BANDON, Ore. — It’s not uncommon for golfers to shoot a great score one day and struggle immensely the next. Golf is certainly a bipolar game, but Tyler Collet took that to the next level at the 2026 PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes this week.
Collet, the defending champion, opened with scores of 2-under 70 on the Bandon Dunes course and 3-under 68 on the Pacific Dunes course to put himself firmly in contention entering the last two rounds of the event. He had his sights set on another title and, at the very least, a top-20 finish and a ticket to the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club next month.
That was until Collet imploded in the third round to the tune of a 9-over 81, plummeting more than 40 spots down the leaderboard. Suddenly, with one round to go, he needed to fire a low score to have any hopes of making a fifth major championship appearance.
He did exactly that.
Collet shot 5-under 31 on the front nine, making three birdies and an eagle at the par-4 eighth.
“The last couple days we’d hit hybrid off [No. 8] tee just to kind of put ourselves back and have a full shot in,” Collet said. “But I looked at my caddie and said, ‘Let’s just bust driver up there. It’s a good pin, we can get a better angle if we push it up there.’ He said ‘Just commit to it.’ I hit a good one. Had 67 yards [on approach], and it took one hop, spun and just dropped in.”
He bounced back from a bogey at the 11th with a birdie on the difficult par-4 14th, ultimately signing for a 5-under 67 and vaulting himself into a tie for fourth on the leaderboard.
“It was obviously a great round, great score,” said Collet, who works as the head professional at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida. “Got off to a hot start, made a couple putts, and the eagle on eight was really nice. Honestly, the wind picked up starting around the ninth tee box, so I was just kind of trying to hang on after that.”
Now, for a fourth time, Collet heads back to the PGA Championship, which will be held May 14-17 at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia.
“Obviously the goal was to get to Aronimink, and I had a lot of self-belief that I was going to get there,” he said. “Maybe a little doubt crept into my mind after yesterday, but after this morning’s start I was like, okay, we kind of got this in the bag if we just hang on. It’s going to be really nice. I have a friend who works there, so that’ll be cool.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Remarkable bounce-back sends Tyler Collet to PGA Championship