POWER RANKED: The 15 best golfers in the world right now
Cork Gaines
- As golf tours begin their return, Insider ranked the best golfers in the world, men and women.
- To create the ranking, Insider looked at performance over the previous two years, success in recent major championships, and all-around talent.
- The current list includes golfers from around the world, the PGA, the LPGA, and a full range of ages.
Golf is back!
After a few months off due to the coronavirus pandemic, the PGA Tour returns this week with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas. The LPGA will return next month at the Highland Meadows Golf Club in Ohio with the Marathon Classic.
Akin to boxing's pound-for-pound rankings, we ranked the best golfers in the world, regardless of their gender or primary tour.
To create the ranking, Insider looked at performance over the previous two years, success in recent major championships, and all-around talent.
So, with apologies to the golfers who are not on this list, including, Jason Day, Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama, Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson, and Nasa Hataoka, here are the 15 best golfers in the world right now, pound-for-pound.
1. Rory McIlroy
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: Northern Irish
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 5
Why he's ranked: McIlroy won four majors in 3.5 years but hasn't lifted the trophy in one since 2014. Still, it feels like it is just a matter of time as he has been the best golfer in the world for the better part of the past year. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Rors has five wins and has finished in the top-10 28 times in 35 events, including all six events to start the 2019-20 season.
2. Jin Young Ko
Primary Tour: LPGA Tour
Nationality: South Korean
Majors won in last year: 2 (2019 ANA Inspiration, 2019 Evian Championship)
Total wins in last year: 5
Why she's ranked: Ko is the only golfer in the world to win two majors in 2019. She became the No. 1 ranked golfer in women's golf after her 2-stroke win at The Evian Championship. Her 69.062 scoring average in 2019 was second only to Rory McIlroy (69.057) among all golfers on the major tours.
3. Brooks Koepka
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 1 (2019 PGA Championship)
Total wins in last year: 2
Why he's ranked: Koepka has famously said that he only really practices for the majors. The results on the courses support that as he already has four wins at the majors and only three other wins on the PGA Tour in six seasons. He did have nine top-10s out of 21 PGA Tour events in 2019, but he is 0-5 in 2020, including two missed cuts.
4. Jon Rahm
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: Spanish
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 3
Why he's ranked: Rahm has yet to win at a major, but he has finished in the top 11 in five of the last eight. The problem is that he missed the cut in the other three. He had just one win in his last 25 PGA Tour events, but he did finish in the Top 10 in 16 of those starts.
5. Justin Thomas
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 3
Why he's ranked: Thomas is one of the best all-around golfers in the world, but that has only translated into one major championship (the 2017 PGA Championship) and one win during the 2018-19 season. He did seem to turn the corner a bit before the coronavirus shutdown, winning twice in the first eight events of the 2019-20 season with five finishes in the Top 10.
6. Tiger Woods
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 1 (2019 Masters)
Total wins in last year: 2
Why he's ranked: The rest of the field has narrowed the gap with Tiger Woods in terms of talent and dominance. But as we saw at the 2019 Masters, he can still pull out the wins at his favorite tracks. The question still remains about whether or not Woods can stay healthy. But as long as he does, the race for Jack Nicklaus' career majors record is back on.
7. Nelly Korda
Primary Tour: LPGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 3
Why she's ranked: Korda is just 21 and is already the No. 2 ranked player in women's golf and destined to become the next great American golfer. She is yet to win a major, but she already has three Top-10 finishes.
8. Adam Scott
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: Australian
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 2
Why he's ranked: Scott has had a bit of a career renaissance that has flown under the radar. The former world No. 1 golfer saw his ranking fall to 76th 2018. But in the five majors since then, he has finishes of third, seventh, eighth, and 18th.
9. Sung Hyun Park
Primary Tour: LPGA Tour
Nationality: South Korean
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 3
Why he's ranked: Park was ranked No. 1 in the women's world golf rankings as recently as 2019. The two-time major champion had three Top-8 finishes in the majors in 2019 and had the fifth-best scoring average on tour.
10. Patrick Reed
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 2
Why he's ranked: Reed has struggled a bit at the majors since winning the 2018 Masters and placing fourth at the 2018 US Open. In the six majors since, he has just one Top 25 and has missed the cut twice. However, he has turned it on lately, including wins at the Northern Trust in August and the WGC-Mexico event in February along with three other Top-10s to start this season.
11. Dustin Johnson
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 0
Why he's ranked: DJ has been the model of being consistently very good on the PGA Tour. He has at least one win in each of the previous 12 seasons and has at least one Top 10 at the majors in 10 of the past 11 seasons. In 2019, he just missed out on adding a second major to his resume, finishing one stroke behind Tiger Woods at the Masters and two shots behind Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship.
12. Jeong Eun Lee
Primary Tour: LPGA Tour
Nationality: South Korean
Majors won in last year: 1 (2019 US Women's Open)
Total wins in last year: 1
Why she's ranked: Lee — or "Lee6," as she is often referred to because of how common her name is on the tour — has struggled a bit to start the 2020 season. However, she had three Top-10 finishes in the 2019 majors, including a win at the U.S. Women's Open. She was ranked as high as fourth in the world in 2019.
13. Xander Schauffele
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 0
Why he's ranked: Schauffele's success has gone a bit unnoticed in the shadow of the other young stars in the golf world, in large part because he has yet to break through and win a major. Still, in his first 11 career majors, he has finished in the Top-6 five times, including two runner-ups. The 25-year-old has one of the best all-around games on tour, and it is just a matter of time before he wins multiple majors.
14. Ricky Fowler
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 0
Total wins in last year: 0
Why he's ranked: He may no longer be the best player in the world yet to win a major, but he is probably still the most famous player yet to win a major. After finishing in the Top 5 of every major in 2014, it seemed inevitable, but it still hasn't happened. There is no denying the immense amount of talent. He also continues to come close, including a pair of Top 10s in 2019.
15. Gary Woodland
Primary Tour: PGA Tour
Nationality: American
Majors won in last year: 1 (2019 US Open)
Total wins in last year: 1
Why he's ranked: The 36-year-old Woodland has finally started to harness his talent, with a win at the 2019 US Open and two other Top-10 finishes in his last five majors.
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