Future Major Projections for 2027

Date of Projection: 7/20/2026

With the conclusion of the 2026 Major Championship Season as of yesterday, we now look ahead to 2027 and beyond. But before, here are the 2026 Major Champions and the expected major wins we had for them a year ago:

• Masters: Rory McIlroy > 0.3063 (2nd)
• PGA: Aaron Rai > 0.0159 (48th)
• U.S. Open: Wyndham Clark > 0.0325 (29th)
• British: Ryan Fox > 0.0112 (54th)

With 3/4 of the major champions coming from outside of the 25-most likely names, the 2026 major season proved that many from the field could still win a big event if things went right for him. This makes projecting actual major wins very difficult. Which is why our projection is more about what we think how the market will price a golfer’s odds come 2027 and future. While a golfer’s career can take many different paths, we want to estimate a median one given what said golfer has already shown us, which then can be calculated in terms of projected major championships.

2027 Season – Top 50

• Scottie Scheffler: 0.5118
• Rory McIlroy: 0.2800
• Jon Rahm: 0.2112
• Xander Schauffele: 0.1667
• Ludvig Aberg: 0.1614
• Bryson DeChambeau: 0.1598
• Collin Morikawa: 0.1121
• Tommy Fleetwood: 0.0969
• Cameron Young: 0.0857
• Matt Fitzpatrick: 0.0847
• Viktor Hovland: 0.0799
• Brooks Koepka: 0.0747
• Justin Thomas: 0.0715
• Patrick Cantlay: 0.0644
• Hideki Matsuyama: 0.0612
• Joaquin Niemann: 0.0594
• Jordan Spieth: 0.0571
• Tyrrell Hatton: 0.0551
• Tom Kim: 0.0531
• Akshay Bhatia: 0.0490
• Sam Burns: 0.0454
• Min Woo Lee: 0.0451
• Robert MacIntyre: 0.0449
• Si Woo Kim: 0.0393
• Wyndham Clark: 0.0388
• Russell Henley: 0.0385
• Cameron Smith: 0.0385
• Shane Lowry: 0.0371
• Chris Gotterup: 0.0363
• Corey Conners: 0.0356
• Sepp Straka: 0.0345
• Patrick Reed: 0.0338
• Sungjae Im: 0.0338
• Nicolai Hojgaard: 0.0335
• Justin Rose: 0.0261
• Maverick McNealy: 0.0221
• Sahith Theegala: 0.0214
• Jason Day: 0.0209
• Harris English: 0.0206
• Max Homa: 0.0201
• Ben Griffin: 0.0200
• Aaron Rai: 0.0199
• J.J. Spaun: 0.0197
• Kurt Kitayama: 0.0189
• Rasmus Hojgaard: 0.0187
• Keegan Bradley: 0.0181
• Adam Scott: 0.0179
• David Puig: 0.0162
• Daniel Berger: 0.0160
• Rickie Fowler: 0.0158

This chart shows the above table, with Scottie Scheffler’s chances at a major far higher than anyone else’s. There’s been some talk that Scheffler’s dominance is starting to wane (he’s only one once in 2026 and didn’t score a major victory), but Data Golf still has him as the best player in the world by a long shot. His true SG total is at +2.82 strokes for 2026, which is lower than either 2024 or 2025 yet still in front of both his 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Rory’s floor has continued to stay high, but next year will be his age 38 season and at some point there will be visible signs of age in his numbers. But given how solid he’s been, we don’t see that necessarily happening for a few years. The trio of Rahm, Schauffele, and DeChambeau are all prime candidates to win a third major within the next few years, but as all are in their 30’s, their best chances are going to come in the next 20 or so majors.

Cameron Young had a poor 2025, so his 2026 season might not be as replicable as people think. Or it might just have been the beginning of him truly reaching his prime years. It’s tough to know. Note that this list of 50 names is expected to win 83.6% of the majors, so don’t be too surprised if 2027 delivers another winner from outside this list, just as 2026 gave us Ryan Fox.

Projected Majors 2027 and Beyond

Now comes the fun part. By combining future projections from multiple seasons, we can better estimate what a player’s median career should be expected to be. Of course for many of these golfers, their careers will look nothing like what we show. Some longshots will win a major, while some solid players who give themselves multiple chances in majors might not ever win one. It’s tough to know now who those will be.

