies over his final 36 holes.

This week, a similar test is at hand for the veteran Aussie -- and a venue in Quail Hollow where he logged a fifth place finish in 2023, and stood on the 14th tee on Sunday afternoon of 2025's PGA Championship just three back of eventual champion Scottie Scheffler.

12 months later, you could easily argue that 2026 has provided Scott's best run of form in over five years -- particularly with his long game. Over his last 36 rounds, only Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Xander Schauffele have gained more strokes when combining driving and iron play, and only Si Woo Kim can match Adam's acumen when zeroing in specifically on approach shots from >150 yards.

Weeks like Doral mean the 45-year-old isn't liable to sneak up on anyone's radar -- least of all bookmakers. But his underlying stats have pointed at a breakout for some time. With top fives already this year at comp. courses like Riviera and Doral, he's already proven capable at comparably demanding venues.

We know it's history of crowning breakout stars, but perhaps Quail Hollow can provide the platform for an aging all-time great to find one final championship moment.

No. 8 - Rickie Fowler

All orange. All over it. 🍊@RickieFowler goes from 213 yards to 2 feet!

📺 PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/MloLuEdjxK

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 3, 2026

Speaking of breakout stars crowned at Quail Hollow, it's hard to believe it's been 14 years since a 23-year-old, orange-clad Rickie Fowler christened his PGA trophy case with a win at the 2012 Wells Fargo.

Since that iconic Sunday, Fowler has amassed another three top fives in the Queen City -- most notably a T5 in 2017's PGA Championship -- and arrives into 2026's rendition as one of the PGA Tour's most consistent commodities.

Over his last 11 starts dating back to last summer's FedEx Cup Playoffs, Rickie has just four finishes outside of the top 20. He's back to being among the game's premier putters (9th in this field over his last 36 rounds), and last week at the Cadillac Championship, Fowler recorded the best iron performance of his 2026 campaign: gaining over five strokes for the week, sixth in the field.

In fact, since the turn of 2026, Fowler has routinely exceeded baselines with a long iron in hand, ranking in the 77th percentile on Tour from 200+ yards -- a key skill at a venue where roughly 35–40% of approaches are expected to come from that range.

While he no longer possesses the raw length of his peak years, Fowler still ranks inside the top 30 on Tour in combined distance and accuracy off the tee. And across his last nine starts at Quail Hollow, he’s lost strokes on the greens just once.

At 37, and without a top-five finish in the past 18 months, it’s fair to question how realistic a second career win here is -- especially in a Signature field loaded with elite talent. But what Fowler has gained in recent months is a level of consistency not seen since his 2023 resurgence. He looks like a legitimate top-20 presence again, and this week offers another opportunity to build on an already encouraging season.

No. 7 - Hideki Matsuyama

Unlike Rickie, Hideki Matsuyama's lasting memories at Quail Hollow come in the way of a near miss. Famously paired with Justin Thomas in the final round of the 2017 PGA Championship here, Matsuyama held the solo lead with eight holes to play, before three consecutive bogies from 11-13 opened the door for his playing partner to storm to his first Major title.

Hideki's time would eventually come at the 2021 Masters, and now, making his first PGA Tour start here in seven years, the Japanese No. 1 will get a chance to atone for that 2017 heartbreak.

Not much has changed in the Matsuyama arsenal since then, as Hideki can still count himself as one of the game's premier iron players. He's the only man in this field who can count himself inside the top seven in Proximity from both 150-200 and 200+ yards, and over his last 75 rounds, only Si Woo Kim can claim a better strokes-gained average.

Matsuyama also carries one of the game's elite short games -- finishing inside the top five Around the Greens in each of the last two seasons. And his recent driving woes will be largely mitigated around a course featuring one of the lowest missed fairway penalties on Tour in recent years.

With four wins since the start of 2024, Matsuyama has proven time and time and again that he's one of the most dangerous names on Tour when the pressure ramps up on Sunday afternoon. Priced as high as 40-1 in some spots, I still don't believe that pedigree is being truly appreciated.

