MCKINNEY, TEXAS - MAY 24: Wyndham Clark of the United States reacts after making a birdie on the 17th hole green during the final round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson 2026 at TPC Craig Ranch on May 24, 2026 in McKinney, Texas. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
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The PGA Tour schedule continued at the TPC Craig Ranch this past weekend for the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament. With the Tour’s second major, the PGA Championship, the week before, the field at the CJ Cup was watered down, to say the least.
Nonetheless, it was a tournament which was built for the player who could truly go low. When you look at past winners, and their scores, this tournament is traditionally won by players who can make birdies, or better. In some instances, a par has players leaving the green feeling as if they just dropped a shot on the field.
Despite TPC Craig Ranch spending millions of dollars in upgrades to make the course more difficult, it didn’t impact the scoring much. Rain early in the week resulted in preferred lies for those in the fairways, and that meant players were dialed in and firing at pins.
It was a race to the finish, and when the dust settled on Sunday it was Wyndham Clark winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by three shots with a -30 score. It was Clark’s fourth win on tour, and his latest since his 2024 win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Clark won the tournament on the greens, dominating the field in strokes gained putting, and it was the flat blade which held off the likes of Si Woo Kim, Scottie Scheffler, Keith Mitchell, and even Tony Finau. Either way, it was a deserving win for Clark, who needed a boost after a series of negative narratives surrounding him since his last victory.
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Does this win mean Clark will be more of a factor moving forward in the lead up to the U.S. Open, a tournament Clark won in 2023? This was certainly a step in the right direction, but it’s time to take a look at how we did with our picks for the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Let’s start with a review of the odds to win the tournament heading into Thursday:
When it comes to picks for this event, I like to start with my favorite and long shot picks for the tournament. The favorite pick is the pick I like the most for an outright winner. For the long shot winner, that is a golfer who has over +2000 odds to win. It is a long shot pick for a reason, and finding those can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Favorite: Scottie Scheffler (+170) - MISS
The fact Scheffler had just +170 odds entering this event gave me pause, but with the field being lesser-than it felt like a safe bet. Scheffler played well, finishing solo 3rd, but just couldn’t make enough birdies to chase down Wyndham Clark.
Long Shot: Keith Mitchell (+3750) - MISS
Mitchell has had some Top 10 finishes this season, and his 5th place finish had him close to pulling off my first long shot win since making picks. Nonetheless, Mitchell fell short of the outright win, but he did help us in another category of picks.
Kim plays well at this event, and it seemed like a logical play to put him in the Top 5 category. He came through for us, finishing solo 2nd, and helped us hit at +210. What is crazy is Kim finishing Top 5 was better odds than Scheffler winning the tournament outright.
I’m not a fan of taking a golfer at -265, but Scheffler seemed like a sure bet in this regard. If you put a small amount of money on Scheffler to be in the Top 5 you didn’t get much of a return, but it’s a win none the less with Scheffler’s solo 3rd place finish.
Spieth is a Texas resident, and I felt he would play well in this tournament. My hunch turned out to be accurate, but it just didn’t play out into a winning Top 10 pick. Spieth’s Saturday of +2 did him in, and he finished with a T19 finish in the tournament. Speith’s game continues to trend in the right direction, but he just has to be able to put together four rounds of golf before being a viable contender.
Koepka, like Spieth, was a player who entered the CJ Cup trying to get himself his first win in a long time. Koepka looked to be in the mix after Rounds 1 and 2, but he failed to make enough shots on the weekend to contend with the likes of Clark, Kim, and Scheffler. Koepka had a good tournament, finishing T14, but just outside the desired Top 10 designation.
Mitchell was out long shot play for the tournament, and throwing him into the Top 20 category seemed like a logical play. Mitchell’s stellar play equated in a winning bet, as he finished solo 5th. Mitchell helps us hit another pick in this tournament.
Every week I take a “gut pick” for the Top 20 category, and this week it was Tony Finau. Finau has too much game to be playing as poorly as he has been on tour this season. After missing out on The Masters, I took the hunch Finau would be able to go low in this event. And he did, finishing T6. Finau helps us cash both of our Top 20 plays.
Double Chance: Scottie Scheffler or Si Woo Kim (+130) - MISS
Top USA Golfer: Scottie Scheffler (+118) - MISS
Outright Plays: 4/8
Bonus Plays: 0/2
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