The Power 18 golf rankings: Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy among big movers as top 10 reshuffles
The Power 18 rankings return with some significant movement as the Open Championship looms ahead
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8 min read
The long summer of professional golf has arrived, but it will be gone before you know it. Just six weeks separate players from the beginning of the FedEx Cup Playoffs on the PGA Tour with a dash to the postseason beginning with a mini Midwest swing. This stretch of tournaments follows the third major championship of the season, the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and precedes a two-week stint in the United Kingdom for the Scottish Open and the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Last we left off, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was enjoying a historic season from tee to green and had done no worse than a T12 finish in the calendar year. Despite the landscape of golf evolving by the second, Scheffler's dominance remains. The Players Championship winner is without a trophy since his triumph at TPC Sawgrass, but there is little doubt the river card could play right into his hand.
Wyndham Clark became a first-time major champion at LACC and has seen his career win total go from zero to two in the span of four tournaments. LIV Golf members Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are flashing form while Rory McIlroy has rediscovered his consistency from the early stages of the year.
The Power 18 provides insight as to how golfers are currently performing with benefit given to their play over recent 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
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| The statistics from tee to green are jaw dropping, and the run he is on warrants praise. Scheffler has not finished outside the top 12 this calendar year, and he hasn't finished outside the top five since April. He experienced yet another close call in a major championship as he was featured alongside McIlroy in the penultimate group on Sunday at the U.S. Open before finishing solo third. Over the last 12 months, six months, three months and 30 days, Scheffler leads the world in total strokes gained. Previous: 1 | |
| 2 | |
| A quiet season has been amped up with a strong start to the summer. Since his T7 finish at the PGA Championship, the four-time major winner has collected four straight top-10s including a spot in the final pair Sunday at the Memorial Tournament and another near miss at the U.S. Open. He will look to break his nine-year major drought at Royal Liverpool, the venue that saw him raise the Claret Jug in 2014. Previous: 5 | |
| 3 | |
| Koepka has played nine times since the beginning of April, collecting two trophies (one of the major variety) and three top-three finishes with the most recent coming at Valderrama. He wasn't in love with Los Angeles Country Club, but that didn't stop the two-time U.S. Open champion from finishing inside the top 20. His play in the other three majors takes center stage, but Koepka still has four top-10 results in eight Open appearances. If he were to raise the Claret Jug at Hoylake, he'd arrive at Augusta next April with a chance to complete the career grand slam. Previous: 3 | |
| 4 | |
| The Masters champion has been pedestrian since slipping on the green jacket, but his four-win season still deserves a standing ovation. A top-20 effort at the Memorial Tournament was followed by a backdoor top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. He lamented he would not be playing the Travelers Championship if not for the designated status of the tournament and exited two days later with his first missed cut in over 600 days. The heater with the putter has returned to room temperature, his short game has been average at best and his driver has been less than cooperative. All that said, he is still Jon Rahm. Previous: 2 | |
| 5 | |
| There were high hopes for the Norwegian in Los Angeles following his win at the Memorial and his recent play in majors. It wasn't meant to be as Hovland finished 19th at the U.S. Open for his fourth straight major top 20 dating back to last year's Open. Now a year removed from a date in the final pairing with McIlroy at St. Andrews, Hovland looks mature beyond his years. He makes aggressive swings to conservative targets and picks off the birdies when presented. It's the perfect blueprint for major championship golf and the ability to elevate his short game during those four weeks is flying under the radar. Previous: 4 | |
| 6 | |
| Smith's slow start to his year is officially in the rearview mirror. The Champion Golfer of the Year now has seven straight top-12 finishes between major championships and LIV Golf. The most notable came at the U.S. Open where a solid final day catapulted him into a solo fourth-place finish. He is improving from tee to green by the week, and the putter continues to be a weapon. Previous: 10 | |
| 7 | |
| There is recency bias here, but Clark's play since May deserves such a jump in the rankings. Winning two big-boy events in the span of four tournaments, the 29-year-old went from solid member of the PGA Tour to major champion and likely participant in the 2023 Ryder Cup. What the future holds will be interesting, but as of now Clark is among the best 10 golfers in the world. Previous: 14 | |
