World Golf Rankings: Breaking down the top 15 ahead of the Open Championship

Max Homa remains in the No. 15 of the world golf rankings for the fifth consecutive week. Homa is coming off a T10 at last year’s Open Championship, hoping to use that momentum this week at Royal Troon. However, Homa has not finished better than 21^st in each of his last six starts. That also includes two missed cuts in the Charles Schwab Challenge and the U.S. Open. He is hoping to have a performance like he did in April at the Masters when he finished T3.

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

Hideki Matsuyama dropped one spot to No. 14. Entering the Open Championship this week, Matsuyama finished T13 last year for his best finish since a T14 in 2017. Matsuyama’s major resume in 2024 includes a T38 at the Masters, T35 at the PGA Championship. The upward trend jumped when he was sixth at the U.S. Open. That is a good sign heading into Royal Troon.

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The reigning Open Champion officially arrived at Royal Troon. Brian Harman returned the replica Claret Jug back to the R&A in hopes of getting it back on Sunday. Harman is trying to become the first back-to-back winner of the Open since Padraig Harrington in 2008-09. He finished tied for 21^st at the Genesis Scottish Open last week to get set for Royal Troon.

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

Tommy Fleetwood also dropped one spot to No. 12. He is coming off a T34 at the Scottish Open last week. Fleetwood enters the Open Championship where has finished inside the top 10 in three of the last four tournaments. Fleetwood was the runner-up in 2019, finished T4 in 2022 and T10 last year. In the three previous majors this year, he has finished no worse than 26^th.

Making the only jump inside the top 15 was Sahith Theegala, who rose three spots. Theegala got back on track with a T4 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open ahead of this week’s Open Championship. In the final major championship of the year this week, Theegala will be looking for his first major win. Theegala will be making his third Open Championship start this week. He will be looking to improve off his T34 in 2022 and his missed cut last year.

Jon Rahm stands at No. 10 in this week’s world golf rankings. He finished in 10^th place last week in the LIV Golf event in Andalucia, Spain. Rahm, who is form Spain, is currently second in the LIV Golf individual standings. Rahm is who is 40 points behind Joaquin Niemann, has yet to win in LIV Golf. He was one of four runners-up at last year’s Open Championship. If Rahm wins the Claret Jug he will earn the third leg of the career grand slam. He would need a win at the PGA Championship to then complete the career grand slam.

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The reigning major champion now gets set to win a second straight major championship this week. Bryson DeChambeau is trying to become the seventh player to win the U.S. Open and the Open Championship in the same year. He would join Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Gene Sarazen (1932), Ben Hogan (1953), Lee Trevino (1971), Tom Watson (1982) and Tiger Woods (2000). DeChambeau has finished no worse than sixth in three major starts this year to give him that momentum.   

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 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. Cantlay is coming off a T3 at the U.S. Open in his latest major start. Cantlay also tied for fifth in the Travelers Championship a week after the U.S. Open. That gives him the momentum heading into Royal Troon.

Related: How Patrick Cantlay and the rest of the field earned one of 27 exemtpions into the Open Championship

Viktor Hovland remained at No. 7 in the world golf rankings. He has only been in contention once this year at the PGA Championship despite just two missed cuts. Despite missing the cut at the other two majors this year, Hovland finished 13^th in last year’s Open Championship and T4 two years ago at St. Andrews. The T13 finish was also his worst finish in three Open Championship starts.

Also read: 10 underperforming PGA Tour players in 2024

Collin Morikawa sits at No. 6 in the world golf rankings this week. Morikawa has only finished outside the top 20 only once in the last 10 starts, dating back to the Masters. In addition, six of his seven top 10s have come within that stretch. That includes a T4 last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. Morikawa will be looking for his third major championship and second Open Championship win this week.

Also read: Past winners of the Open Championship dating back to 1860  

Wyndham Clark is No. 5 in the latest world golf rankings. Clark recorded back-to-back top 10 finishes in his last two starts at the Travelers Championship and the Scottish Open. This comes after he finished no better than 47^th in four straight events. He is looking to use those two tops 10s to kick off his finish for the rest of the season. His schedule includes this week’s Open Championship before the Olympics and the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Ludvig Aberg is fourth in this week’s world golf rankings. He is coming off a T4 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open, along with Theegala. However, Aberg struggled in the final round, shooting a 3-over 73. This came after he went 64, 64, 65 and have the 54-hole lead. Aberg is getting set for his first Open Championship this week. Aberg is trying to become the 11^th player in Open Championship history to win in his first start. The most recent player to win the Claret Jug in their first start was Morikawa two years ago.

Xander Schauffele is No. 3 in the world golf rankings. He enters the Open Championship as the reigning PGA Champion. Schauffele is trying to become the sixth player to win the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He would join Walter Hagen (1924), Nick Price (1994), Tiger Woods (2000, 2006), Padraig Harrington (2008) and Rory McIlroy (2014). Schauffele is coming off a T15 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open before arriving at Royal Troon.  

Related: Where does Walter Hagen stand on the all-time major wins list?

Speaking of Rory McIlroy, he is No. 2 spot of this week’s world golf rankings. McIlroy has five top-five finishes in his last seven events. That includes back-to-back victories at the Zurich Classic and the Wells Fargo Championship. However, he was the runner-up at the U.S. Open, leading to his break until last week’s Genesis Scottish, where he tied for fourth. Since winning in 2014, he has six, top-six finishes in eight starts. He finished tied for fifth in 2016 when the Open Championship was last held at Royal Troon in 2016.

Scottie Scheffler continues to be in the top spot of the world golf rankings. Scheffler is looking for win No. 7 of the year, which would tie Woods in 2007 and Tom Watson in 1980. Scheffler, along with Schauffele and DeChambeau, is trying to become the 16^th player to win The Open Championship and another major in the same year. All three players are trying to become the first player to accomplish that feat since McIlroy in 2014. Scheffler has just one top 10 in three Open Championship starts. He finished T23 and T21 the last two years, looking to get another leg of the grand slam this week.

Also read: Ranking the 10 best players of all time from Tiger Woods to Arnold Palmer