After a fun trip abroad for the last month, we have made our way back stateside for this week's Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions.
This new tournament on the PGA Tour calendar (which hasn't had the smoothest rollout process) will debut the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort, a Tom Fazio design that will look shockingly similar to the rest of his well-known designs. But what else can you expect from the Thomas Kinkade of the golf architecture world?
Before I get down to the rankings, a brief post-mortem on LIV Golf. It was announced last week that LIV would be winding down operations, bringing to an end this years-long schism in professional golf. This PIF-backed project never really seemed long for this world, and all it did was help ruin the legacies of a few golf greats, cause golf fans to miss out on potential duels between golf's biggest stars either hitting their prime or living through it, and maybe worst of all, it just wasted all of our time.
It constantly felt in the middle of an identity crisis and could never really justify itself as a serious alternative to the PGA Tour. Did it ultimately force the Tour to take things a bit more seriously and help usher in an era of change and innovation? Yes, and some credit must be given there. Ultimately, LIV Golf is going to be looked back on as a failed experiment that promised the world to its backers but just left everyone feeling like they got scammed.
And now, back to the golf. The rankings for last week performed decently well, as honorable mention Blades Brown picked up his first Tour win and became the first teenager to win on Tour since Jordan Spieth. Brown beat rankings pick Ben James in a playoff, and the rest of the first page of the leaderboard was dotted with rankings picks, so I'll call last week a win. This week will be tough since we don't know anything about this course, but we'll hope for the best and try to find another winner.
Honorable Mentions: Mackenzie Hughes, Chris Kirk, Ben Kohles, Jackson Koivun, Nick Taylor
9. Kensei Hirata
Sometimes, winning a golf tournament is all about just getting hot at the right time. This may be the first time some of you have heard of Kensei Hirata, but he has been playing some good golf as of late. Out of everyone in this week's field, Hirata is eighth in strokes gained over the past 30 days, which has included a T11 at VidantaWorld and a solo fourth last week.
The rookie was completely lost in the wilderness for the bulk of 2026 but now seems to be finding his footing and getting some results to bolster his confidence. Based on the strong recent play, I think he can make a true run at the title this weekend.
8. Austin Smotherman
Austin Smotherman took some well-earned time off after his triumph in Bermuda a few weeks ago, and hopefully he hasn't lost the touch with his putter that led to his hot streak through October. In lieu of any historical data to go off of from Canyons, I'll be using Quail Hollow, a Fazio redesign, as it's main stand-in for my analysis.
Smotherman played well at this year's Truist, finishing T19 and having one of his best putting performances of the season that week. His entire game is firing right now, so why can't he go three for three?
7. David Ford
David Ford has become something of a forgotten man in this crop of young players that have hit the game this year, mainly because he had to deal with an injury issue from April to September. Since he's come back, Ford has picked up three top-25 finishes, including a T3 in Utah and a solo fifth last week in Mexico.
The short game continues to be a bit of an issue for Ford, but the driving and iron play have been so strong that it doesn't matter. Ford ranks ninth in the field in strokes gained per round over the last three months, meaning the ball-striking is there for him to make these runs very consistently. This week may be a bit too soon for Ford, but I'll plant the flag now and wait for things to pay off.
6. Brian Harman
The last time we saw Brian Harman was at this year's Baycurrent, where he picked up a very solid T4 finish. Now, we don't get any detailed strokes-gained data from the Baycurrent, but we do know that Harman was able to average two strokes gained per round, which is a very impressive performance level. I'm going with the 39-year-old this week because he seems to play well anytime the Tour is in Texas.
He won the Valero last year, and he's played well at each of the Texas events. He may not really line up too well on paper with what the course asks of the players, but there may be just enough of a geographical edge for Harman to make a run this weekend.
5. Blades Brown
Huh, the teenager who can make a ton of birdies won the birdiefest, who could've seen that coming? The 19-year-old played out of his mind on Sunday, making 10 birdies in regulation and two more on the two playoff holes to pick up his first career win after starting the day seven shots back.
The kid has been showing his talent constantly, finishing second at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship a few weeks back amid a slew of top-25 finishes all season on the KFT. I have him this low because winning a golf tournament is exhausting (I imagine), so I fully understand if he doesn't fully show up this week mentally. The talent is too immense to keep him off the rankings altogether.
4. Andrew Novak
Our winner two weeks ago at VidantaWorld, Andrew Novak's return to form has been boosted by a hot putter. In his first three rounds at the Mexico Open, Novak gained 12 strokes putting, leading the entire field and making it a runaway five-shot victory. I don't think he'll need to match that effort this week in Austin, but if he can keep up this positive stretch with the putter, and pair it with his strong approach play, he's going to contend again.
3. Jordan Smith
Yet another Englishman in the rankings this week, Jordan Smith has been playing some very solid golf as of late. He has rattled off three straight top-20 finishes, including a T9 this past week at El Cardonal. If I keep running with Quail Hollow as the main comp, then Smith should set up pretty well this week.
His one experience at the course is the 2017 PGA Championship, where he finished T9. Sure, it was nine years ago, but we'll take what we can get in the analysis. He's always been a name that seems to pop up randomly, especially in the majors, so I don't want to be caught off guard this week.
2. Seamus Power
Seamus Power's strong play that earned him a spot in the rankings last week continued, resulting in a T8 finish. The interesting thing about Power's performance at El Cardonal is that it wasn't one specific area of the game that drove his play, but rather solid play in all aspects of the game led to Power leading the field with three eagles. It just feels like Power's game is peaking right now, and he needs to take advantage of it this week.
1. Doug Ghim
Everyone is going to be on Doug Ghim this week, which means this is going to be the most obvious missed-cut play in the whole world. However, I will err on the side of optimism and ride with the Ghim Reaper this weekend.
Currently on a run of six straight top-25 finishes, this is the best I've ever seen the 30-year-old play in his Tour career, and it feels right for him to end up in the winner's circle this week. He's a University of Texas alum, so Austin serves as a borderline home game for him this weekend. Just keep doing what you're doing, Doug, and you'll win this weekend.
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