With four events in the books in this new cycle of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season, there have been several changes within the golf power rankings. Some players have gotten stronger (literally) and moved up the ranks, while others have struggled a bit in golf's return after an extended layoff amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The difficult part that comes with updating golf rankings like these is determining how to rank golfers like Adam Scott, Tiger Woods and Tommy Fleetwood, who we haven't seen at all and probably won't for a few more weeks. A few of them do make the top 18 here, though none are near the top of the rankings, which give more weight to players who played at least two events since coming back amid the pandemic.
Let's jump into this week's rankings as highlighted by our new king, Bryson DeChambeau.
The Power 18 golf rankings provide insight as to how golfers are currently performing, giving benefit to their play over the most recent handfuls of events. It is a wider lens than simply what happened at the last tournament to be played but more narrow than the Official World Golf Rankings, which take into account how more than 2,000 golfers perform across an entire season.
The Power 18
| 1 | |
| DeChambeau only player to finish in the top 10 in all four events back since the quarantine began at the beginning of March, and he's done it on courses that don't necessarily fit what he's trying to do, which is to be as long as humanly possible off the tee. After his win on Sunday -- especially considering the way he picked up the victory -- it's easy to see why he's risen to No. 1 in the power rankings and may be here next month when we revisit them. Previous rank: 3 | |
| 2 | |
| After winning the Charles Schwab Challenge and nearly winning the RBC Heritage, Berger didn't play the Travelers Championship or Rocket Mortgage Classic. If he had played both and had finished remotely near the top 10, he could have been No. 1 on this list. He's playing maybe the best golf of his career. Previous rank: 12 | |
| 3 | |
| After a missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Week 1, Simpson won in Week 2 and had to withdraw in Week 3 amid COVID-19 concerns before contending in Week 4 with an ice-cold putter. He has quietly become maybe the most consistent player in the world with just two missed cuts in the last two years. Previous rank: 7 | |
| 4 | |
| Hatton has finished in the top 10 in five of his last six events (granted, over a span of eight months). Need him to play more, but when he does take the course, he's been fabulous. Previous rank: 4 | |
| 5 | |
| Did not see this coming. D.J. was not somebody I envisioned popping up into my top five after just three weeks. He's looked quite mediocre for the last year and missed the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge. While the tee-to-green numbers are not quite what I'd expect from D.J. yet, he's been tremendous over the last two weeks in which he's played. Previous rank: NR | |
| 6 | |
| Two top-15 finishes and a MC over the last three starts for J.T. He's been terrific from tee to green and simply did not putt at all in the first two tournaments back. Still, the numbers are encouraging. Previous rank: 5 | |
| 7 | |
| Are you guys ready for Abraham Ancer, top 10 player in the world? He's finished top 15 in all three events back that he's played and nearly won the RBC Heritage over Simpson. You could argue that, other than DeChambeau, his game has been the most consistently good of anyone. Previous rank: NR | |
| 8 | |
| McIlroy drops from No. 1 to No. 8 after three straight so-so performances. The problem for him thus far has been his iron play, which we saw at the Travelers when he lost strokes to the field in each of the last three days on approach shots. Previous rank: 1 | |
| 9 | |
| Schauffele somehow still gets lost when we talk about the best players in the world. Two top 20s and a tournament in the Charles Schwab Challenge that he probably should have at least been in a playoff to win after his putter let him down late. Previous rank: 15 | |
| 10 | |
| Cantlay has only played one of the three events, but he finished in the top 11. He's always the player I don't know where to rank because he so rarely plays but also doesn't really get the benefit of the doubt when he doesn't play like somebody like Tiger gets. Still, we have no reason to think he's not one of the 10 best guys right now. Previous rank: 10 | |
| 11 | |
| Morikawa also could have won the Charles Schwab Challenge, and rather than docking him for his first missed cut as a pro at the Travelers, we should use it as a jumping off point to discuss just how great he's been over the first part of his career. Currently third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach shots behind just Hatton and Marc Leishman. Previous rank: 18 | |
| 12 | |
| Hovland has moved into the top 50 in the world with four straight (fairly quiet) top 25s. Despite a still-shaky (but improving!) short game, he is in the top five if you're looking at strokes gained off the tee plus strokes gained on approach shots. Other players in that group include Hatton, DeChambeau, McIlroy and Paul Casey. Previous rank: NR | |
| 13 | |
| Great start for him in the return with two top 15s after really struggling at the beginning of the year. CBS Sports analyst Mark Immelman told me Rose was adamant about how hard he'd worked during the time off because he knew how lousy his season started. It's shown so far. Previous rank: NR | |
| 14 | |
| Again, not sure what to do with guys like this. Hard to dock him for not playing because of COVID-19, but I also haven't seen him play. He'll likely fall all the way off here by the next iteration, but for now, his hot start to the year keeps him on it. Previous rank: 9 | |
| 15 | |
| Only Glover, Bryson and Hovland have four top 25s since the PGA Tour returned. Glover, as usual, is striking the hell out of the ball and playing some really consistently solid golf. And he's doing so, as usual, with a putter that's only about average. Previous rank: NR | |
| 16 | |
| I mean, sure. Whatever. You could put him in the top five, or you could put him outside the top 25, and I wouldn't really bat an eye either way. I do want to include him, but I'd also like to, you know, see him play a round or two. Previous rank: 17 | |
| 17 | |
| Joel Dahmen, come on down! Went into quarantine with two straight top-five finishes and came out of it with two top 20s in three events. Previous rank: NR | |
| 18 | |
| Cam Champ has been in the news for other reason, (namely a withdrawal from the Travelers Championship and subsequently multiple negative COVID-19 tests. However, the golf has been really good as well. He has two top 15s in the return. Previous rank: NR | |