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No. 6 - Si Woo Kim

Si Woo Kim plays the slope perfectly for a chip-in birdie on 17 👏 pic.twitter.com/RuuXR2VZrr

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) April 30, 2026

I’ve admittedly been hesitant to buy into Si Woo Kim’s winning prospects as fields have grown stronger and venues more demanding over recent months. But where the Korean No. 1 may lack in pure power off the tee, his elite long-iron play continues to produce results on some of the Tour’s biggest stages.

His best finish during an already impressive start to 2026 came at 7,700-yard Torrey Pines, where Kim lapped the field on approach -- gaining 7.95 strokes across three rounds on the South Course, eventually finishing runner-up to Justin Rose.

He followed that with a third-place showing at the bomber-friendly TPC Scottsdale, where he fired the low round of the week (9-under 62) and led the field from tee-to-green (+13.36).

Then at 7,700-yard Doral last week, Kim gained another 5.41 strokes with his iron play (third in the field) to finish T4 -- despite losing 3.95 strokes on the greens.

Now we travel to a venue where the Seoul-native has a documented record of success: coming 16th in the 2024 Wells Fargo, and 8th at last year's PGA Championship -- a tournament in which he entered the weekend in a tie for 2nd, one ahead of eventual champion Scottie Scheffler.

He won't have the World No. 1 to worry about this week, and his incoming form is as steady as we've ever seen from the soon-to-be 31-year-old. Over the last nine months, in 19 worldwide starts, Si Woo has logged eight top-six finishes and finished outside the top 20 just four times across an assortment of different venues.

Everything in the numbers suggest we're looking at a legitimate top 10 player on the planet. But in order to affirm those premonitions, Kim will need to convert that week-to-week consistency into a statement win.

There is perhaps no sport on the planet where such fine margins make such a drastic difference in perception, and nobody has come to learn that more than Ludvig Åberg this season.

If not for a few late mistakes, Åberg’s 2026 campaign could easily mirror that of Cameron Young or Matt Fitzpatrick, as the Swede has routinely put himself in winning positions only to fall at the final hurdle.

The good news is that the results remain elite: four top fives in his last five starts, only two finishes worse than 21st all season, and a strokes-gained profile that suggests there is still more to come.

In fact, over his last 36 rounds, Åberg ranks inside the top 25 in all four major categories. His once-maligned short game has been a real strength in 2026, gaining strokes in six of his last seven starts, while his putter ranks sixth in this field over the last 12 months on similarly over-seeded greens.

But no discussion of Ludvig Åberg is complete without the ball-striking. His driver remains one of the premier commodities in the game, ranking 4th in this field when combining distance and accuracy. And over his last five starts, he’s gained an average of 3.5 strokes per week on approach -- often at venues with a similar emphasis on mid/long-iron play (Augusta National, Bay Hill, TPC Sawgrass, Harbour Town).

My numbers have Åberg firmly in the same tier as the four players ahead of him, and as the lowest-priced name in that group, he stands out as the clearest value for those building around an elite anchor. As we’ve seen so often in this sport, it only takes one week for perception to change completely.

No. 4 - Xander Schauffele

While Xander hasn’t put himself in contention as frequently as Ludvig this season, his recent run of results still offers plenty of encouragement -- especially with the Tour returning to a venue where he’s finished runner-up in each of the last two Truist Championship editions.

In both 2023 and 2024, Schauffele’s second-place finishes were by three shots or more, and done in only by world-class performances from Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy. His elite ball-striking has translated extremely well in the Queen City, where he’s gained 13.1 and 8.2 strokes combined off the tee and on approach across those two starts.

While his 2026 lead-in form doesn’t quite match the build-up to his historic 2024 season, Schauffele has done enough to re-establish himself among the game’s elite after a relatively quiet 2025. Over his last 36 rounds, he ranks 4th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 3rd on Approach. And when isolating long-iron play, he sits 5th in this field since the start of the year.

Interestingly, it’s been the short game that’s held him back from converting more of these top-10s into true winning opportunities. But for a player of Schauffele’s pedigree, that’s unlikely to persist forever -- and when it does flip, the wait for a 2026 breakthrough could be brief.

