Scottie Scheffler ended the 2026 PGA Tour season the same way he started it: with a trophy in hand. Now, it was surprising that he added only one in between those two -- and it coming less than two weeks ago at the St. Jude Championship -- but the world No. 1 showcased throughout the year why he is just that: the top player in the game.
Despite some of his peers like Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick and Wyndham Clark taking their best cracks at Scheffler, he remained atop these Power 18 golf rankings throughout the entire season. In addition to clipping Tiger Woods in official money on the PGA Tour, Scheffler can find a sense of accomplishment in this feat as well! It's not the first time (and likely not the last) that he will go wire-to-wire in the rankings.
But to say this season belonged to just Scheffler and the myriad of statistical categories that he led -- even wins by season's end -- would be doing the rest of the world of golf a serious injustice. As mentioned, there were guys who looked keen on threatening. The distance between Scheffler and whoever was No. 2 contracted at some points, although it may have ultimately expanded when given the context of a "down" season for Scheffler.
He shared the most wins with Fitzpatrick, Clark and Chris Gotterup, who finished just his third complete season on the PGA Tour. He saw unlikely major winners in Aaron Rai and Ryan Fox, and a Players Championship winner in Young. Scheffler's season was ultimately defined by his consistency -- something Ludvig Åberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay hope to take solace in.
From January through August, he was the man to beat. Even when he was not atop leaderboards by week's end, he was still top of mind and atop the world of golf. The Power 18 provides insight into how golfers are currently performing, based on their play in recent events.
It is a wider lens than simply what happened at the last tournament to be played but more narrow than the Official World Golf Rankings, which take into account how more than 2,000 golfers perform across an entire season.
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