The CJ CUP Byron Nelson Power Rankings

Although the dust is still settling on Aaron Rai's maiden major win at the PGA Championship, many of golf's biggest and brightest names will contest the CJ CUP Bryon Nelson this week.

Taking place in Dallas, Texas, the CJ CUP Byron Nelson will be staged at the newly renovated TPC Craig Ranch.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Rasmus Hojgaard, Si Woo Kim and Brooks Koepka have all made the journey south-west from Aronimink Golf Club to the Lone Star State.

Traditionally, the nature of this track makes it conducive to a low-scoring affair, however, a restoration that has seen the installation of new Bentgrass greens and much narrower fairways could change that slightly.

The front nine has been a section of the course targeted by players aiming to go low, taking advantage of the short par-fours seen on holes one, three and six.

As well that trio, par-fives on the fifth and the ninth will also provide opportunities to score.

We take a look at five players who look up to the task this week...

5 - Blades Brown

Blades Brown broke onto the scene earlier this year when he narrowly missed out on shooting a 59 at the American Express Open in January.

Throughout his time on the PGA Tour, Brown has shown flashes of his immense talent but hasn't been afforded too many opportunities to put it all together on a regular basis.

The former U.S Amateur champion has only made six starts on the Tour this season, equipping himself well to finish third at the Puerto Rico Open and T9 at the Myrtle Beach Classic on his latest outing.

Previous trends at this event indicate that SG: Approach and SG: Tee to Green could be the key to accessing low scores this week, two areas where the 18-year-old has excelled - admittedly in a small sample size - so far in 2026.

4 - Brooks Koepka

Brooks Koepka's performance at the PGA Championship remains a little bit of a mystery, eventually finishing T55 after being fairly well-touted pre-event.

His chances were talked up for good reason, too. The five-time major champion had been in decent form before the visit to Aronimink, finishing within the top-20 on five occasions from his last seven starts, and a return to that level would surely seem him go close in this field.

Koepka's brace of wins at the Phoenix Open should correlate nicely to this course due to the share of designer and his four victories on pure Bentgrass greens on the PGA Tour since 2008 is only bettered by Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth.

3 - Stephan Jaeger

Off the back of an eye-catching performance at Aronimink last week, Stephan Jaeger certainly looks to be at least one for the shortlist heading over to Texas.

The German's opening 67 saw him tied for the lead after round one and a solid Friday consisting of 18-pars meant that he retained that very position heading into the weekend's play.

A slight drop-off from there on in resulted in Jaeger recording an 18th-placed finish - still good enough to be the 36-year-old's highest in any of the four majors.

Victory at Memorial Park in the 2024 Houston Open should marry up nicely with the test that this week will present and Jaeger, surely full of confidence, has what it takes to contest for his eighth win as a professional.

2 - Jordan Spieth

Texan Jordan Spieth will have to wait another year in his quest to complete the career Grand Slam but a return to his homeland this week may help him recapture winning form for the first time since 2022.

The 32-year-old was going through a challenging period with his game when he missed the cut at TPC Craig Ranch in 2024, however, he bounced back 12 months ago, carding 19-under par across his four rounds to finish a solo fourth.

Spieth's concluding 62 saw him secure the lowest final round of anyone in the field and he has been playing a lot better of late, showing up nicely in important metrics such as SG: Tee to Green and SG: Approach.

1 - Scottie Scheffler

According to the Golf Betting System's eight-week Strokes Gained Rankings, the world number one ranks above all of the field this week for SG: Off The Tee, SG: Approach, SG: Tee to Green and SG: Total.

Like always, Scheffler simply has to enter your thinking when attempting to predict the winner but, at 17/10, it might not to everyone's price.

Birdies were the name of the game here last year but Scheffler's incredible 31-under par blew the competition completely out of the water.

Coming back as defending champion, Scheffler has outstanding claims to register back-to-back victories, although he does have a touch of seconditis this year, finishing runner-up on three occasions at The Masters, RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship.

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.