World golf rankings: Breaking down this week’s top 15, including Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler

Brian Harman remained at No. 15 in this week’s world golf rankings. Harman enters the FedEx Cup playoffs at the No. 20 position. He is also about 200 points ahead of the No. 31 position, which would knock him out of being in the Tour Championship. In 20 starts this season, Harman missed just two cuts compared to a runner-up finish at The Players Championship and three top 10s.

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

Russell Henley sits at No. 14 in the world golf rankings this week. Henley enters the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 13 and in good standing to make his second straight Tour Championship. In 16 events this season, Henley has six top 10s and was one of 10 players to make the cut at all four majors. Furthermore, Henley has two of top 10s in his last three starts at the U.S. Open and the Open Championship to fuel his playoff run.

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Sahith Theegala remained at the No. 13 spot in this week’s world golf rankings. Theegala enters the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 7 in the standings and on track to compete in his second Tour Championship and first since 2022. Last year, Theegala finished 34^th in the FedEx Cup standings following the BMW Championship to narrowly miss out on the Tour Championship. He has played a lot better this year compared to last season. Theegala has two runners-up and seven top 10s to support his spot in the standings heading into the playoffs.

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Coming off his Olympic bronze medal in Paris, Hideki Matsuyama remained at No. 12 in the world golf rankings. Matsuyama enters the FedEx Cup one spot behind Theegala at No. 8. This season, Hideki was fueled by his win at the Genesis Invitational, in addition to his seven top 10s. He is also in the top spot of the International Team standings for the Presidents Cup, which is based on world rankings points. (The U.S. team standings are based on FedEx Cup points)

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Tommy Fleetwood sits at No. 11 in this week’s world golf rankings list. Fleetwood is coming off a silver medal performance at the Olympics in France. He is currently 32^nd in the FedEx Cup standings and has a little work to do to get into the top 30 for the Tour Championship. Fleetwood made the Tour Championship last year and finished tied for sixth. So, he can easily play with the best as we saw with the Olympics.

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Jon Rahm is No. 10 in this week’s world golf rankings. Coming off a back nine at the Olympics to forget, Rahm now prepares for the next LIV Golf event at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. Rahm, who won individually in his last start at LIV Golf United Kingdom, is second in the season standings ad about 25 points behind the leader. Rahm’s team, Legion XIII is also in second place with a couple more events left on the schedule.

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The squad that is in front of Rahm is captained by Bryson DeChambeau, who sits at No. 9 in this week’s world golf rankings. DeChambeau and his team, Crushers GC, has a 15-point lead on Rahm’s Legion XIII with a few more events left on the schedule. In addition to DeChambeau’s success out of LIV Golf, highlighted by his U.S. Open win, he has six top 10s this LIV Golf season. Two of those have come in the last three starts as he is eighth in the individual standings.  

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Patrick Cantlay is No. 8 in the world golf rankings this week. Cantlay enters the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 11. Right now, he is looking to improve on the standing heading into the Tour Championship. That is because the better you are in the standings, the better score a player starts with due to the starting strokes format. So, if the Tour Championship started this week, Cantlay would begin at 3-under par. However, if he plays over the next two weeks and gets to fifth or better, he begins at 5-under par or better. Those strokes for Cantlay could be difference in hoisting his second FedEx Cup.  

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Viktor Hovland sits at No. 7 in the world golf rankings. Of the players in this week’s world golf rankings that are competing for the FedEx Cup, he is in the worst spot. He enters the playoffs at No. 57. That means he has to get inside the top 50 just to make it to the BMW Championship. He is about 110 points behind the No. 50 position heading into this week. Getting inside the top 50 earns full exemption into the 2025 season, including all eight Signature events. Hovland is definitely a player to watch this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

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Collin Morikawa is No. 6 in the world golf rankings this week. Despite finishing T24 at the Olympics, Morikawa is looking to turn things around as the FedEx Cup playoffs begin. He is currently fourth in the FedEx Cup standings and within 100 points of Rory McIlroy for third. In 18 starts this season, Morikawa has one runner-up, and seven top 20s compared to two missed cuts. He is looking to finish the season strong as he is on track to compete in his fifth straight Tour Championship.

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Wyndham Clark remains at No. 5 in the world golf rankings. Despite an opening round 4-over 75 at the Olympics, Clark turned things around, firing back-to-back 6-under 65s in the final two rounds. He is hoping to use that momentum into the playoffs as he sits in the No. 5 spot of the FedEx Cup standings. He also in a solid position for the Presidents Cup with Team USA. Clark is currently in fourth and has a 1,500-point lead of not automatically qualifying by being inside the top six.

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Ludvig Aberg is No. 4 this week in the world golf rankings. Entering the FedEx Cup playoffs, Aberg sits in sixth of the standings and hoping to get inside the top five. Aberg is about 60 points behind Clark to crack the top five. He is also 350 points behind Morikawa for the No. 4 spot. Aberg, who has yet to win this season, has two runner-up finishes, along with seven top 10s. Both of those runner-up finishes came at a major or a Signature event (Masters & AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am).

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Rory McIlroy sits at No. 3 in this week’s world golf rankings. McIlroy, who is third in the FedEx Cup standings, is getting set for the playoffs and trying to become the first player to win four FedEx Cup titles. McIlroy, who became the first player to win three FedEx Cups in 2022, has two PGA Tour wins this season, including coming back to win the Wells Fargo Championship in May. He is on track to compete in his seventh consecutive Tour Championship at the end of the month.  

Xander Schauffele sits at No. 2 this week in the world golf rankings. Schauffele is second in the FedEx Cup standings and is nearly 2,000 points behind Scottie Scheffler. There is a way for Schauffele to jump Scheffler, which would most likely include winning both weeks. However, the more important goal is trying to win a FedEx Cup, something he has not done despite three runners-up. In 2017, he won the Tour Championship, but did not win the FedEx Cup because he dd not have the most points. (The point structure has since been changed for players to win both the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.)   

Also read: A look at every Open Championship winner: Where Xander Schauffele stands as a Claret Jug holder

Scottie Scheffler remains in the top spot of the world golf rankings. He is coming off a gold medal in Paris for his seventh win of the season. Because it is an unofficial PGA Tour win, it does not count for his seventh PGA Tour win. However, there is still a chance for Scheffler to seven (or eight, or nine) PGA Tour wins this season. Like Schauffele, Scheffler is also looking for his first FedEx Cup title at the end of the month.  

Also read: Who has the most major wins of all time and who the current stars, like Scheffler, looking up to?