The 2026 Best Golfer ESPY is a four-name race, and the market treats it as Scottie Scheffler's to lose. Scheffler has won this award three years running, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and Kalshi traders make him the clear favorite over Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul. The gender-neutral category pools the top men's and women's stars onto one fan-voted ballot, decided during the ESPYS broadcast on July 15, 2026. The live board above ranks the current cross-platform prices.
The 2026 Best Golfer ESPY is an award race, not a tournament, and it comes down to four nominees: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul. Winners are chosen by a fan vote at ESPN.com, so the trophy tracks star power and the year's biggest golf storylines as much as the rankings. Scheffler enters as a three-time defending winner and the runaway favorite on Kalshi, but McIlroy's 2025 Masters gives this year a genuine narrative challenger. The live board above shows where the current prices sit.
Scottie Scheffler is the World No. 1 and the reason this award has felt like a formality lately. He has won the Best Golfer ESPY in each of the last three years, in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and he backed up the 2026 case with two more majors in 2025, giving him three of the four career Grand Slam legs and leaving only the US Open unchecked. He also collected his fourth consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year award. On Kalshi he is the clear favorite, well clear of the rest of the field.
Rory McIlroy is the conviction case against the chalk. His 2025 Masters win completed the career Grand Slam, the first player to do it in 25 years since Tiger Woods in 2000, and that kind of career-defining moment is exactly what a fan vote rewards. McIlroy sits second on Kalshi. If the ESPY were scored purely on the single most memorable golf story of the eligibility window, his green jacket is the strongest argument on the ballot.
Nelly Korda carries the women's game into the field. She held the women's World No. 1 ranking from March 2024 and won seven times in 2024, one of the most dominant LPGA runs of the decade. Her 2025 was quieter, and she opened 2026 with a win alongside Thitikul. On the Kalshi board she trades as a long shot in this four-way race, but her name recognition keeps her live in a popularity vote.
Jeeno Thitikul is the other half of the women's contingent and the statistical story of the year. She reclaimed World No. 1 in August 2025, won the 2025 CME Group Tour Championship worth $4M, led the LPGA money list, and posted a 68.68 scoring average, the lowest in LPGA history. That resume outruns her odds here, where the fan vote and lower mainstream profile leave her at the back of the Kalshi board. For the broader field, the Best Athlete Women's ESPY odds track the same debate across every sport.
The gender-neutral Best Golfer ESPY is a young award in its current form, so the honest history is short. The combined category first ran from 2005 to 2008, when Tiger Woods won all four editions. ESPN then split the trophy into separate Best Male Golfer and Best Female Golfer awards from 2009 through 2022 before reinstating the single gender-neutral Best Golfer ESPY in 2023. Since the reinstatement, Scottie Scheffler has won it every year: 2023, 2024 and 2025, a three-peat that frames why he is favored again in 2026. For deeper context, Woods also won the older Best Male Golfer ESPY ten times between 1997 and 2008, the standard every modern run is measured against. A Scheffler win on July 15 would make it four straight Best Golfer ESPYs and put him alone atop the reinstated category's short history.
The 2026 Best Golfer ESPY resolves on July 15, 2026, the night of the ESPYS broadcast. Fan voting runs at ESPN.com and closes that day at noon ET, and the winner is announced during the ceremony, which airs at 8pm ET on ABC from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. There is no tournament result or ranking cutoff to wait on. The market resolves to the golfer named Best Golfer on stage that night.
Scheffler's three-peat and 2025 form: Scottie Scheffler has won this award in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and added two more majors in 2025, the foundation of his favorite status.
McIlroy's career Grand Slam: Rory McIlroy's 2025 Masters made him the first golfer in 25 years to complete the career Grand Slam, the single biggest narrative on the ballot.
Fan-vote mechanics: The ESPYS are decided by a public fan vote that closes July 15, 2026 at noon ET, so name recognition and fanbase turnout move the result as much as on-course results.
The women's contenders: Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul split the women's World No. 1 ranking across the eligibility window, but a men's-heavy voting audience keeps both behind on the board.
Thitikul's record season: Jeeno Thitikul led the 2025 LPGA money list and posted a 68.68 scoring average, the lowest in LPGA history, a resume that outruns her long-shot odds.
The Best Golfer race is one branch of a full 2026 ESPYS board. Compare it with the Best Athlete Men's ESPY odds, where Scheffler competes across every sport, and the Best Athlete Women's ESPY odds, the ballot Korda and Thitikul feed into. The Best Team ESPY odds and the Best MLB Player ESPY odds round out the same ceremony, and you can browse the wider sports prediction markets hub for every award and futures board resolving this summer.
The 2026 Best Golfer ESPY resolves on July 15, 2026, the night of the ESPYS ceremony. The winner is determined by a public fan vote conducted at ESPN.com, which closes at noon ET on July 15, 2026, with the result announced live during the broadcast that airs at 8pm ET on ABC from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. Each nominee contract pays $1 per share if that golfer is named Best Golfer and $0 otherwise. The named field is Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul. If the award category is not presented or the ceremony is canceled or postponed past the resolution window, the contract resolves per each platform-specific rulebook.
As of July 11, 2026, Kalshi traders make Scottie Scheffler the runaway favorite at 74c, with Rory McIlroy a distant second near 37c and Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul further back. See the live board above for the latest cross-platform prices.
The winner is announced during the ESPYS broadcast on July 15, 2026 at 8pm ET on ABC, live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. Fan voting at ESPN.com closes at noon ET that day.
The market is listed on Kalshi under the KXESPYS series, with a separate contract for each nominee, and it is also listed on Polymarket. Prices update on the live board above.
Scottie Scheffler is the favorite. As of July 11, 2026 he trades at 74c on Kalshi, backed by three straight Best Golfer ESPY wins in 2023, 2024 and 2025 and two majors in 2025.
Watch fan voting, which closes July 15, 2026 at noon ET, and whether Rory McIlroy's career Grand Slam narrative from the 2025 Masters pulls votes from three-time winner Scottie Scheffler before the ceremony that night.