It’s difficult to imagine that this time last year, as Matt Fitzpatrick stepped onto Quail Hollow for the 2025 PGA Championship, his world ranking sat 85th and his betting odds stretched beyond 200-1.

The subsequent four days in Charlotte changed everything. A top-10 finish --his first in 21 worldwide starts -- proved to be the catalyst for a remarkable resurgence that ultimately carried him back to the upper echelon of the game, peaking as high as No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

In fact, the 5.8 strokes Fitzpatrick gained on approach at last year’s PGA marked his best iron performance since his RBC Heritage win two seasons prior, and served as the turning point in what had been his most persistent weakness.

After spending the previous two years outside the top 100 in approach play, Fitzpatrick now ranks 7th in this field over the last 12 months. He’s gained strokes on approach in nine of his last 10 starts, and with his putting also stabilizing over the last two months, he’s produced the most sustained stretch of elite golf in his PGA Tour career.

His driving and short game remain metronomic strengths, leaving few holes in an increasingly complete profile. A win this week would not only mark another step toward season-long Player of the Year contention, but also make him the first player in nearly a decade to win in three consecutive PGA Tour starts (Dustin Johnson, 2017). He was T2 through 36 holes on these links last year, and with the version of himself arriving this week, there’s every reason to believe he can finish the job this time.

From becoming the 2026 PLAYERS Champion, to earning a share of the Masters 54-hole lead, and now a runaway win at Doral, the last six weeks have proven to be quite the ascent for 28-year-old Cameron Young.

Since the start of March, Young has risen from 21st to 3rd in the Official World Golf Ranking, and in this career-defining spell, he's proven he's got more than one way of climbing to the top of the leaderboard. At the PLAYERS Championship, it was his iron play. Cam gained over seven strokes on approach for the week -- the second-best mark of his career.

At Augusta, Young's elite driving took center stage: gaining 5.5 strokes to the field whilst sitting 11th in distance and 2nd in accuracy.

And last week, in his own words, Young "made a billion feet of putts" en route to a runaway win at Doral. The 9.63 strokes he gained with his short game was the third-best week of his career, and bested the field by nearly two shots.

Cameron's ability to flash an elite ceiling in each of the game's three phases makes him as impressive of a projection as there is to be found in the sport. There's no signs of him slowing down anytime soon, and Quail Hollow's driver-heavy layout will undoubtedly spark callbacks to the test he conquered a week ago.

Although his price continues to climb into more and more uncomfortable territory, there's nothing in the stats to indicate this recent form is temporary. At this point, anything less than another Sunday in contention would feel like a step back.

Just as he did in the aftermath of his first Masters win 12 months ago, Rory McIlroy will his return to competitive golf at Quail Hollow -- one month after slipping on a Green Jacket for the second consecutive year. While much speculation will be made of the preparation given to this week, absolutely none can be given to McIlroy's fit at the golf course in hand.

Fourteen appearances. Four wins, five additional top 10s and only one missed cut. Rory has been dubbed the "King of the Queen City" around these parts, and for good reason. His status as the most prolific driver in the history of the game is felt as strongly as ever here at Quail Hollow, where he's averaged nearly five strokes gained to the field off of the tee alone here since 2010. And his affinity for long-iron approach shots (98th Percentile Proximity to the Hole; 96th percentile SG/Shot), will be especially amplified on a course that saw over 64% of second shots come from beyond 175 yards last season.

While Rory's comfort around these parts cannot be questioned, his commitment in preparation to this year's rendition may well be. After all, we're just 12 months removed from an underwhelming summer of results for Rory post-Masters. And with the season's second Major Championship looming in a week's time, there's no doubt which of the next two tournaments will have a greater bearing on McIlroy's standing all-time. Of course, with his ability, it wouldn't be a shock to see him contend here without his best stuff, but at prices <6-1 at most spots, bettors will have to wrestle with how much exposure they want in a golfer we haven't seen play competitively since tapping in his winning putt on Augusta's 18th green.