World Golf Rankings: Breaking down this week’s top 15 after the 2024 Summer Olympics

Brian Harman remained at No. 15 in this week’s world golf rankings. Harman did not compete in the Olympics ad will combine with another week of rest heading into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Harman is currently 21^st in the FedEx Cup standings and hoping to improve that during the first two legs of the playoffs – the FedEx St. Jude Championship & the BMW Championship. Also, the other thing to watch is the Presidents Cup standings, which conclude after the BMW Championship. Harman is currently 10^th in the U.S. standings.

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

Russell Henley dropped one spot to No. 14 in the world golf rankings. Like Harman, Henley also did not compete in France for the Olympics. As a result, he is using this week to rest up for potentially three straight weeks of competition. Henley is currently 13^th in the FedEx Cup standings. On another note, in the Presidents Cup standings, Henley is eighth. The top six players from both the U.S. and the International teams automatically qualify and the remaining six are chosen by captains.  

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Sahith Theegala dropped a couple of spots to No. 13 spot in this week’s world golf rankings. Like Harman and Henley, he also did not compete for an Olympic medal. As a result, he is in the mist of preparing for the FedEx Cup playoffs, both physically and mentally. Theegala is currently seventh in the FedEx Cup standings as well fifth in the President’s Cup standings.

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Hideki Matsuyama remained at No. 12 in the world golf rankings. Matsuyama is coming off a bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He earned Japan’s first medal in Olympic men’s golf history, finishing in third place. It was a solid week for the 2021 Masters Champion, who also had the 18-hole lead after the first round.

Also read: 2024 Summer Olympics: The 10 biggest winners and losers from Round 3 of the men’s golf event

Tommy Fleetwood rose three spots to No. 11 in this week’s world golf rankings list. Fleetwood earned the Silver medal during the 2024 Summer Olympics, joining Matsuyama on the podium. He finished at 18-under as a critical bogey on the 71^st hole was the difference maker in competing for a gold medal. Fleetwood is 30^th in the FedEx Cup standings, which means he will have some work to do during the FedEx Cup playoffs to maintain or increase it.

Also read: 2024 Summer Olympics men’s golf: The 10 biggest Round 2 winners and losers

Jon Rahm also remains in the 10^th position of the world golf rankings. Rahm had a difficult back nine. He went from being in gold medal contention to being out of medal contention completely. Despite being bogey free, 6-under through 10 holes, he shot 5-over the rest of the way, including a double bogey on the par-5 14^th. He also had four bogeys and a birdie to finish his round.

Also read: 2024 Summer Olympics men’s golf: The 10 biggest Round 1 winners and losers

Bryson DeChambeau remained at No. 9 in this week’s world golf rankings. Although social media wanted DeChambeau to compete for Team USA in the Olympics because he won the U.S. Open and was second at the PGA Championship, he came just short of qualifying. As a result, he has a couple of weeks of rest to prepare for the next LIV Golf event at the Greenbrier in West Virgina in two weeks.

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Patrick Cantlay also stayed in his spot of No. 8 in the world golf rankings. Cantlay was the first man out from qualifying for the U.S. team. So, he has a chance to get a breather in before the FedEx Cup playoffs. He is currently 11^th in the standings and 87 points away from cracking the top 10. Cantlay is also sixth in the Presidents Cup standings and has going back-and-forth with Theegala the last few weeks. Cantlay has a 618-point lead for the sixth and final automatic spot over Tony Finau.  

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Viktor Hovland also remained in the No. 7 spot in the world golf rankings. Hovland is coming off a T30 finish at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which is right in the middle of the 60-man field. He shot three of his four rounds under par. However, he was pushed back Friday at a 4-over 75 that saw a triple bogey on the opening hole. Of the 13 players in the top 15 of the world golf rankings, Hovland has the worst FedEx Cup standings ranking at 55^th. As a result, he has a lot of work to do if he wants to compete in the Tour Championship. In addition, Hovland is about 100 points away from being inside the top 50, which guarantees a spot into the 2025 Signature events.  

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Collin Morikawa sits at No. 6 in the world golf rankings this week. He finished two strokes better than Hovland at T24. Morikawa could not quite get those big scoring rounds, posting three 1-under par 70s and a 3-under 68. A big part was because he made 14 birdies compared to 52 pars, in addition to one bogey in each round.

Also read: 10 winners and losers from the 4 major championships in 2024

Wyndham Clark remains at No. 5 in the world golf rankings. Clark’s struggles from the Open Championship continued into the first round of the 2024 Summer Olympics with a 4-over 75. However, he shot 15-under par the rest of the way to finish tied for 14^th and one stroke outside the top 10. Clark shot back-to-back 6-under 65s across the final two rounds to boost his strong finish. He is also fifth in the FedeEx Cup standings as well as fourth in the Presidents Cup standings. Clark remains 674 points back of Morikawa for the No. 3 spot.

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Ludvig Aberg remains at No. 4 this week in the world golf rankings. His year of firsts continued this past week at the 2024 Summer Olympics competing for Sweden. Aberg had a 5-under 66 in Saturday’s third round but was unable to move up the leaderboard much further. Thas because he shot a 1-over 72 in the final round. Aberg is sixth in the FedEx Cup standings and will look to finish the season strong.

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Rory McIlroy also remained in the No. 3 position in the world golf rankings. McIlroy is coming off a T5 finish with Rahm at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Unlike Rahm, who faltered to end his tournament, McIlroy had a strong finish. He made five consecutive birdies to begin his back nine in the final round. However, that momentum went away when he double bogeyed the par-4 15^th. McIlroy was still able to finish with two straight 5-under 66s, going back to Saturday’s third round. It was just a couple of holes here and there that prevented McIlroy from putting on a medal.

Also read: Who were the 10 biggest players to win gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in men’s golf

Xander Schauffele sits at No. 2 this week in the world golf rankings. Schauffele, who had the co-54-hole lead with Rahm, also faltered to finish outside of medal contention. The 2020 Olympic Gold medalists shot 2-over 73 in the final round, which included two bogeys and a double bogey in a four-hole stretch on the back nine. As a result, Schauffele has this week to rest up and get ready for the FedEx Cup playoffs. He is 1,936 points behind the No. 1 spot, which means there is a possibility he can take that spot before the Tour Championship. He is also 4,467 points behind the top spot in the Presdients Cup standings but looks to have his spot already locked up.

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 winning gold in the 2024 Summer Olympics. As a result, the top two players in the world golf rankings are the most recent Olympics Gold Medalists. Scheffler continues to add to his memorable 2024 season. He became the first player to go back-to-back at the Players Championship. He won the Masters for the second time in three years. Scheffler also won four other Signature Events in 2024 prior to his Gold Medal.

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