The Five: Post-majors storylines to follow as 2026 season winds down

The fast and furious major championship season has come to an end.

All four majors were contested within four months, and now the calendar and focus shift toward the season’s conclusion. Three Regular Season events – 3M Open, Rocket Classic and Wyndham Championship – remain in the Regular Season. From there, the PGA TOUR’s very best will move forward to the FedExCup Playoffs.

So what’s on the line the next few weeks? The top players are jockeying for postseason positioning along with the rank-and-file of the PGA TOUR, who are also looking to secure valuable points to maintain TOUR membership.

What should you be following as the next phase of the season gets underway? Here are five top storylines we will be tracking over the next two months.

Playoff race

The playoff push is on. Only the top 70 will make it to the FedEx St. Jude Championship, with the next three weeks playing a pivotal role in who will qualify. Who can nab the most points in the next few weeks? It could change the entire tenor of careers.

Here’s a look at where the top-70 bubble sits with three weeks left in the Regular Season:

65. Michael Kim

66. Jordan Smith

67. Michael Thorbjornsen

68. Andrew Putnam

69. Ricky Castillo

70. Mac Meissner

71. Johnny Keefer

72. Jason Day

73. Keegan Bradley

74. Brian Harman

75. Tom Hoge

Other notables on the outside of the postseason picture include: Brooks Koepka (82nd), Tony Finau (83rd), Andrew Novak (84th), Billy Horschel (101st), Michael Brennan (105th), Joel Dahmn (114th), Rasmus Højgaard (123rd).

Top 50 bubble

Look a little higher on the FedExCup standings and the next critical race crystallizes. The top 50 in the FedExCup after the FedEx St. Jude Championship will make it to the next round of the postseason, the BMW Championship.

Those 50 will also lock up critical access to the Signature Events in 2027, which could be even more important than any year before.

With the PGA TOUR’s new competitive structure set to take effect in 2028, assuring you have the best chance to qualify for PGA TOUR Championship Series is paramount. The best way to do that is to make sure you are playing in every Signature Event next year, which offers more FedExCup points than Full-Field Events. If you are not in those events, you have an uphill climb to safely secure a spot for the inaugural year of the new format.

Here’s where the top-50 bubble sits with four events left before the BMW Championship:

45. Matt McCarty

46. Keith Mitchell

47. Alex Noren

48. Harris English

49. Max Homa

50. Maverick McNealy

51. Pierceson Coody

52. Sudarshan Yellamaraju

53. Sam Stevens

54. Daniel Berger

55. Jordan Spieth

56. Shane Lowry

57. Sungjae Im

58. Corey Conners

59. Nick Taylor

60. Harry Hall

Presidents Cup rosters

Who will be part of the Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club in September? The six automatic qualifiers for both teams will be locked during/immediately after the FedExCup Playoffs. The U.S. Team’s top six will lock the Monday after the BMW Championship, while the Internationals will solidify their team the day after the TOUR Championship. The final six captain’s selections will be announced at a later date.

So how are the rosters shaping up with roughly a month to go? Here is the top 12 for each team.

*Denotes auto qualifier

Who can make a late move and break into the top six or top 12? U.S. national team stalwart Patrick Cantlay is on the outside looking in, as are in-form newcomers like Ryan Gerard. Likewise, Sungjae Im is not on the projected International Team roster and neither is reigning Rookie of the Year Aldrich Potgieter.

Player of the Year race

The wide-open Player of the Year Race continues to intrigue. Scottie Scheffler has won the award four straight years, but with only one win under his belt in 2026, the door is open for a new winner. Here are the possible candidates:

● Matt Fitzpatrick: Three wins (Valspar Championship, RBC Heritage, Zurich Classic of New Orleans); eight top 10s; FedExCup rank: second; Best major finish: T14, PGA Championship

● Cameron Young: Two wins (THE PLAYERS Championship, Cadillac Championship), seven top 10s; FedExCup rank: third; Best major finish: Runner-up, The Open Championship (also finished T3 at Masters)

● Chris Gotterup: Three wins (Sony Open in Hawaii, WM Phoenix Open, John Deere Classic); five top 10s; FedExCup rank: fifth; Best major finish: T10, PGA Championship

● Wyndham Clark: Two wins (CJ CUP Byron Nelson, U.S. Open), four top 10s; FedExCup rank: fourth; Best major finish: first, U.S. Open

● Scottie Scheffler: One win (The American Express), 10 top 10s; FedExCup rank: first; Best major finish: second, Masters (also two T4s at U.S. Open and Open)

● Rory McIlroy: One win (Masters Tournament); four top 10s; FedExCup rank: 11th; Best major finish: first, Masters

The race appears incredibly tight and the FedExCup Playoffs will likely play a prominent role in how it all shakes out. If any of them can pick off one (or two) events in the postseason, it likely pushes them over the edge.

Scottie Scheffler’s win total

When Scheffler won his season debut running away at The American Express, no prediction seemed too outlandish. Eight wins? Multiple majors? The career Grand Slam? All of it?

Instead, Scheffler is still stuck with one win. He went without a major championship victory for the first time since 2023. He’s still the world No. 1 by a considerable margin, but expectations internal and external were higher than this.

How much can he shift the narrative over the final stretch? He’s teeing it up in the 3M Open this week and is the clear favorite at TPC Twin Cities. That will be his final start before the three-week postseason, which he has won a leg of in the last two seasons. It’s entirely probable Scheffler could still win multiple events before he takes a break this fall. What happens if he doesn’t?