My heart remains at Riviera Country Club, but my body is in a middle seat en route home. What better time to reflect on the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing — the good, the bad, the rumored, the mysterious.
Here are some winners, losers and questions from the opening stretch of the 2026 PGA Tour season.
WINNER: The 26-year-olds
Chris Gotterup won two of the first four events on this year’s calendar (given unusual circumstances, we’re treating the Sony as a half member of this year’s West Coast Swing), playing his best when things got most chaotic at the WM Phoenix Open and establishing himself as a fan favorite, a proven winner and arguably the best player on Tour 26 years old or below.
His current competition for that extremely unofficial title includes the guy who just won at Riviera; Jacob Bridgeman, like Gotterup, is 26. And while Gotterup took the weekend off (he missed the Genesis cut) Bridgeman beat everyone’s doors off for three days and hung on on Sunday to establish that he, too, has what it takes.
‘Couldn’t feel my hands’: Inside Jacob Bridgeman’s terrifying Genesis finish
By:
Dylan Dethier
LOSER: Hawaii x PGA Tour
Is the PGA Tour headed back to Hawaii? Next year? Ever? It skipped Kapalua this year under controversial circumstances. Its Sony sponsorship just ran out. As the powers that be continue to reimagine the Tour’s optimal schedule, Hawaii remains a logistical challenge lacking a “big market.” How highly will Rolapp and Co. value continuity, tradition and nostalgia? We’ll see.
QUESTION: Where are the 25-year-olds?
Speaking of age, it’s jarring to browse whichever version of the world rankings you’d prefer and marvel at the lack of young stars. The 26-year-olds may be having a moment, but we’re still waiting for the emergence of the next young wave. There’s no reason to despair: Akshay Bhatia (24), the Hojgaard twins (also 24) and the Michaels (Brennan and Thorbjornsen, each 24) could all be on the brink of a breakthrough. But with Tom Kim in a bit of a rut, it feels like we’re searching for Who’s Next. (Shoutout also to Blades Brown, who stole the show for much of the week in Palm Springs.)
WINNER: The 45-year-olds
OK, I promise this whole list won’t be about age. In fact, lemme start with some hypocrisy: I wish when we talk about Justin Rose and Adam Scott that we’d focus less on their age. But it’s a useful way to pair two particularly impressive West Coast showings; Rose’s blowout win at Torrey Pines is worth extra points, of course, but Scott’s Sunday 63 to finish fourth at Riviera was nothing to scoff at, either. These guys are remarkably similar ages, they’ve had remarkably similar careers and they’re performing at remarkably similar levels at the moment. Let’s get ’em on a remarkable leaderboard at the Masters.
LOSER: The Scandinavians
While athletes from Norway and Sweden were dominating the Winter Olympics, their PGA Tour counterparts were having a slightly tougher time on the West Coast. Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg are among the Tour’s biggest talents and fan favorites — but neither has had his best thus far this year.
Hovland had a strong start at the WM Phoenix Open (T10) but less so at Pebble Beach (T58) and Riviera (T41), where talk turned more to his training aids than his scores.
And Aberg got severely ill for a second consecutive West Coast Swing — though if there’s good news, it’s that he seems to be trending up. Going WD-MC-T37-T20 means I guess he’s headed for a Masters victory?
(In other Scandinavian news, Alex Noren went MC-MC in Palm Springs and San Diego, but his T12 at Riviera was encouraging, too. And representing Denmark, the Hojgaard twins have each showed encouraging signs; Nicolai finished T3 at the WM and was one blowup hole from contending to win.)
QUESTION: Will Tiger Woods play the Masters?
Tiger Woods hinted that he’ll try. Then he hinted that he’ll try a second time. I don’t know if he will, but I think he’s told us the truth — if he can, he’ll do it.
