The biggest party in golf has returned, so get your koozies ready. The WM Phoenix Open, the PGA Tour's annual opening ceremony to the Super Bowl, has returned for yet another year.
Easily the most visible of the non-majors, the Phoenix Open is what every LIV event wishes it could be, without understanding the decades of natural growth and word-of-mouth hype that money can't buy. For every fair criticism from golf purists that this event receives, it is the best showcase for how golf as an entertainment product can exist and succeed in the current sports landscape.
While we won't have Zach Johnson yelling at rowdy fans again this year, we should get a great tournament this weekend.
Scottie Scheffler is back this year (and is fully healthy), Brooks Koepka is back at a tournament that he has won twice in the past, and Jordan Spieth might give us all hope again like he did last year. What a week!
The rankings didn't have a good week at Torrey Pines; can't say we had Justin Rose torching the field in the models, to be completely honest. However, every week is a week to improve, so let's find some more success.
Honorable Mentions: Ryan Gerard, Billy Horschel, Si Woo Kim, Maverick McNealy, Neal Shipley
9. Garrick Higgo
Higgo ended his 2025 with five straight top-25s across the PGA and DP World Tours. The South African lefty took a big leap last year, coming up with the second win of his career, while improving all of his underlying stats, raising his floor significantly. While he's coming off of a missed cut at Torrey, I'm not all that worried because Torrey has never been his tempo. Garrick Higgo's 2026 will truly get underway this week.
8. Pierceson Coody
Three straight top-25s to start the season, including a T2 last week at Torrey Pines, is nothing to sneeze at, which is why I'm backing Pierceson Coody this week.
Coody is someone I had my eye on as a breakout candidate this year, and there's been a major step up in Coody's all-around game to start the season. His driving is a major weapon, his iron play and short game have improved, and he's finally starting to convert scoring chances at a higher clip.
Much like my Ryan Gerard pick last week, we're going to ride the hot hand (and laugh in the face of all statisticians that say the "hot hand" doesn't exist) and get Coody in the lineup this week.
7. Michael Thorbjornsen
There has to be at least a tiny sliver of Michael Thorbjornsen's mind that wants to miss the cut this week so that he doesn't have to miss any of the Super Bowl (let's go Patriots, baby).
A T18 at the Farmers has Thor back on track after a rough opener to his season in La Quinta, and the only reason he finished that low is because he putted horribly on the weekend. He needs to dig deep, pull out his putting form from TGL this week, and Thor is going to contend.
6. Akshay Bhatia
From one TGL star to another, 2026 feels like it's a make or break year for Akshay Bhatia. He's shown flashes, he has the talent to be out on Tour with these guys, I just need to see that next bit of game elevation from him to feel like he can really start to be considered a stalwart in that upper echelon of Tour player.
If not, then he's just going to remain in that middle tier between star and mule. Much like Thor, get the TGL form kicking this week, and we'll see a big peak week from Akshay.
5. Harry Hall
Two starts, two top-25s for Harry Hall, with the putting numbers that really carried his strong 2025 has continued in the early stages of the 2026 season.
A perpetually underrated player in the eyes of the OWGR simply because he doesn't have more wins, Hall's irons have become a bit more consistent for him, which is going to really help around TPC Scottsdale. Last year's winner, Thomas Detry, came out of relative obscurity, and Harry Hall feels like he could follow that same mold this season.
4. Sam Burns
Funnily enough, I had Sam Burns in this exact same spot last season for this event. He's only played once this year, finishing T27 at The American Express on the back of an uncharacteristically bad putting week.
Burns has played well at TPC Scottsdale in the past, with a T6 in 2023 and a T3 in 2024. The key thing is his putter: Burns is relatively average to above-average everywhere else, but when his putting is on, he's a generational putter. I have faith in him finding his stroke this week in the desert.
3. Xander Schauffele
Last week was a major disappointment for Xander, and it really comes down to him not being able to find the face of the planet off the tee on Thursday and Friday. Good news for Schauffele: he's coming to a course where his worst career finish in 6 starts is T17.
I will say that if we have another missed cut or poor performance from Xander this week, he may get thrown into the Collin Morikawa penalty box for a little bit and not be considered in the rankings for a little while.
2. Ben Griffin
I'm still waiting on Ben Griffin to piece together four complete rounds this year, but I know once he does, the rest of the Tour needs to be on notice.
A true top-line talent on Tour, Griffin has had slow starts to seasons before, so his not breaking through for top-10s in the first couple of events isn't a sign of bad things to come. If anything, it shows how his floor has risen since breaking out last year, that he's still shaking the rust off, and has two top-25s in two starts. I don't see why Griffin couldn't contend this weekend.
1. Scottie Scheffler
It doesn't matter what I say here, it's all just the same as I've written before about Scottie. I think I'll just save my breath on Scottie until the majors, there's no need to be doing big deep dives on non-major events for him.