PGA Tour launches march towards 90th Masters Tournament

Eleven weeks, 11 more PGA Tour events, until the Masters, scheduled to contest the 90th renewal beginning April at Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, GA.

WINNERS LAST WEEK: Chris Gotterup (PGA Tour), Nacho Elvira (DP World Tour), Taylor Dickson (Korn Ferry Tour).

PGA TOUR

At the Sony Open in Hawaii on Sunday, Chris Gotterup - who finished third in last year's Open Championship, 5 shots back of Scottie Scheffler - earns his third win on the PGA Tour. 

Gotterup's third PGA Tour title comes in his 69th Tour start at the age of 26 years, 5 months, 29 day. He came from two shots back in the final round with a final-round, 6-under-par 64, and won by two strokes over Ryan Gerard. 

Gotterup, who led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (4.352), has now won once in each of the last three PGA Tour seasons. His previous PGA Tour wins came at the 2024 ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, and the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open). Gotterup's win at the Scottish Open earned Gotterup his 2026 Masters invitation. 

In terms of consecutive seasons with a PGA Tour win, Gotterup trails only Rory McIlroy (eight) and Scottie Scheffler (four) among active players. Gotterup's win was his second in his last eight starts, after earning one win over his first 61. 

Gotterup also becomes the sixth player since 2024 to collect three or more wins, and first player since Tom Kim, in less than 70 Tour starts. Kim's third Tour win came at the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open in his 44th start.

Other notes: Finishing second was Ryan Gerard, who qualified for this year's Masters by flying more than 10,000 miles for his final 2025 start, a DP World Tour event on the island of Mauritius off the eastern coast of Africa, and finishing second to move from No. 57 in the world to inside the top 50 and into the Masters field. 

DP WORLD TOUR 

At the Dubai Invitational on Sunday, Nacho Elvira avoided the final-hole mishaps suffered by Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry to win the Dubai Invitational by one shot on Sunday, securing his third title on the DP World Tour.

Elvira, who played in the 2024 Open Championship (missed the cut by one shot) for his only major-championship start, has not yet made it onto the list of 2026 Masters invitees, did what the two Ryder Cup stars couldn’t and kept out of the trouble down No. 18, making a stress-free par on 18 and finishes at 10 under in the first tournament of 2026.

This just after Lowry, who had been on that number standing on the 18th tee, found the greenside bunker from his approach, then water from the sand. He made a double-bogey 6 for a round of 69 and wound up two strokes back.

Prior to Lowry's debacle, McIlroy arrived at 18 at 9-under-par but pushed his drive way right into the rough, sent his approach into the bunker, and was unable to get up and down. McIlroy and Lowry were tied for third place.

New Zealand's Daniel Hillier finishes alone in second place at 9-under.

Around an hour before the finish, five players — Hillier, McIlroy, Lowry, Marcus Armitage and Elvira — shared the lead on 9 under before Lowry rolled in a 30-footer for birdie at No. 15 to take the solo lead.

KORN FERRY

At the Bahamas Golf Classic on Wednesday, Taylor Dickson, 33, of Gastonia, NC, posts a bogey-free, tournament-record score of 27-under-par 261 to win by three shots for his third career Korn Ferry Tour victory. 

Dickson, who has yet to play in a major championship, played on the PGA Tour last season as a 2024 Korn Ferry Tour graduate,  making 26 starts en route to a No. 174 finish in the FedExCup Fall standings.

Dickson turned professional in 2015 after playing four seasons collegiately at Winthrop University (2011-15) where he won one individual title. 

TOP 50 WATCH

Not yet on the list of the 2026 Masters invitees, Taylor Pendrith moved from No. 52 to 48th in the Official World Golf Rankings with a T6 at the Sony Open. 

Players not ranked in the Top 50 at the end of 2025 can become eligible for the 2026 Masters if they are ranked in the Top 50 two weeks prior. Eighty-three players are currently on the Masters list of invitees, including 21 set to make their first Masters appearance. 

The highest-ranked player on the OWGR is Daniel Berger, who moved from No. 63 to 53 with a T6 at the Sony Open. Berger, who finished T10 at the 2016 Masters, has played in six Masters, and posted his second Top-25 finish with a T21 at last year's renewal.