PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship Pool Guide

After the Masters the golf-pool calendar has three more peaks: the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June and The Open in July. Each has a full field of around 156, a 36-hole cut, and a personality of its own - and each is worth a pool of its own, or one slot in a four-major season. This guide covers what changes from major to major, the one format that works for all three, and how to run a majors-only league for a group that doesn't want forty weeks of picks.

The PGA Championship: the deepest field of the year

Every top player in the world, no amateurs, a course that changes annually, and a setup that usually lets the field score. That combination makes it the hardest major to pick: form over the last month matters more than course history, because there often isn't any. In a pool, the favorites are worth their strokes here - the winner is usually inside the top twenty in the world. If your pool is tiered or handicapped, this is the major to spend your best picks on the best players.

The U.S. Open: survive the cut, then survive the weekend

Narrow fairways, long rough, fast greens, and a winning score that's often near par. Two things follow for pool picks. First, the missed-cut rule is decisive: a fixed penalty like plus-10 a round makes a Friday exit catastrophic, so either use a field-relative rule or accept that the pool rewards cautious picks. Second, scoring is compressed - the difference between third and fifteenth might be five shots - so the golfers who hit fairways and don't make doubles are worth more than the long hitters who win in May. This is the major where the “boring” pick wins pools.

The Open: weather is the field's sixth golfer

Links golf, a draw that can decide the tournament before the weekend, and a leaderboard full of names you didn't expect. Two practical notes for pickers: check the forecast and the tee times - one side of the draw can play in a gale while the other plays in sun - and respect links experience. Golfers who have contended in Opens before do so again, and the long-hitting American favorite with no links record is the most common losing pick in July.

One format for all three

The handicap format solves the problem every major pool has: with a full field and a big group, the same five names get picked over and over. Adjusting each golfer's rounds by ranking band means the favorites give strokes and the rest of the field gets them, so the person who spots a form player ranked 60th beats the person who copied the odds board. When we simulated the 2026 season, the back-of-the-field band won about one week in ten and the second band was the most valuable place to shop. Moving Day runs a free open pool in this format for each major - see the Moving Day format.

A majors-only season

The most sustainable season league for a casual group is four events: Masters, PGA, U.S. Open, Open. Four picks a year, a points curve that pays the top of each week heavily, a running standings table from April to July, and a payout in August. Run it as one competition with a four-tournament schedule so the standings carry over automatically; use one-and-done rules if you want the extra wrinkle of never picking the same golfer twice. Setup notes in the season-long league guide.

The checklist, every major

• Publish the missed-cut rule and the tiebreaker with the invite.
• Lock picks at the first tee time; let people edit until then.
• Allow a replacement for any golfer who withdraws before play starts.
• Confirm the field on Monday - alternates get in late every year.
• Send a Friday-night recap: who made the cut, who's leading the pool, what the tiebreaker looks like.