2026 Truist Championship Power Rankings: Top 10 Golfers To Watch

May 12, 2026

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

The PGA Championship returns to Aronimink Golf Club, a classic Northeast test which breaks from the traditional mold of sprawling 7,700-yard championship setups. And as a result, this week is especially interesting for the way it opens up multiple paths to success.

With its 7,300 yard layout, an abundance of wedge shots, and some of the trickiest green complexes players will navigate all year, both elite power players and savvy positional specialists will have a legitimate claim as the superior course fit. And in addition, the PGA Championship stage will not only welcome LIV Golf's best, but the World No. 1 and No. 2 in the same field for the first time since coming 1-2 at Augusta National.

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 PGA Championship!

No. 10 - Patrick Cantlay

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been fooled before by Patrick Cantlay at major championships, but with four consecutive top-12 finishes entering Aronimink, he looks primed to arrive at his 10th PGA Championship as a legitimate threat.

The venue should suit Cantlay perfectly. He rates as one of the field’s most reliable wedge players, and his résumé in the Northeast is extensive: back-to-back BMW Championship victories in Maryland (2021) and Delaware (2022), eight consecutive top-15 finishes at TPC River Highlands, and a fourth-place finish at last year’s Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club.

Many of those venues share Aronimink’s demand for precision with the scoring clubs, and Cantlay’s profile suggests he’s more than capable of capitalizing on the abundance of short par 4s in this week’s routing. Over the last 12 months, the UCLA product ranks at or above the 95th percentile in Strokes Gained per Shot, Proximity to the Hole, GIR Rate, and Poor Shot Avoidance from 100-150 yards -- a statistical catalog that places him ahead of every player in this field from that critical range.

The encouraging signs extend to the greens as well. Cantlay has gained nearly a half-stroke per round putting on Bentgrass surfaces over the last 18 months, leads this field in Approach Putt Performance and recently turned in one of his best putting performances of the season on Quail Hollow’s slick, undulating complexes en route to a T10 finish (+3.86 SG: Putting).

I’m sure many have long since abandoned the idea of Patrick Cantlay ever winning a major championship, but that skepticism has quietly created value in the betting market. He can still be found north of 50-1 outright, a dramatic shift from the 20s and 25s many chased during his peak years earlier this decade. yet the underlying data suggests his current form is not all that far removed from the player who once climbed to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

I still believe elite golf remains ahead for the 34-year-old, and a venue like Aronimink feels about as tailor-made as a major championship setup can be for his current profile. As long as he remains a relative afterthought on odds boards, I'll remain a buyer on the talent.

No. 9 - Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele hits it to tap-in birdie range on his final hole of the tournament 🔥

Fantastic Sunday round of 65 for X 👏 pic.twitter.com/MVGUtGFAdn

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) March 22, 2026

Like his buddy Cantlay, Xander's case this week will rely heavily on his history on comparable setups in the Northeast. Xander won the 2024 PGA Championship on a similar agronomic setup at Valhalla, he captured the 2022 Travelers in Cromwell, CT -- another positional, wedge-heavy track three hours north of Aronimink -- and came third at this very venue the last time an event was held in Newtown Square (2018 BMW).

To Schauffele’s credit, the peaks have arguably been even higher this season than those of his Southern California counterpart. The reigning PGA Champion owns a T3 at TPC Sawgrass alongside additional top-10 finishes at Riviera, Augusta National, and Innisbrook, proving once again that his game travels across virtually every style of test.

And while a disappointing T60 at Quail Hollow may leave a sour taste entering major week, the underlying ball-striking numbers remain elite. Schauffele currently ranks second on the PGA Tour in ball-striking and stands as the only player in this field to rank inside the top 10 in both driving and approach play.

Schauffele has yet to truly enter his name into a Sunday afternoon conversation this season, but he remains as steady of a Major performer as can be found in this field: logging a top 20 on an incredible 15 of his last 17 Major appearances. The underlying stats suggest something bigger could be in play for Schauffele this season, and as his price climbs above 20-1, it's difficult to fault anyone willing to buy into one of the game's steadiest championship performers.

No. 8 - Tommy Fleetwood

After being unceremoniously cast aside in last week's Power Rankings, Tommy Fleetwood answered the bell at Quail Hollow: logging four under-par rounds en route to a T5 finish -- Tommy's best result since his opening start of the season at Pebble Beach, and a stronger showing than any of the heralded list of pre-tournament favorites (McIlroy, Young, Schauffele, Aberg, etc.).