LOSER: Scottie Scheffler’s Thursdays
Scottie Scheffler’s first Thursday of the season was a 63 at the American Express. So it’s particularly jarring that he’s just No. 116 on Tour in Round 1 Scoring Average. And it was strange to see him in last place when play was halted this past Thursday. Still …
WINNER: Scottie Scheffler’s other days
Considering he was in last place on Friday morning and needed to make a seven-foot curler on 18 just to stay inside the cut line, Scheffler’s T12 was another remarkable display of skill and determination. Sure, it snapped his streak of 18 consecutive Tour top-10s. But it only reinforced the idea that if you play enough rounds of golf, eventually Scheffler will rise to the top. Four tournaments in, here’s how his scoring average looks by round:
Round 1: 70.50 (116th)
Round 2: 65.75 (2nd)
Round 3: 67.00 (7th)
Round 4: 64.50 (2nd)
(If you were wondering who could possibly beat that 64.5, Will Zalatoris has played one fourth round this year and shot 64.)
QUESTION: So what the heck is going on with Scheffler on Thursdays?
My best guess is still some version of “nothing, really; this has just been a weird blip on the radar.” He led the Tour in first-round scoring last year, after all, and has had some funky starts in strange conditions. Let’s wait for a bigger sample size before we get panicky here.
WINNER: California kids
I’m thinking of two in particular: Collin Morikawa, who won for the first time in too long at Pebble Beach, and Jake Knapp, who just quietly put together the best stretch of golf of his life. Knapp hasn’t finished worse than T11 in five starts this year. Morikawa’s win was meaningful on several levels — because of how long it had been, because of where it took place, because of everything that went into it, because he and his wife have a baby on the way. It’s good to see West Coast kids eat up the West Coast Swing. And then of course there was another California sensation in the winner’s circle …
LOSER: Anthony Kim’s haters and doubters
I write this tongue in cheek; I think Anthony Kim‘s win showed just how many people have been on his side this entire time, rooting for something special. But he’s used a chip on his shoulder to get this far, and his shot at the haters showed he’ll keep drawing on that. Mostly it’s worth acknowledging that one of golf’s biggest moments this month happened on LIV Golf, with a one-of-a-kind comeback story capped off with an electric finish to a story a dozen years in the making.
QUESTION: What’s next for Jon Rahm, LIV and the DP World Tour?
Big picture, this is one of pro golf’s most compelling questions moving forward; LIV and the DP World Tour still seem in an uneasy coexistence and I’m curious how that will resolve. For now the DPWT has reached a temporary truce with several of its LIV members, allowing them to play both circuits and maintain Ryder Cup eligibility. But why isn’t Jon Rahm one of the players taking that deal, and is there any chance in the world he doesn’t play on next year’s European Ryder Cup team?
WINNER: CBS golf coverage
These courses look awesome in person, they look incredible on television and CBS continues to innovate in order to dial in their coverage.
CBS is done until Augusta.
So they’ll go Pebble-Riviera-Augusta-Hilton Head. Might be the last time it happens.
Not sure there’s a more visually appealing stretch in golf for a network pic.twitter.com/s1RJG9fB97
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) February 23, 2026
Also, the little stuff continues to go a long way.
With Justin Rose up 6, shoutout to CBS going into commercial with ‘Ramble on Rose’ by the Grateful Dead. Good stuff on a few levels. The little things go a long way
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) February 1, 2026
LOSER: Soggy conditions
There’s been plenty of discussion about moving these marquee West Coast stops to later in the PGA Tour schedule. A cold, soggy Pebble Beach followed by a cold, soggy Riviera made that case much more appealing, with fans shivering on the rope lines and golf balls plugging in greens. Two perfect weekend days capped the Genesis off in style, and wet and windy can be entertaining at Pebble, but each was still missing some of the firm, fast character it has at its best.
QUESTION: So are we doing the August West Coast thing?
I leave California more confused than I arrived. On paper it seems smart to have the best courses in the biggest spots on the PGA Tour calendar; what could be cooler than Pebble and Riviera as playoff venues? But there are issues with both sites that time of year. Pebble has a car show and a full tee sheet and it’s not near enough of a population center to draw a playoff-worthy crowd. In L.A., locals suggested that the golf-going crowd would be out of town in August and that its current spot on the calendar is actually optimal for getting people to actually attend.
If I was in charge, my top priority would be to remove the playoff events from the hellish August humidity of Atlanta and Memphis. I don’t need them in California, though — Boston, Chicago and Seattle are calling, as are a dozen other medium-to-large cities with ideal summer days. I’m curious where they’ll land, though.
And what the West Coast Swing will look like next year, and the year after that, and when we’ll be gazing at golf’s glorious coastlines again.
We’ll see you in Florida.
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