With a few events remaining on the fall schedule, we're going to take a look at a few up-and-coming talents who could be players to watch on the PGA Tour in 2026, and Pierceson Coody certainly fits that bill.
Coody is from Plano, Texas, and is part of the illustrious Coody family. He is a third-generation professional golfer, as he and his twin brother Parker are both supremely talented. Coody's father, Kyle, played on the Asian Tour and Nike Tour in the 1990s. But his grandfather, Charles, was the real stick of the family, as he not only played on the PGA Tour but also won three times, including the 1971 Masters, holding off Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.
Tough shoes to fill for young Pierceson, but he certainly is on the right track at an early age. Coody turns 26 in January and followed in his dad's footsteps, playing on the Texas Longhorns' golf team from 2018 to 2022.
Pierceson had a very notable college career with the Longhorns after winning a state championship title in high school. His play most notably earned him spots on the 2020 and 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup, an annual USA vs. International golf team event for college/university golfers. Not only was Coody on both of those teams, but he also made the 2021 Walker Cup team, which was victorious.
Once Coody finished his collegiate career, racking up some Big 12 awards along the way, he decided to turn pro. Now, turning pro can often be a tough transition as you adapt to playing at the highest level, but not for Pierceson. He came flying out of the gates, winning three Korn Ferry Tour events between June 2022 and July 2023. Winning those events in short order led him to finish inside the top 30 and earn his PGA Tour card in 2023.
Pierceson's 2023-23 campaign featured just seven starts with a single top-25 performance, but it was in 2024 that he showed a bit more promise. In 27 starts, Coody made 10 cuts, finishing with four top-25 finishes, including top-10s at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the ISCO Championship. He finished his year with just over a million dollars in his wallet and 120th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Why is Pierceson Coody a player to watch in 2026?
I talked about his 2024 campaign, but in 2025, especially later in the year, I noticed Pierceson start to turn the corner a bit. It is not easy when you are not playing consistently, and early on, we saw Coody play seven times between the beginning of March and the end of May.
But he then went the entire month of June with zero starts and just one start in August/September. It should be noted, though, that we're referring to only PGA Tour starts, as he did appear in many Korn Ferry Tour events during this stretch. What I wanted to note, though, is his last four PGA Tour starts.
Go back to the 3M Open in late July, an event where it took four really low scores to be in the hunt. Coody fired four rounds of 67 to finish tied for third. Now, sure, you can point to his missed cut the next week at the Wyndham and be critical, but he did fire an opening-round 69, and it was just a tough second day that kept him out of the weekend.
He was tied for 14th at the Sanderson Farms in Mississippi and then recently tied for ninth at the Bank of Utah Championship. That was very exciting to see, and with three events coming up, I would expect to see him make an appearance or two there as well.
Coody's game has a lot of strengths
Honestly, the first thing that stood out to me about him was his length off the tee. Could he find the short grass a little bit more? Yes, but the fact he ranked in the top 15 on tour in distance in 2024 shows that he is consistently long, and he even poked one out there a modest 406 yards at one point.
This is largely due to his swing not only being fast, but talk about tempo town. There are plenty of guys on tour with beautiful swings, but I have not seen too many that look as in sync. His clubhead speed being 120-plus puts him up there with the Rory McIlroys and Ludvig Abergs of the world.
The other part of his game which is incredibly impressive is his putting. A lot of people look at one-putt percentage or putts per round as key metrics. To me, it is all about what your strokes gained putting looks like, and Pierceson ranking 13th on tour in 2024 was great to see. He was a top-five putter on the entire tour from between 15 and 20 feet, which is huge. Oh, and the guy didn't miss a four-footer the entire season, so I love to see that as well.
What is the one thing Coody needs to work on to take the next step?
The short game. Oh yes, the dreaded short game that can haunt even the greatest golfers in the world. If you look at his 2024 numbers, he was just simply below average: 155th in proximity, 168th in scrambling, and 130th in sand saves.
He drives for show, and he can putt for dough. But when he does not have the flat stick in his hand putting for birdie, he often is grinding over longer par saves more than he would like. I mentioned in the previous paragraph that he is nails from 15-20 feet, which can help a bit with these longer par saves. But even the best in the world are less than 50% from that distance.