That performance should only strengthen confidence in Fleetwood heading into a setup that will be considerably more tailored to his strengths.

Of course, one of Tommy's most heart-wrenching defeats of 2025 came at TPC River Highlands -- missing a six foot putt on 18 to fall one stroke short of a charging Keegan Bradley. And earlier that season, Fleetwood finished in a tie for fourth just across town at Philly Cricket Club -- located just 15 minutes from Aronimink.

In addition to this recent history in the Northeast, Tommy can also fall back on one of the game's most reliable drivers (9th in Driving Accuracy), and a short game rank inside the top 12 both Around the Green and in long-term Bentgrass putting.

It remains entirely fair to question whether Fleetwood possesses the closing ability necessary to finally secure a major championship, but this particular setup checks an overwhelming number of boxes. Even if the outright ceiling remains debatable, the profile strongly suggests another week where Fleetwood comfortably factors into the top end of the leaderboard.

No. 7 - Bryson DeChambeau

After bowing out of last month Masters with a triple bogey on his 36th hole, Bryson DeChambeau enters the season's second Major Championship with plenty to prove.

In the month since Augusta, it feels as though an entire season’s worth of headlines has followed both DeChambeau and the league he represents. First came his outspoken criticism of the conditions at LIV Golf Mexico City -- an event he later withdrew from due to a wrist injury -- followed by the growing uncertainty surrounding PIF funding, and finally a return to form with a T3 finish in Virginia: his best result since winning back-to-back LIV titles entering Masters week.

Bryson hopes his play inside the ropes will be the only thing making headlines going forward, and on paper, Aronimink could set up as close to a LIV event as we'll see on the upcoming Major Calendar. At only 7,300 yards, relatively forgiving fairways, and incoming rain early in the week, the man who successfully bombed and gouged Winged Foot in 2020 could well be primed to give it another go in eastern PA.

After all, if LIV stats are anything to go off, DeChambeau's game is primed on all fronts. Through seven starts in 2026, Bryson sits fifth or better in Driving Distance, Greens in Regulation, Scrambling, and Putting Average.

With a proven Major Championship track record, seven career wins already in the Northeast, and one of the top driver/putter combinations in the field, DeChambeau is not a name to be underestimated. As his price drifts into the mid-20s, he presents a compelling interesting upside case on a course where his length could manufacture birdie chances in a way few are capable of replicating. Underestimate him at your own peril.

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No. 6 - Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm made 7 birdies to close with a 4 under par 68, his lowest of the week, to currently be T40 at the Masters.

After the round, he said he’s going to change some things in his preparation, but wouldn’t say what:

“I got away a lot of what not to do. Today was much better.… pic.twitter.com/zA8N2Vvzbg

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) April 12, 2026

When compared to Bryson, Rahm's Post-Masters journey has been predictably more stable. The Spaniard continued his absurd run of consistency on LIV Golf -- now 31 top-10 finishes in 32 starts -- first with a dominant six-shot victory in Mexico City, followed by a T8 finish in Virginia.

Through the opening four months of 2026, Rahm leads LIV Golf in Birdie Average (5.64), Greens in Regulation (81.15), and Total Driving (316.5 yards in Distance; 62.2% Accuracy), and has gained a whopping 1.04 strokes per round with his approach play according to DataGolf's True Strokes Gained metric.

For reference, that figure lead the PGA Tour on approach. And as mentioned with Bryson earlier, Aronimink's softer setup should feel a bit less jarring than the ultra-firm Augusta National which Rahm stepped up to on Thursday afternoon.

While that opening 78 ultimately cost the Spanish No. 1 any chance at contending for his first Masters title, it should be noted that Rahm gained strokes with his iron play and his putter on each of the next three days -- most notably in a final round 68 where he made 7 birdies and acknowledged the need for better preparation on firmer major championship setups.

That adjustment period should be far less severe this week. Aronimink’s softer conditions, receptive Bentgrass greens, and emphasis on high-level tee-to-green control align naturally with Rahm's strengths. At his best, Rahm still possesses one of the highest competitive floors in professional golf. It wouldn't be the least bit surprising to look back at his T38 at Augusta as the outlier of his season rather than a harbinger of things to come.