| 8 | |
| The consistency paid off in Detroit. Returning to the winner's circle for the first time in over 1,600 days, Fowler's summit to the top of his game has been completed. It was only a matter of time as the six-time winner had 14 top-20 finishes in 19 starts before his triumph at the Rocket Mortage Classic. Fowler's confidence (and game) is peaking, and the links golf test lurks — a test in which he has his fair share of A's. Previous: 16 | |
| 9 | |
| Schauffele is enjoying his best season from a strokes-gained point of view, has rattled off 10 straight top-25 finishes and tied a U.S. Open record with an opening 62. He immediately faltered Saturday at the U.S. Open and crawled across the finish line to a T10 result that was emblematic of his year as a whole. Schauffele will defend in Scotland before trying once again to get off the major schneid. Previous: 6 | |
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| Cantlay and Schauffele continue to mirror each other in bizarre fashions. Cantlay has been so good this year, posting +2.35 strokes gained per round with a career-best performance from off the tee. The 31-year-old has become one of the best in the world with driver in hand, but the inability to hole timely putts is costing him down the stretch. Cantlay has five straight top-15 finishes in major championships and has yet to strike a meaningful shot on the back nine on Sunday. Previous: 8 | |
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| Healthy, physically fit and in a good place mentally, DeChambeau appears on the cusp of something special. A top-five result at the PGA Championship was not a flash in the pan; that performance has been followed with three straight top-20 finishes including the U.S. Open and a runner-up result at LIV Golf Andalucia. Despite the weight loss, DeChambeau remains one of the elite drivers in the game and could sneakily be a great fit for Hoylake. Some may forget he finished T8 at last year's Open. Previous: Not ranked | |
| 12 | |
| Hatton is approaching the point where he needs to show us his game in majors. Outside the four big weeks, the Englishman has been tremendous with top-five finishes at the Canadian Open, Byron Nelson and Wells Fargo Championship since May. There is a chance Royal Liverpool will serve as a launch pad for major success as he has three top-11 finishes in his last six Opens. Previous: 7 | |
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| He bucks conventional wisdom with his statistical profile, but McCarthy finds a way to churn out quality finishes in big events. Since losing in a playoff to Hovland at the Memorial, the 30-year-old has added a top-20 finish at the U.S. Open and a T7 effort at the Travelers Championship. McCarthy's lack of distance hinders his upside, but the putter more than makes up for it. Previous: Not ranked | |
| 14 | |
| The former world No. 1 is one of the few players to make the cut in the first three majors of the season. He couldn't buy a putt over the weekend at the U.S. Open, struggled mightily on the par-4 2nd and was still able to finish inside the top 10. A similar result came at LIV Golf Andalucia. The two-time major champion has seven top-15 finishes in his Open career with back-to-back top 10s coming in 2021 and 2022. Previous: Not ranked | |
| 15 | |
| There has been some good, and there's been some ugly, but Morikawa is beginning to show flashes of his former self. A playoff loser at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the two-time major champion nearly entered the winner's circle for the first time since the 2021 Open. His play in Detroit followed a 74-63 missed cut at the Travelers Championhip, a top-20 finish at the U.S. Open and a WD before the final round of the Memorial Tournament where he would have entered two strokes back. If the season ended today, it would be his best from a strokes-gained perspective and worst in terms of missed cuts. Previous: 13 | |
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| The Englishman has been sound since the beginning of April now that the injury concerns are behind him. Kickstarted by a top 10 at the Masters, Fitzpatrick has a win and five top-20 finishes to his name over the last three months. He is not too far off from his 2022 levels but will need to see improvement in the ball-striking categories with an emphasis on the big stick. Previous: 11 | |
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| Getting the most out of your good weeks is a skill, and few have been better than Bradley in that regard. One of just six multiple-time winners on the PGA Tour this season, Bradley's near-record performance at the Travelers Championship, the last designated event, showcased how lethal he is when the putting matches the ball striking. Previous: Not ranked | |
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| With his win at LIV Golf Andalucia, Gooch has now racked up three of the last five trophies on the circuit. International grounds continue to be friendly, and his well-rounded game continues to be rewarded. While his play has been great on LIV, Gooch hasn't factored in the majors this season having missed the cut at the PGA Championship and missing out on the U.S. Open entirely due to the modified qualifying criteria. Previous: Not ranked | |
