Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa lead notable bounce-back candidates on PGA Tour in 2026

Some of the biggest names in golf surely want to leave 2025 behind them and look toward the future with a new season on the horizon

Getting to the top is easy ... but staying there? That's the hard part. While that is an adage for a reason, when it comes to professional golf, it holds more often than not

Consistency shown by the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy is rare. Scheffler has been the world No. 1 for the longest stretch of time since Tiger Woods, while McIlroy has not dropped out of the top 20 in the world for more than a decade. 

It's mind-boggling stuff, really. It's not normal. It should not look that easy.

And so, for the rest of the mere mortals who are considered to be big-time players, ebbs and flows over the course of a career are only natural. There are highs and lows with the key being to ensure neither reaches extreme levels.

In 2025, the highs belonged mostly to Scheffler and McIlroy, which means lows were experienced by other notable names.

Former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark started the year at No. 7 in the Official World Golf Rankings, only to finish No. 41. The injury bug affected others' campaigns. Jordan Spieth returned from offseason wrist surgery and eased his way back. Sahith Theegala injured his neck during TGL play, leading to an inconsistent campaign. Will Zalatoris was forced to shut down following the Truist Championship in May, only to return to action a couple of weeks ago following another back procedure. That's just to name a few who struggled in 2025.

If staying at the top, climbing back up from a fall must be even harder. Which players have the best shot at regaining their status among the world's elites, and which may be past the peak of their careers?

Bounce-back candidates in 2026

Listed by OWGR

No. 41	Wyndham Clark
After two seasons where Clark nabbed three combined victories, including his win at Los Angeles Country Club, the right-hander went the wrong way in 2025. He posted his worst iron numbers since 2022 and his worst driving and putting numbers since 2021. Buoyed by a strong short-game season, Clark had two top-five finishes in 25 starts with his distant T4 at The Open doing a lot of heavy lifting. Will he return to being a top-10 player in the world again? Who knows? It wouldn't be surprised if he finds his way back into a winner's circle in 2026, especially with recent news of a new swing coach being added to the team.
No. 75	Jordan Spieth
Since raising the Claret Jug at the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale (where the championship returns this summer), Spieth has entered the winner's circle twice. Yes, that is it. Twice. The three-time major champion has dealt with a nagging wrist injury for most of that period, but a solution was found this past offseason when he underwent surgery to alleviate the pain. The statistics in 2025 were better -- he gained strokes in all four major strokes-gained categories -- but they felt a little "garbage time" adjacent. He found himself in weekend contention only a couple of times and will need to see more from his iron play in particular if he is to return to his perceived place in the golf world.
No. 84	Rickie Fowler
The bounce back actually began towards the end of his 2025 campaign. Fowler found himself in need of a strong summer and parlayed a sponsor invitation to the Memorial into a spot in the field at The Open where he finished top 20. The result was enough to propel him into the postseason, where he narrowly missed out on the Tour Championship following finishes of T6 at the St. Jude Championship and T7 at the BMW Championship. Most important for Fowler was how he got the job done late in the year, posting his best driving numbers since 2018 (the second-best statistical season of his career).
No. 91	Tony Finau
His best golf may be behind him. The 36-year-old's 2025 campaign came out of nowhere and sparks plenty of concern as he ages up. Finau's putter continued to present problems for the big-hitting right-hander, but it was his driver that sounded alarms as he bled strokes off the tee for the first time in his career. His iron play took a mighty dip as well, and as a result, he grabbed one top-10 finish 21 starts.
No. 105	Tom Kim
Kim enters 2026 outside the top 100 in the OWGR, outside all eight signature events and outside of all four major championships. That is a hard reality to grasp for a 23-year-old who has already won three times on the PGA Tour and is not all too far away from that form. That just goes to show how poor of a job he did in 2025. Kim's putter ran dry, his driving was wayward as he aimed to get faster, and his iron play suffered as well. There were signs towards the end, but he needs to go back to the drawing board get back to what made Tom Kim, Tom Kim his first couple of seasons on tour. The good news? He is still one of the youngest players competing on the circuit.
No. 112	Sahith Theegala
Another player on the younger side who is not scheduled to be in any big events entering the new year is Theegala, but at least he has an excuse. Theegala tweaked his neck while playing in TGL at the end of the winter and was forced to sit out some of the summer. When he did return, he still was not right and ultimately came back healthy during the fall to some better results -- albeit not great ones. It is tough to separate what was caused by injury and what was not, but long-term, it's worth buying into Theegala. He has too much skill to hold only one PGA Tour title, and with some added motivation to get off to a fast start, expect to see him winning a regular PGA Tour event in 2026.
No. 138	Max Homa
Lot of changes for Homa in 2026 -- clubs, clothes, swing coaches, feels, really the gamut -- and he did well to pop up every so often despite those. He was in the mix at the PGA Championship heading into the weekend and had a nice fall with three top 20s in four starts before hanging up the clubs due to an ankle injury. With his old swing coach, Mark Blackburn, back in his corner, the old Homa has a good chance of reemerging in some capacity in the new year.
No. 201	Will Zalatoris
It's only one tournament, but it is one that should provide some optimism for Zalatoris fans. Teeing it up in South Africa for the first time in a competitive setting since May, the wiry right-hander got stronger as the week progressed and ultimately finished T15. The performance was a classic Zalatoris showing as he struck the cover off the golf ball and struggled with the putter in hand. The name of the game with the 29-year-old is simple: Can his body withstand the grind of a full PGA Tour season? If the answer is yes, the results will follow.