Iimagine a long road trip that is best taken in segments. Go from where you started to a particular town or road along the way and the journey changes in a new direction.
On the PGA Tour, that’s called leaving the West Coast and arriving in Florida for a four-week series of tournaments that exude a spring break atmosphere, with the Masters’ Emerald City coming into view on the horizon.
It’s from west coast to east coast. Poa annua to Bermuda. From Tiger’s event to Arnie’s event.
Six weeks into the 2026 season, the PGA Tour is in full swing.
Brooks Koepka is back. Scottie Scheffler hasn’t gone anywhere. Collin Morikawa is back. Justin Rose isn’t going anywhere.
Young stars Chris Gotterup and Jacob Bridgeman are travel buddies and now they can compare trophies. Jake Knapp has five top-11 finishes in five starts. Pierceson Coody is trending.
Justin Thomas could return any week now and Tiger Woods is teasing the possibility of playing in Augusta in six weeks.
Yes, please.
Seasons, whether football, baseball or professional golf, have their own cadence. The longer the season, the more teams or individuals tend to break them up into smaller pieces. A four-game road trip. On the way to the bye week. Swapping California for Florida.
The most surprising trend that developed in West was Scheffler’s first round of funk. Three weeks in a row, Scheffler played himself in a hole, shooting 73-72-74 and forcing himself to play from far behind.
The tour’s West Coast swing (we’re including Hawaii) came out like a good pre-dinner cocktail, satisfying and setting the tone for what’s to come.
It tends to identify new faces and if Gotterup and Bridgeman weren’t exactly strangers beforehand, they’ve established their bona fides. In the process they have strengthened the tour’s model of producing its own new stars, an ongoing process undeterred by LIV Golf’s efforts to entice some of the game’s top young talents.
Gotterup is sixth in the world rankings (four of the 2026 tour winners – Scheffler, Morikawa, Rose and Gotterup – are among the top six) and seems comfortable in his new job.
Some players think it’s a while – Wyndham Clark won three times in ten months and hasn’t won for two years now – and maybe that’s where Gotterup is. Or maybe he’s built for the long haul, with a homemade swing he trusts and an attitude that fuels his success.
Bridgeman smiled Sunday night at the fact that he has now done something Woods and Jack Nicklaus never did: win at Riviera. He’s been steadily climbing and one of the tour’s secrets to success is consistently being on the edge of contention.
Playing toward something rather than away from it is what Bridgeman does these days, even if it was hard for him to find oxygen late Sunday afternoon when his lead was melting. He woke up Sunday with a six-shot lead and instead of pretending it wasn’t there, Bridgeman did his best to embrace it because that’s who he is.
“Yes, I’ve thought about it. I won’t shy away from that,” Bridgeman said.
The most surprising trend that developed in West was Scheffler’s first round of funk. Three weeks in a row, Scheffler played himself in a hole, shooting 73-72-74 and forcing himself to play from far behind.
As shocking as the first-round trend was, Scheffler’s response was remarkable. He played the final three rounds of those three events with a combined score of 51 under par. With a week at home before appearing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week, he needs to take down the first round at Bay Hill.
“If you look at three tournaments in a row, I haven’t started that well. If you look at it from a macro point of view, the sample size is so small.
“I’ve played 11 rounds in the last few weeks and I had eight pretty solid ones and three that I would like to get back,” Scheffler said Saturday in Riviera before launching into a final round of 65.
Arnie’s house, with its ankle-deep rough and crunchy vegetables, is where par bites back. The Stadium Course, especially when it gets firm and fast, can be as hectic as a Jason Bourne movie.
Although swing kicks off in Florida without many stars playing the Cognizant Classic, it still kicks off a new chapter in the tour season with the Players Championship just two weeks away.
Just as the signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera felt like big weeks, so too will Bay Hill and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Then the season will fully regain its rhythm.
After six weeks of scorched-earth scoring (even in swampy Los Angeles), reaching Bay Hill is like hastily hitting the brakes. Scheffler won at 27 under at Palm Springs, the winning score at Torrey Pines was 23 under and at Pebble Beach it was 22 under.
Arnie’s house, with its ankle-deep rough and crunchy vegetables, is where par bites back. The Stadium Course, especially when it gets firm and fast, can be as hectic as a Jason Bourne movie.
It’s that time of year when the California dream is taken away, the afternoons stretch out and all roads lead to Florida.
On the way to Augusta.
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