Glad to see that 'Players to Watch in 2026' have not suffered golf writers' curse
Both Scots and non-Scots showing why they made Golf Correspondent Martin Dempster’s lists for this year
It still makes me chuckle when I think that, back when Jock MacVicar, The Doyen as he was known by many, was still around, our small group of Scottish golf writers felt we could curse players by turning up out on the course when someone flying the Saltire was in contention in a tournament.
Yes, there were a number of occasions when it seemed as though that might indeed have been the case as a Scottish player stumbled at that particular point, but it was nonsense, of course, to think that either the sight or presence of a motley crew of scribes was actually the reason for that.
In recent years, Bob MacIntyre was crowned as a Genesis Scottish Open champion with us out watching him at various points during the week at The Renaissance Club while it was the same when Grant Forrest also won on Scottish soil in last year’s Nexo Championship at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire.
There was no curse on either of those occasions and the same could be said, of course, about Paul Lawrie winning The Open at Carnoustie in 1999 and Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher and Colin Montgomerie all landing victories in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in the space of five years before MacIntyre emulated that feat last season.
What made me think about how we often talked in the company of The Doyen about having an ability to jinx people is that it had already dawned on me that 12 golfers I’d picked as ‘Players to Watch in 2026’ were proving that theory wrong by living up to their billing before having that hammered home at the weekend. The dozen players were on two separate lists - one for Scottish golfers and the other for non-Scottish golfers.
Looking at the Scottish one first, I’d picked Calum Fyfe, Carly McDonald, Gregor Graham, Finlay Galloway, Hannah Darling and Kai Laing to have strong seasons and, to my delight, it is already shaping up that way for the majority of the sextet.
Having come up just short last year in his bid to secure a step up to the DP World Tour, Fyfe is shining again on the HotelPlanner Tour and, though still a long way to go, it definitely looks as though he can finish in the top 15 in the Road to Mallorca Ranking and graduate to the main tour in 2027.
St Andrews teenager McDonald, meanwhile, underlined why I’d selected her when winning both the Scottish Girls’ Open The R&A Girls’ U16 Championship in the space of a few weeks in April, when Laing, a Broomieknowe member, also had something to celebrate as he came out on top in the Craigmillar Park Open - 50 years after Nick Faldo landed the same prize in his last event as an amateur.
Graham’s year on the HotelPlanner Tour has got off to a slow start after he was forced to take some time off due to hip issues while Darling is still trying to find her feet as a rookie on the Ladies European Tour. I actually got to play with Galloway on the Old Course at St Andrews a few weeks ago and, though it’s not happened yet, I saw enough that day to vindicate why he made that Scottish list.
As for the other list, the players on it were Helen Briem, Elvis Smylie, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Charley Hull, Kristoffer Reitan and Ben Griffin, with it already having proved to be a year to remember for two of them and successful as well for another two.
Briem had first come to this correspondent’s notice when she was one of the star performers for the aforementioned Gallacher when he led Europe to victory in the Junior Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome in 2023. Now in the professional ranks, the tall German looks as though she is a superstar in the making.
Briem had already landed a breakthrough victory on the Ladies European Tour before winning the LPGA Tour’s Q-Series last year. At just 20, she’s now a two-time LET champion after storming to an eye-catching seven-shot success in the Jabra Ladies Open de France at Evian Resort on Saturday. A Solheim Cup debut is now a distinct possibility in the Netherlands later this year.
Reitan, meanwhile, showed exactly why he’d been one of the most-talked about players on the DP World Tour as he claimed a spectacular PGA Tour breakthrough in the Truist Championship, one of the circuit’s $20 million Signature Events, last month and did so with Edinburgh man Tim Poyser caddying for him at Quail Hollow. Helped by that, Reitan currently sits in the top 20 in the FedEx Cup points list.
Neergaard-Petersen, another of the DP World Tour players to secure PGA Tour cards for the current campaign, hasn’t yet been able to fire on all cylinders, though an opening 65 in last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge, would have been a timely boost while Griffin, having made the cut in the opening two majors of the year and coming close in the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday, will be aiming to not just keep that running going but get himself in the mix in the upcoming US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Not long after I’d included him on my list, Smylie joined LIV Golf and made a stunning debut on the breakaway circuit when beating Jon Rahm in a play-off in the season–opener in Riyadh, leading his Ripper GC to a team victory as well in the process.
Oh, and Hull also won in Riyadh, signing off with a seven-under-par 65 to land the PIF Saudi Ladies International - a fifth title triumph for the English player on the Ladies European Tour. Currently in the world’s top ten along with compatriot Lottie Woad, she’ll have high hopes heading into this week’s US Open then events like the ISPS Handa Scottish Women’s Open and AIG Women’s Open later in the summer.
See, no sign of any curses there. It’s just a pity that I haven’t made myself some money by backing any of those winners so far….aaargh!
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