There weren’t many elite players who escaped the Truist Championship unscathed, but after carding four under-par rounds -- including a closing 66 -- at Quail Hollow, Ludvig Åberg once again arrives at the PGA Championship looking every bit like one of the tournament favorites.

Ultimately, it was the putter that kept Åberg from seriously threatening the title, though the 9.55 strokes he gained tee-to-green still marked his second-best performance of the season. In truth, regardless of venue or setup, Åberg’s ball-striking has traveled everywhere in 2026. From expansive driver-heavy tests like Bay Hill and Quail Hollow to the tighter, more positional demands of Harbour Town and TPC Sawgrass, the Swede has consistently played his way onto leaderboards -- all without the kind of spike putting performances that recently carried players like Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick to signature victories.

Aronimink Golf Club could provide the ideal setting for everything to click at once. Bentgrass has comfortably been Åberg’s best putting surface since arriving on Tour, with the 26-year-old gaining over half a stroke per round across 13 career starts in the Midwest and Northeast.

He has also developed into one of the game’s better lag putters, ranking 10th in this field in Approach Putt Performance over the last 12 months. And coming into these greens, Aberg sits third on the PGA Tour when it comes to gaining strokes on approach shots from 100-150 yards.

We know the driver is as elite as they come in the game, and the short game is vastly improved: Up to 17th thus far this season from 129th a year ago. With five top-eight finishes in his last six starts, all the indicators continue pointing toward a breakthrough major championship moment arriving sooner rather than later. I fully expect Åberg to once again be a central figure on the weekend leaderboard..

No. 4 - Matt Fitzpatrick

It wasn’t the ideal final tune-up for Matt Fitzpatrick last week at Quail Hollow, where the Englishman stumbled to a T52 finish at the Truist Championship. Still, he arrives at the year’s second major as one of the hottest players in the world.

Four of Fitzpatrick’s last six starts have resulted in either a victory or a runner-up finish, and as has been mentioned nearly every week in this very article, his iron play continues to trend among the game’s elite. He gained another two-plus strokes on approach at Quail Hollow -- his sixth consecutive event with a positive approach rating -- and now ranks as the fourth-best iron player in the world on a per-round basis in 2026.

Strangely enough, it was Fitzpatrick’s driver and putter that let him down in Charlotte, where he lost a combined 8.34 strokes between the two categories. Given his long-term pedigree on the greens, I’m more than willing to overlook a one-week putting regression. And on a golf course expected to play closer to 7,300 yards, Fitzpatrick’s positional brilliance off the tee should become far more impactful than it was at sprawling venues like Quail Hollow or Augusta National.

We're coming up on a full year now since Fitzpatrick began this resurgence to the top of the world rankings with a stint at contention at last year's PGA Championship. And since then, he's done nothing but develop himself into a truly elite threat on the world stage. Given how his season has started, anything except a serious run at his second career Major Title will go down as a disappointment for England's No. 1.

With two Signature Event victories and a near-miss at Augusta already on his 2026 résumé, the Cameron Young train arrives at Aronimink believing there is nothing in professional golf beyond its reach. In fact, after his rapid ascent to World No. 3, Young now stands as the highest-ranked player in the world without a major championship victory -- though not without several agonizing close calls along the way.

Since arriving on Tour in 2022, Young has recorded a finish of fourth or better in all four major championships and owns seven top-10 finishes across just 17 career major starts. His elite driving has remained the foundational pillar throughout that rise -- he currently leads the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee -- but it is the dramatic evolution of his short game that has elevated him from perennial contender to one of the sport’s true superstars.

Ever since making a caddie change to longtime friend and former Wake Forest teammate Kyle Sterbinsky in May of last season, Young’s putting has transformed from maddeningly volatile into a legitimate weapon. Over his last 75 rounds, he ranks sixth in the world in Strokes Gained: Putting on a per-round basis, while producing three of the five best putting performances of his professional career within the last 11 months.

Two of those came in runaway victories at the Wyndham Championship -- his maiden PGA Tour title -- and earlier this season at Doral’s Cadillac Championship. But the performance most relevant to this week may have come at Oakmont Country Club, where Young gained 7.91 strokes putting during a T4 finish at last year’s U.S. Open. Like Aronimink Golf Club, Oakmont features massive, heavily contoured Bentgrass greens that place a premium on touch and long-range speed control. Couple that with Young’s increasingly impressive record on Augusta National’s famously treacherous surfaces, and the New Yorker has now repeatedly demonstrated an ability to solve some of the most difficult putting complexes in the game.

