Query: What’s particular concerning the yr 2014 within the {golfing} calendar?
Reply: It was the final yr when not a minimum of one of many 4 main championships wasn’t gained by a first-time winner of them.
The one different yr within the twenty first century that this feat didn’t occur was 2000 so the possibilities are that we’ll see one other main maiden in 2026.
However who will emulate JJ Spaun (who accomplished his main breakthrough in 2025)?
Listed below are the seven almost definitely candidates:
Tommy Fleetwood
The Englishman is sort of actually the very best participant on the earth who’s but to win a significant and now that he has lastly landed a victory in America – finally August’s Tour Championship, no much less – he needs to be primed to lastly land one of many 4 tournaments that actually outline a profession.
He’s been second within the US Open (2018), second within the Open (2019) and T3 within the Masters (2024). In all, he has seven high 5 finishes from 41 main championship begins. However, in opposition to that, has a better of solely T16 in his final seven appearances in them.
That actually ought to alter in 2026 and Royal Birkdale, the Open host venue, is actually his {golfing} yard.
Ludvig Aberg
On potential alone the Swede might be second solely to Fleetwood and he’ll be licking his lips concerning the first main of the yr as a result of he’s taken an actual shine to Augusta Nationwide and the Masters.
He was second on debut in 2024 and T7 final yr when bang within the combine till very late within the closing spherical. He was additionally T12 within the 2024 US Open however he’s missed 4 cuts in his eight main begins so there’s a sense of growth or bust about his efforts.
He’s nonetheless simply 26, with two Ryder Cup wins behind him, and take word that certainly one of his two PGA Tour wins was at a major-hosting course – Torrey Pines in 2025.
Cameron Younger
It took the New Yorker an unexpectedly very long time to land a win on the PGA Tour however, having finished so in final August’s Wyndham Championship, he went on to thrive on the Ryder Cup and it must immediate an extra achieve in confidence in 2026.
Like Aberg, he tends to thrive or battle in majors. He’s made 18 begins with six high 10s in opposition to 9 failures to interrupt the highest 60. He’s performed nicely in all 4 majors, although: second on the 2022 Open, third in that yr’s PGA Championship, two high 10s within the Masters and fourth final yr within the US Open.
All the time excellent tee-to-green, his placing is now a lot improved.
Robert MacIntyre
Now a four-time DP World Tour winner, two-time PGA Tour champion, a Ryder Cup star in 2023 and 2025, and ranked on the earth’s high 10, the Scot’s subsequent apparent step is main championship success.
He’s a three-time high 10 finisher within the Open and has additionally gained the Scottish Open and Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship so he’s an apparent hyperlinks skilled. However he’s additionally completed T12 on the Masters, T8 within the PGA Championship and was second in final yr’s US Open.
Maiden main winners are likely to contend in one other main shortly earlier than their breakthrough in order that latter effort might be key this yr.
Tyrrell Hatton
The Englishman has a really well-rounded profession CV with 13 profession worldwide wins together with eight on the DP World and one every on the PGA Tour and LIV in addition to Ryder Cup glory.
The hole is within the majors however he did end high 20 in three of 4 of them in 2025 and he has a high 10 end in all 4 all through his profession.
Given his fondness for hyperlinks golf (he’s a three-time Dunhill Hyperlinks Championship winner), you’d suspect the Open is his greatest probability of success.
Sam Burns
It took the 29-year-old a very long time to come back to phrases with taking part in main championship golf. Certainly, regardless of successful 5 instances on the PGA Tour (the newest of them the elite 2023 WGC World Match Play), he didn’t end high 10 in a significant till 2024.
That was 16 majors with kind of nothing to indicate for the hassle however high 10s got here in each of the final two US Open and he did briefly contend within the 2024 Open (albeit helped significantly by a major change within the climate).
He struggled when main the US Open within the closing spherical final yr so the query is: will that be a studying, or a scarring, expertise?
Russell Henley
Harris English may simply have landed this final nod as a result of in 2025 he completed second within the PGA Championship and T2 within the Open. However we’ll plump for one more 16-year-old as an alternative.
Henley, like Burns, took a very long time registering a primary high 10 (fourth on the 2023 Masters, his thirty second main). However, considerably, he’s completed high 10 within the final two US and British Opens (which suggests he’s received 4 high 10s in his final six majors).
He’s studying to like hyperlinks golf and all 5 of his PGA Tour wins have been at windy areas. He additionally owns Masters connections: he’s from Georgia and his birthday falls on Masters Sunday in 2026.
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