• Scottie Scheffler: 5.70
• Ludvig Aberg: 1.97
• Jon Rahm: 1.79
• Rory McIlroy: 1.38
• Collin Morikawa: 1.34
• Xander Schauffele: 1.24
• Tom Kim: 1.21
• Bryson DeChambeau: 1.20
• Akshay Bhatia: 1.14
• Cameron Young: 1.03
• Viktor Hovland: 0.95
• Joaquin Niemann: 0.74
• Matt Fitzpatrick: 0.72
• Nicolai Hojgaard: 0.57
• Min Woo Lee: 0.57
• Tommy Fleetwood: 0.56
• Justin Thomas: 0.54
• Sam Burns: 0.51
• Robert MacIntyre: 0.50
• Chris Gotterup: 0.47
• Jordan Spieth: 0.43
• Patrick Cantlay: 0.43
• Brooks Koepka: 0.40
• Hideki Matsuyama: 0.40
• Sungjae Im: 0.40
• Jackson Koivun: 0.39
• Si Woo Kim: 0.38
• Rasmus Hojgaard: 0.35
• Tom McKibbin: 0.33
• Tyrrell Hatton: 0.32
• Wyndham Clark: 0.30
• Cameron Smith: 0.29
• Aldrich Potgieter: 0.28
• David Puig: 0.28
• Sepp Straka: 0.26
• Sahith Theegala: 0.25
• Corey Conners: 0.23
• Ben Griffin: 0.22
• Maverick McNealy: 0.22
• Aaron Rai: 0.20
• Russell Henley: 0.19
• Alex Fitzpatrick: 0.19
• Ryo Hisatsune: 0.18
• Patrick Reed: 0.18
• Shane Lowry: 0.18
• Jacob Bridgemen: 0.16
• Ryan Gerard: 0.16
• Kurt Kitayama: 0.15
• Casey Jarvis: 0.15
• Michael Brennan: 0.15

Once again, it is Scottie vs. the rest. At age 30, Scheffler is in his prime and should be for another decade or so. He’s shown enough of a floor in majors that bettors will continue to wager on him even seeing relatively low numbers next to his name. Could his game diminish enough to reduce this considerably? Of course. But the median look here sees him being the best player in the game for another 5+ years and still a force in the game well into his 40’s. Interestingly, Scheffler’s projected remaining career major total from a year ago was 5.83, meaning he only lost 0.13 expected majors in one year. While he didn’t win a major in 2026, it was yet another season which shows him to be the best golfer overall (he had finishes of 2, T14, T4, and T4 in the four majors). Expect more high finishes in 2027, with a possible victory or 2 in the grand slam events.

After Scheffler comes familiar names. Ludvig’s age and history help him. He is currently the 12th ranked golfer in Data Golf, shown himself to be a consistent ball-striker, and put up two top tens in majors in 2026. The market loves these numbers and will continue to bet Aberg in future years. Come five years and guys like Rory and Bryson and Tommy will be on the downslide of their age-curves. But Aberg will be at the peak of his. No guarantees, but he is going to be a legitimate contender in majors to come.

Five names among the next six are all more-or-less similar. Rahm, McIlroy, Morikawa, Schauffele, and DeChambeau. All multiple major winners. All still in their primes and will be contenders in 2027. But each will also be in his 30s the next time the Masters is played. As none are elite in the sense Scottie is, another victory isn’t guaranteed, but I’d wager it is more likely than not if betting on anyone of these guys individually.

Tom Kim and Akshay Bhatia show up due to their ages. Neither has shown himself to be an elite-level player yet, but given their ages and relative skill, they are expected to win about 1 major in their careers. Tom Kim has already posted some top finishes (T2 at 2023 British, 3rd at 2026 U.S. Open) while Akshay has only shown signs of yearly improvement while on tour.

Cameron Young is somewhere in the middle of these two groups of players. Still relatively young, he has time to win majors. But he’s also proven himself as capable in the big events, despite not winning one yet. He should receive the attention of the market during the times he is playing well. He doesn’t have any real weakness in his game, and also has the pedigree of being a bigtime player (won the Players and played well at the Ryder Cup).

After that, some call-outs include Tommy Fleetwood, who will turn 36 next year, still showing a solid chance to win a major. It may happen; it may not. Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas are all multi-major winners in the same boat. About to age out of their primes within 3-5 years, not really contending in majors or other big events recently, etc. but still going to get attention from bettors. It just takes one week, and these guys have shown they can win while in contention. JT does have the T4 at this year’s PGA (which seems to be the only major he consistently plays well in), whereas Jordan’s last top 10 was the 2023 Masters and Brooks’ was his 2023 PGA Championship win.

Jackson Koivun makes it on the list as one of the up-and-comers. The 49th ranked DG player got good odds at the 2026 U.S. Open and is the real deal. His age and relative lack of experience on tour makes things difficult to project. I would love to say that in a couple years we will be projecting him to be a 2+ time major champion, but I also know to be cautious given there’ve been many can’t-miss stars that don’t pan out (Patrick Rodgers, Gordon Sargent come to mind). Others that are younger such as Miles Russell weren’t included at all as projecting their careers is even tougher. Also Blades Brown (87th in DG) has never played in a major.

That is it for the most part. Ideally we would update this projection more frequently, using pre-tournament projected odds as the events got closer while still forecasting out into the distance, using the ebbs and flows of professional golf to better fine tune our forecasts. For the moment we will have to live with this way.