And if this season has taught us anything, it’s that when Young putts well, contention almost inevitably follows. He has gained strokes putting in six of his 10 starts in 2026; five of those six resulted in finishes of seventh or better.

There will be no shortage of people predicting Cameron Young’s long-awaited major breakthrough this week. Based on both the recent results and the underlying metrics, the hype appears entirely justified.

For the better part of the last decade, every major championship involving Rory McIlroy has arrived carrying some version of the same question: can he finally do it again?

That burden no longer exists.

His first Major Championship start in 2026 showed just how dangerous an unburdened McIlroy can be: racing out to a record six-shot lead through 36 holes at last month's Masters, before calmly closing the door with four birdies in a seven-hole stretch mid-round to create the necessary separation and seal his sixth career Major title.

The question now becomes: How high can McIlroy climb from here? And this week, the canvas could well be set up for another vintage Rory performance in his quest for No. 7.

Starting with his most prolific weapon, McIlroy's driver is perhaps the only club in the field that can match Bryson's sheer length. McIlroy has already commented in the press that strategy here is "pretty nonexistent," which is exactly what you want to hear when the optimal strategy for Rory likely involves utilizing his power to its fullest extent.

But while McIlroy has never had any trouble tackling any driving test, a more meaningful evolution has come with his scoring clubs. Once one of the more maligned aspects of his game, McIlroy’s wedge play has become a legitimate strength over the last 12 months: ranking in the 91st percentile in Strokes Gained on approach shots from 100-150 yards, the 97th percentile in Proximity to the Hole, and the 97th percentile in Poor Shot Avoidance.

In addition, his short game has already proven capable of delivering on the biggest stage: gaining a combined 7.9 strokes chipping and putting at Augusta National. And as we head back into the Northeast this week, it's important to note his recent pedigree on bentgrass. Over the last two seasons, McIlroy has gained over six-tenths of a stroke per round on comparable surfaces, the 11th-best mark in this field.

It is not uncommon for the statistical case to point toward McIlroy in a major week, but what truly stood out in his triumph last month was the composure that underpinned it. The control. The sense that the moment no longer dictated his game. Rather, he dictated it.

After all, it wasn’t just Augusta that defined his long major drought. He has consistently found himself in contention -- eleven top-10s in his last 17 major starts -- but only now does he once again look like a player who turns those chances into inevitability rather than hope.

In a season already filled with marquee moments, we still haven’t seen the week in 2026 where Scottie Scheffler fully reasserts himself as the undisputed best player in the world.

Yet with three consecutive runner-up finishes entering his PGA Championship title defense, the signs increasingly point toward that moment arriving sooner rather than later.

The biggest development has been the resurgence of his iron play. After spending much of the early season hovering around Tour average on approach, the World No. 1 has gained a cumulative 13.62 strokes on approach across his last three starts. To be clear, we are still not quite back to the historic baseline levels he maintained throughout the 2023-2025 seasons, but given the strength of the rest of his profile, Scheffler hardly needs to produce peak-Tiger iron play to contend at the game’s biggest events.

Even during this comparatively “quiet” stretch, Scheffler remains one of the elite total drivers in the sport, leads this field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, and perhaps most ominously of all, ranks eighth in putting on a per-round basis this season. On greens as expansive and undulating as those at Aronimink Golf Club, Scheffler’s elite long-range touch should prove invaluable. And unlike many of the modern major championship venues that stretch beyond 7,600 yards, Aronimink’s more modest setup minimizes the only relative weakness within Scottie’s elite skillset: raw distance compared to the game’s longest hitters.

The underlying numbers still suggest Scheffler sits atop the field in pure win equity, but the question bettors will have to wrestle with this week is just how big is that gap between the World's No. 1 and his challengers? At betting odds of 5-1 and a 1.5k salary gap on DraftKings to his next closest peer, the people making the lines are suggesting Scottie still sits in a tier of his own. I think it's only a matter of time until they are proven right, and as we saw at Quail Hollow a year ago, when things do inevitably come together for Scheffler, a runaway win is very much within the range of outcomes.