PGA Tour breakout candidates in 2026: Who will follow in footsteps of J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin?

The term "breaking out" means different things to different people. For Ben Griffin last year, it meant finally stepping into the winner's circle on the PGA Tour alongside Andrew Novak at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. 

Griffin was one of many golfers to break out in 2025. The former mortgage loan officer won three times on the PGA Tour, clocked two top-10 finishes in the major championships and participated on the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black. He rose from No. 68 in the Official World Golf Rankings to No. 8. Not too shabby.

However, he was not the breakout candidate. Instead, that was J.J. Spaun. One year removed from being on the brink of losing his PGA Tour card, Spaun surged ahead in 2025 thanks to continued improvement in his approach play complementing added distance off the tee.

Spaun started the year No. 115 in the world and finished 2025 as the sixth-ranked golfer. He won the U.S. Open in dramatic fashion and fell in FedEx Cup Playoffs at the Players Championship and St. Jude Championship.

Those are your classic cases of breaking out in golf terms.

Cameron Young broke out for his long-awaited first victory on the PGA Tour. Tommy Fleetwood did the same and claimed the FedEx Cup while climbing to No. 3 in the world. Despite this, both have been labeled "breakout candidates" by some because they have another level to break through -- this time on a major stage.

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

Patrick McDonald

For our purposes, we will keep our line of thinking primarily in the Spaun camp, those players around the top 100 in the world or further down the rankings who we believe can make the big jump. Players who casual golf fans did not know or at the very least did not care for at the onset of the season but will be glued to their televisions watching by the end of it.

Five candidates to break out on PGA Tour in 2026

Official World Golf Rankings

No. 67	Max McGreevy
In trying to find one in the Ben Griffin tier of breakouts, I landed on McGreevy. He's 30 years old, coming off the best season of his PGA Tour career and starts the year at a similar point in the OWGR. Breaking out for him may be as simple as winning on the PGA Tour; however, despite his proclivity to find fairways and greens in bunches, his upside may be limited due to lack of pop in the bat. He finished his year with four top-12 finishes in his final five starts and is in the first two signature events of 2026. He will need to parlay those starts into more, and if he does, he can turn into a more prominent fixture on Tour.
No. 96	Pierceson Coody
There was a lot of chatter late in the season about who led the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee, and it proved to be Coody, albeit in a very limited sample size. The 25-year-old had his chances on the PGA Tour in 2025 despite not playing in a full-time capacity, as noted by his T3 finishes at the 3M Open and Bank of Utah Championship. The driver puts him in a very advantageous position compared to his peers, and his late-summer numbers suggest his iron play is beginning to catch up.
No. 117	Angel Ayora
If I had to pick one breakout candidate, it would be Ayora, and it would not be particularly close. The 21-year-old Spaniard finished his 2025 season on the DP World Tour with seven top-10 results in his final 10 tournaments. The swing is as silky as they come, and his ball-striking numbers are as good as they look. He is longer than Scottie Scheffler and more accurate than Ludvig Åberg with the driver in hand. His short game will improve just in time for him to earn his full-time membership on the PGA Tour for 2027 by finishing inside the top 10 in the Race to Dubai in 2026.
No. 168	Wenyi Ding
In the fall of 2024, Ding won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship only to forgo his Masters invitation and turn professional instead. His first year on the DP World Tour was met with some success as he notched a couple of top 10 finishes before the year-end tournaments in Australia where he finished second at the Australian PGA and top 20 at the Australian Open. Expect more of those results in 2026 from the former U.S. Junior winner as his driving continues to track nicely.
No. 188	Jose Luis Ballester Barrio
Probably best known in 2025 for taking a leak in Rae's Creek at the Masters, Ballester turned heads again later in the year by winning the Saudi International for his first professional victory. Along with David Puig, Ballester is one of two young Spaniards on LIV Golf who have great chances to make some serious noise in 2026 based on their profiles of hitting it a mile and making a ton of putts. In between, he will have to improve in order to qualify for major championships; his margin to make his way into those tournaments is thin but not completely blocked off.