NASSAU, The Bahamas – It’s always hard to tell whether the Hero World Challenge is a review or a preview.

In one sense, playing in Tiger Woods’ tournament in The Bahamas is a reward for an exemplary season and a final showcase of all that’s happened in 2025.

But the tournament’s timing, just over a month from the start of the 2026 PGA TOUR season, also positions it as a bit of a preview.

Much of the field has lain low throughout the fall and has awoken from its offseason slumber to test new swing thoughts, gear and caddies, or just to stay sharp before another marathon season begins in a few weeks.

Add in Woods’ presence, garnering headlines early week for his press conference, which has become an annual State of the Union-type media session in which the 82-time winner riffs on his health and the state of the PGA TOUR at large, and the Hero World Challenge becomes an intriguing cocktail of storylines that can be hard to track.

So what should you be following this week? Here are five interesting subplots to follow. Some might garner attention throughout the week, others might just be intriguing tidbits that will help inform the viewing this week – our last chance to see some of the top players in the world before the 2026 season begins.

Scottie Scheffler’s testing again

Scottie Scheffler has won the Hero World Challenge the last two years, and he’s done it amid pretty dramatic testing.

Two years ago, the event was the first stroke-play competition Scheffler played while working with putting coach Phil Kenyon. He putted well, but not exceptional, yet won going away. Last year, he debuted another putting tweak – this time with his grip, using a claw grip on putts inside 15 feet. Again we putted well and won running away.

Clearly he’s not afraid to keep using the Hero as a testing ground. This week, Scheffler will debut the new TaylorMade Qi4D driver. The world No. 1 spent the last several months testing the manufacturer’s newest line of driver and is pleased with the club so far.

“Last year I had a little bit of trouble getting into the Qi35 and I feel like we learned a lot throughout that process of what I like to see in a driver, the way it needs to perform for me specifically,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “Going into this year I feel like Adrian [Rietveld] and the whole team at TaylorMade had a really good kind of idea of what my eyes needed to see in order for the driver to be able to work. We went through a lot of different kind of options for what the face needed to be specifically for me and felt like we're in a good spot.”

Changing drivers annually has become commonplace for many on the PGA TOUR, so while the change isn’t unusual, it’s still noteworthy. Any time a new piece of equipment is inserted into the bag, there’s some uncertainty. Look no further than Rory McIlroy last year, who had his driver deemed non-conforming at the PGA Championship and needed several events to fully get comfortable with a new one.

Scheffler has the benefit of making the change in the offseason, which should alleviate concerns that he won’t feel comfortable by the start of the 2026 season. Still, it’s a useful data point to watch this week. Does Scheffler look comfortable with the driver? If yes, great. If not, it’s a storyline to follow early in 2026.

Jordan Spieth's return

The Hero World Challenge is Jordan Spieth’s first start since his season ended prematurely at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he began the week inside the top 50 but found himself outside the cutoff after 72 holes.

Spieth did not play any FedExCup Fall events, dropping from 54th to 61st in the process and one spot out of the Aon Next 10, which awarded spots in the first two Signature Events of 2026. Although he is almost a lock to get into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (given the minimum field is set at 80 players, backfilled by those outside the top 60 in the previous year’s FedExCup standings), Spieth will need a sponsor exemption to play The Genesis Invitational.

So what will Spieth look like in his return to competitive golf? The positioning of the Hero is tricky. It offers a glimpse into all the work that’s been done in the offseason, but with more than a month until the TOUR season gets rolling, it’s hard to prescribe any future form based on the results. Still, a good week in the Bahamas would give Spieth some positive momentum rolling into 2026, which he was sorely lacking this time last year as he recovered from wrist surgery. Trying to get excited about a bounce-back campaign for the three-time major winner? It will be a lot easier if he plays well this week.

Billy Horschel’s unique stakes and continued comeback

Billy Horschel might be the only golfer seriously sweating his result at the Hero this week – at least as it relates to his 2026 season.

The Hero World Challenge field is filled by going down the list of the top players in the OWGR. It’s an elite field for that reason, but it also means the status implications of the event are minimal. The field list rarely goes past No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and nearly everyone in that list will have their pick of the litter for 2026 events.

Horschel is an exception. The American is playing this week on a sponsor exemption. Had a hip injury not sidelined him for a majority of 2025, the American was well on his way to earning his spot in this event on his own merit. But that injury did keep him out more than five months and dropped him to 33rd in the OWGR when he finally returned at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at the end of September. Horschel has made two other starts since, slowly knocking off the rust, but his OWGR position continued to slip. He began this week at No. 45 in the rankings.

Why is that important? The top 50 players in OWGR at the end of the year will earn an exemption into the Masters, and Horschel is not yet exempt through any other pathway. Securing that start would go a long way in allowing Horschel to start 2026 freely.

Keegan Bradley’s catharsis

Keegan Bradley didn’t mince words earlier this week when discussing the impact of the U.S. Ryder Cup loss as a captain. It spoke to Bradley’s admirable obsession with an event that has left more scar tissue than happy memories for the American over the last decade-plus.

“The darkest time of my life, probably,” he said. “I mean, I don't know how else to describe it. Certainly, definitely of my career.”

Bradley said he’s slowly emerged from the dark state in recent weeks – primarily because he finally had something to take his mind off of it. He played in – and won – "The Skins Game" last week before heading off to the Bahamas for the Hero. If his form in "The Skins Game" is any indication, the heartbreak of the Ryder Cup hasn’t hindered his golf. Maybe, it could actually fuel it?

The return to competitive golf could be the catharsis Bradley needs to re-emerge a happier person and better player. He has goals of making the next Ryder Cup team as a player and is holding out hope for another shot at the captaincy down the line. Both will require more good golf and Bradley is ready to deliver that immediately.

Akshay Bhatia’s new caddie

A top caddie has landed a new full-time gig.

Joe Greiner, longtime caddie for Max Homa, is looping for Akshay Bhatia at the Hero World Challenge this week, and the duo intends to work together when the 2026 season begins next month.

Greiner and Homa split in April, ending a six-year working relationship between the close friends. In the intervening months, Greiner spent time as a fill-in with Justin Thomas (the duo won the RBC Heritage together) and had brief stints with Collin Morikawa and Jake Knapp.

Time will tell if Greiner and Bhatia stick together long-term, but the partnership is an intriguing one as Bhatia’s star ascends. One doesn’t have to look far to see how an experienced, accomplished caddie has elevated a young talent in recent years. Most notably, Scottie Scheffler hired Ted Scott and immediately jumped into the upper echelon of TOUR pros. More recently, Joe Skovron jumped on Ludvig Åberg’s bag, with the Swede quickly working his way into the top five in the world shortly after.

This week will be our first glimpse into what their partnership could be. A lot has to go right for Bhatia to follow suit. But still only 23 years old, Bhatia might have found the caddie who can help get him there.