Mid-season report cards have a way of pulling honest answers out of people — particularly when you're handing them out to yourself. On the latest episode of The Drop, presented by ServPro, PGA Tour hosts Alexander Lachlin and Matt Every ran a short, telling segment in which Tour players were asked to grade their first half of 2026. The answers ranged from "today" to "D," with most clustering somewhere around the dreaded C.
Shane Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, was first into the headmaster's chair, and his self-assessment was crisp.
"Thankfully we don't have to grade ourselves until the end of the year. But I would say not very satisfying so far. Put plenty of hard work in, not seen the results. Lots of good golf, haven't quite finished it off yet. So I would give myself — I'm passing at this stage, but I need to see some better results. Like a C," Lowry said.
Lowry's verdict was, comfortably, the median voice in the segment.
The next player into the chair — name withheld in the broadcast cut — talked himself up to a B+ and immediately apologised for it.
"Passing, contending, but haven't broken in fully into the top 50 yet. A couple more top tens would be nice. I've got to put one away — in the US Open and the Open. B+, like good, but we've got to take it up. Solid," he said.
Another player, whose conditional status had been a real factor in his year, sat between two grading universes.
"If you would have asked me this a month ago, I would have given myself probably an A. I feel like I'm at a B+ right now. Kind of tapered off through the last four events, but if you would have told me I was in this position at the beginning of the year, I would have been very happy. A little unsure with conditional status, how many starts I was going to get in. To play my way into Bay Hill and the Players was huge. Looking for a nice second half," he said.
The grim end of the scale belonged to two players who admitted the year had simply not produced what they wanted.
"Maybe like a D. Hasn't been my year so far, but I feel like I'm working on the right things. A lot of optimistic things that I'm looking at — my swing and stuff. Excited for the rest of the year. Hopefully an A+ the rest of the year," one said.
Another self-graded as a B-minus and pinned much of the year on a single week.
"I had one really, really good tournament at Valero. The rest has been just barely a passing. Hopefully I can find that form from Valero and keep it going from there," he said.
One player split the difference between his ball-striking and his short game with a "B to B+" — and an unusually frank admission that his ball-striking was not where he wanted it.
"Never really felt like I had my best game all year, but the scrambling was really good and I put up some pretty good performances, especially early in the year. Hopefully I can get the ball-striking to an A level and have a good rest of the year," he said.
"I didn't have very good grades, but I'm going to give myself a good grade here. I'm going to say 'today.' For a lot of reasons. From a schedule standpoint, I haven't had a schedule in three years. Playing my way into these elevated events, getting back into the major championships — that's what we're out here to do. And on top of that, with everything I've been battling, there's no place I'd rather be than back here playing. And I'm proud of that," he said.
For a Tour whose mid-season narrative is usually written by media outlets and Aon Risk Reward graphics, it was a quietly revealing piece of self-scouting — and a reminder that, for most professionals, the first half of 2026 has been less of an A-grade campaign and more of a long, honest C.