World Golf Rankings Shuffle: McIlroy Reclaims #1 After Nearly Five Years

The World Golf Rankings is at best a decent indicator of which Tour pros have played the best over a period of time. Not the hottest at the moment but a snapshot resume of good to great results over two years with the current season receiving a more influential nod.

Thus the Rankings this week have seen a significant shuffle. Rory McIlroy (who didn’t play this week) overtook Brooks Koepka (who didn’t either) as the top dog. What’s cool is Tiger Woods’ Genesis Open this week includes nine of the top-10 ranked pros. And as Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier reports, Jon Rahm can also claim the #1 slot.

It’s hard to believe that Rory McIlroy hasn’t been world No. 1 since September 2015. Since then, these players have worn the crown: Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka. Twenty-one changes at the top of the game. Now, at long last, McIlroy has gotten back to the top of the mountain. On a week where neither he nor last week’s world No. 1 Brooks Koepka was playing, McIlroy won the battle of the numbers — now he gets the honor of being tops in the world.

Part of the World Golf Rankings intrigue Sunday was Phil Mickelson needing a 2nd to qualify (finished third) for next week’s WGC-Mexico Championship to ultimately fall to 55th (top-50 get in).

Finally, Jordan Spieth played decently on the weekend and squeaked into the magical top-50 again.

Jason Day and Jordan Spieth were two others in need of solid results to ensure they made that top 50. Day was hardly his most spectacular self on Sunday, but his 3-over 75 was good enough to secure solo 4th and jump him to No. 38 in the world. Spieth’s Sunday was far better: he shot 5-under 67, the low round of the day, to jump 46 spots and into T9. Now, he’s back inside the bubble at No. 49.