After one of the most entertaining major championships in recent memory, the PGA Tour heads from the intensity of the PGA Championship to the familiar Texas swing for this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
The event returns to TPC Craig Ranch for the sixth time, but this year’s tournament arrives with a dramatically different look. Following Scottie Scheffler’s dominant eight-shot victory in 2025, the course underwent a $25 million renovation — the first significant redesign since the venue opened in 2004.
Scheffler’s performance last year was historic in more ways than one. His eight-shot margin marked the second-largest victory in tournament history, trailing only Sam Snead’s 10-shot win in 1957. The world No. 1 also tied the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history with a blistering 253, matching marks set by Ludvig Åberg at the 2023 RSM Classic and Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Now Scheffler returns to defend his title on a course that should look and play significantly different from the one he dismantled a year ago.
The Byron Nelson remains one of the Tour’s most historic stops. It was the first PGA Tour event named after a professional golfer, honoring legendary Texan Byron Nelson, whose résumé includes 52 PGA Tour victories and a record-setting 18-win season in 1945, including 11 consecutive titles.
While Scheffler enters as the clear headliner, recent tournament history suggests international players have thrived at Craig Ranch. Five of the last six champions have come from outside the United States, including Sung Kang, K.H. Lee, Jason Day and Taylor Pendrith.
One of the more intriguing storylines this week belongs to Texas native Pierceson Coody, who will make his fifth career start at the event. The 26-year-old has quietly pieced together a strong season with seven top-25 finishes in 14 starts, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Golf history runs deep in the Coody family. His grandfather, Charles Coody, won three PGA Tour titles, including the 1971 Masters and the 1964 Byron Nelson.
This year’s field includes two of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Scheffler and Si Woo Kim. The tournament also features five former Byron Nelson champions: Billy Horschel, Aaron Wise, K.H. Lee, Pendrith and Scheffler.
Five major champions are also in the field, including five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, giving the event added star power just days removed from the season’s second major.
After the drama and pressure of the PGA Championship, the Byron Nelson offers a different kind of challenge: a renovated course, a historically low-scoring setup, and a field eager to chase down the game’s top-ranked player in his home state.