Majors Spotlight: 6 Potential First-Time Champions in 2026

With so much parity in modern professional golf, it's almost a given that there will be at least one first-time major championship winner in 2026. American J.J. Spaun broke through in 2025, winning his maiden major title at the U.S. Open, and there has been at least one first-time winner every year since 2014.

Here's a look at six candidates who could win their first major this season.

Tommy Fleetwood

Before 2025, Englishman Tommy Fleetwood was considered one of the best golfers in the world to never win on the PGA Tour. After a dominant finish to the year that included winning the Tour Championship in August, Fleetwood is now arguably the best player without a major victory. Beyond his breakthrough victory at the Tour Championship, the 34-year-old had eight top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour last season and made 18 of 19 cuts. He also helped lead Europe to a dominant victory at the 2025 Ryder Cup and won the DP World India Championship in October.

Fleetwood had several near misses before winning his first PGA Tour event, finishing runner-up six times in his previous 164 starts. He also had 30 top-five finishes, the most by any Tour player without a win in the last 100 years. He could experience a similar breakthrough in one of the four major championships—the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and The Open—in 2026. Fleetwood has five top-five finishes in 41 major championship starts, including runners-up in The Open in 2019 and U.S. Open in 2018.

Cameron Young

Cameron Young has had a similar career trajectory to Fleetwood, experiencing several close calls on the PGA Tour before winning for the first time in 2025. The 28-year-old New Yorker had eight top-10 finishes last season and won the Wyndham Championship in July. He also had three consecutive top-10 finishes, including a T4 result that earned him more than $2.6 million at the Tour Championship, to close out 2025.

Young finished the 2025 season tied for fourth in the season-long FedEx Cup standings and made the United States Ryder Cup team for the first time in his career. He has historically been a boom or bust player at the majors, with six top-10s and nine finishes outside the top 60 in 18 starts. Young was runner-up at The Open in 2022 and tied for fourth at the U.S. Open in 2025.

Robert MacIntyre

One of the fastest-rising golfers on the PGA Tour, Robert MacIntyre built off his breakthrough year in 2024, making 21 of 23 cuts and recording 11 top-25 finishes in 2025. While the two-time winner didn't claim any titles on the PGA Tour in 2025, he was runner-up at both the U.S. Open and BMW Championship, earning more than $4.3 million. The 29-year-old Scot also finished T7 at The Open.

MacIntyre's greatest successes in 2025 came away from the PGA Tour. He had a strong showing at the Ryder Cup, won the DP World Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and broke into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

Tyrrell Hatton‍ ‍

Tyrrell Hatton is one of the most likely LIV Golf players to claim his first major title in 2026. The 34-year-old Englishman had a pair of top-five finishes in 2025 and has won LIV, PGA Tour, and DP World Tour events in the past. While he is without a major championship, he has performed well on the big stage with Europe at the Ryder Cup. Hatton was part of winning teams in 2018, 2023, and 2025. He has a career win-loss-tie record of 8-4-3 at the Ryder Cup.

Hatton is a particularly skilled links golfer, having won the Dunhill Links Championship three times, so his best chance for a major in 2026 may be at The Open at Royal Birkdale. He was T5 at The Open in 2016 and has top-10 results at all four majors.

Ludvig Åberg

Swede Ludvig Åberg is a strong candidate to win the Masters and, if he improves his short game, could be a contender at all four majors. The 26-year-old has already competed in two Ryder Cups and has top-10 finishes in his first two appearances at Augusta, finishing runner-up in his 2024 debut and seventh last year. He has won two PGA Tour events and is No. 18 in the OWGR. Åberg won The Genesis Invitational in 2025 and had five other top-10 results in 20 starts.

Joaquin Niemann

Joaquin Niemann is another LIV Golf star with a chance to win a major in 2026. The 27-year-old Chilean was second in LIV standings last season and won five times, including in the United Kingdom and Singapore. He hasn't had much success in majors, but had his first top-10 finish at last year's PGA Championship.

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