A pair of two-time U.S. Open champions are heading in different directions entering the year’s final major
The pages keep on flipping, and the winners keep on coming as two months remain in the 2026 season. The U.S. Open marked the end of major championship season in the United States as Wyndham Clark overcame more than the fans at Shinnecock Hills to capture his second U.S. Open title and second trophy of the year.
Clark’s return to relevance has continued a theme from 2026 — players are never too far from finding their peak form. Just look at a couple of weekends ago in Cromwell, Connecticut, where Viktor Hovland captured the eighth PGA Tour title of his career amid a season that has been relatively sleepy.
Other winners like J.J. Spaun, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young, to an extent, all exude this common theme and could give way to a potentially unpredictable final section of this calendar year.
Even though there has been more unpredictability than in recent seasons, what has remained the same is Scottie Scheffler’s presence on the first pages of leaderboards. The world No. 1 has remained winless since his first tournament of 2026, but the consistency with which he contends has been enough to keep his name above the rest heading into the final major championship of the season next week.
Scheffler’s status atop the Power 18 golf rankings continues to reign at No. 1, while other big names such as Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Young have shuffled down the board.
The Power 18 provides insight into how golfers are currently performing with the benefit of their play over 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.