World Golf Rankings: Breaking down the top 15 ahead of the Europe swing

Max Homa is at No. 15 in this week’s world golf rankings as he now prepares for the Genesis Scottish Open. Playing this week is a glimpse into links golf as the final major of the year comes the following week. Homa is No. 29 in the FedEx Cup standings as he has the next two weeks to improve his position. These next two weeks might be Homa’s last two events before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin.

Also read: Breaking down last week’s top 15 of the World Golf Rankings

Sahith Theegala remained in his world golf rankings spot from the previous week at No. 14. Theegala has had a solid 2024, rising 18 spots since the beginning of the year being at No. 32. Now, he goes after playing in Scotland to prepare for the Open Championship next week.

Hideki Matsuyama stands at No. 13 in the world golf rankings this week. Matsuyama, who has been dealing with injuries, is gearing to begin his two-week stretch. That begins this week at the Genesis Scottish Open followed by the Open Championship, looking get major win No. 2.

The reigning Open Championship has made it to Europe. His golf agenda begins at the Genesis Scottish Open before returning the Claret Jug the following week. He has taken the Claret Jug to Augusta National Golf Cub the same weekend Florida faced Georgia in college football. Harman, who attended the University of Georgia, was honored at the football game when the Bulldogs faced Ole Miss. Now, it is time to focus as he looks to be the first back-to-back Claret Jug winner since Padraig Harrington.

Related: Where Brian Harman and Padraig Harrington stand on the list of Open Championship winners

Tommy Fleetwood is No. 11 in this week’s rankings. Fleetwood returns to his home country in hopes of getting his first PGA Tour victory. In six PGA Tour seasons, Fleetwood has five runner-up finishes and five third place finishes across 140 starts. He’s hoping to improve on his two-week stretch when he finished top 10 in Scotland and the Open last year. Fleetwood also finished T4 at both events in 2022 adding to the longevity of success at these two events.

Jon Rahm remained in the No. 10 position in this week’s world golf rankings. Rahm, now prepares for two straight weeks of play at the LIV Golf event in his home country of Spain, followed by the Open Championship. Before the Olympics, he will have one LIV Golf start in the UK before competing for a Gold Medal in France.

Remaining in the No. 9 spot in this week’s world golf rankings is Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion. Like Rahm, DeChambeau is gearing up for action in Spain before the Open Championship. In the LIV Golf team standings, DeChambeau’s team leads Rahm’s by 9.5 points with four events remaining.

Related: Where Bryson DeChambeau’s second U.S. Open title stands on the list of winners

Patrick Cantlay also stayed in his spot of No. 8 in the world golf rankings. Cantlay is not playing the Genesis Scottish Open to fully prepare for the Open Championship. He is one of the game’s best players without a major title. He is hoping to get that monkey off his back like his friend Xander Schauffele did at the PGA Championship a couple months ago.

Viktor Hovland is No. 7 in this week’s world golf rankings. Hovland needs to have a couple of strong weeks to boost his FedEx Cup standing. He currently sits at No. 50. If Hovland wants to successfully defend his FedEx Cup, he has to get to No. 30 first. The top 30 players in the standings earn a spot in the Tour Championship. However, no player has yet to successfully defend a FedEx Cup title in the 16-year history of the playoffs.

Collin Morikawa sits at No. 6 in the world golf rankings this week. Morikawa is hoping to have a European swing like he did three years ago when he won the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. The only part of the script that he hopes is different is medaling at the Olympics. He was one of six players to lose the 7-man playoff for the bronze in Tokyo three years ago.  

The only change in this week’s world golf rankings comes here as Wyndham drops one spot to No. 5. With the world golf rankings begin based on his play from a minimum 40 events, that is why Clark drops one spot. Players do not directly drop solely on what they did the week before, whether or not they played.

Ludvig Aberg rose one spot to compensate Clark’s drop in the lone change in this week’s world golf rankings. Aberg, who is from Sweden, returns to his home continent for his next three starts, including his Open Championship debut. He will also be competing in his first Olympic Games in a few weeks in France.

Xander Schauffele remains at the No. 3 spot this week in the world golf rankings. Schauffele now begins his Europe swing with all three events. Of the three events, the only event he has not won is the Open Championship. He was victorious at the Scottish Open in 2022 and won Gold at the Olympics in 2020. This comes now after he claimed his first major win at the PGA Championship in May. Schauffele is also the active leader on the PGA Tour in consecutive made cuts. That streak stands at 50, dating back to last missed cut at the 2022 Masters.

Related: 10 winners and losers from the PGA Championship, highlighted by Xander Schauffele hoisting a major championship trophy for the first time

Rory McIlroy also remained in the No. 2 spot of this week’s world golf rankings. McIlroy will be making his return since being the U.S. Open runner-up where he missed two putts inside of five feet in the final three holes. However, on a more positive note, McIlroy comes to the Genesis Scottish Open as the reigning champion. He birdied the final two holes to earn his first win on Scottish soil.

Scottie Scheffler will remain No. 1 unless someone can match what he has done this season. He has won six times, including a major and five Signature Events. Scheffler has done all of this by recording just one finish outside the top 30 this season. He went back-to-back at the Arnold Palmer Invitation and the Players. He went back-to-back again at the Masters and the RBC Heritage. This came before winning the Memorial as well as the Travelers in playoff fashion. He is not playing the Genesis Scottish Open to focus on trying to win two majors this year.