The Top 10 Golfers of 2022

IT HAS certainly been an eventful year in the world of professional golf. We have seen some outstanding performances in the majors, the resurgence of Rory McIlroy and the arrival of LIV Golf.

There has been a lot of focus on events off the course but we think there is still plenty to celebrate. Here we give you our 10 top golfers of 2022.

Derek's Top 10 Golfers of 2022

Scottie Scheffler

Until 2022, Scheffler was building a reputation as a golfer who kept getting into contention without being able to finish the job. He reeled off top-10 finishes for fun and made his Ryder Cup debut in 2021 - all without winning a tournament. But boy did he put that right in 2022. He won the Phoenix Open in February, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC Match Play in March and The Masters in April. It was an amazing run of form and it earned him top spot in the world rankings.

Cameron Smith

It is all too easy for some to vilify the Australian after his decision to join LIV Golf but that would be churlish because his form in 2022 was nothing short of sensational. It started with a stunning victory at the Tournament of Champions and ended with victory at the Australian PGA Championship. In between, he also won the Players Championship and the 150th Open Championship. Having moved to LIV Golf, he promptly won again and then headed home and won the Australian PGA. He would have been named PGA Player of the Year had it not been for his switch.

Rory McIlroy

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

McIlroy’s most recent major victory came in 2014 but 2022 will be remembered as the year he truly rediscovered his very best form, achieving everything apart from that elusive fifth major. But boy, how close he came - he finished second to Scheffler at The Masters and came within a whisker of winning The Open at St Andrews. But he won the Canadian Open, the Tour Championship and the CJ Cup. He also claimed the FedEx Cup and finished the year on top of the DP World Tour standings - and reclaimed his position as number one in the world rankings! Not a bad season by anybody’s standards.

Linn Grant

What a year the Swede had in 2022. There were signs of what might be to come when she contended at the US Women’s Open in both 2018 and 2020 before fading. She turned professional in 2021 and made her full LET debut in 2022 - and she couldn’t stop winning. She claimed Joburg Ladies Open in March and added the Belgian Ladies Open two months later. And then she blew away the field at the Scandinavian Mixed, winning by an astonishing nine strokes in an event that also featured some of Europe’s best male golfers. And she crowned it all with victory number four at the Skaho Open in August.

Leona Maguire

The Irish golfer has long been tipped for the top of the women’s game and 2022 was the year she delivered. She enjoyed her first success on the LPGA Tour when she won the Drive On Championship in February. She also finished second at the Tour Championship and fourth at the LET’s season-ending Andalaucia Open de Espana and ended the year in 13th place in the world rankings.

Lydia Ko

The comeback story of the year. Ko became the youngest world number one when she topped the rankings in 2015, holding the top spot for a total of 19 weeks. She reclaimed the top spot for 85 weeks in 2015. Ko then struggled with her game before a resurgence in 2022 that culminated in her rising to the top of the rankings again for the first time in more than five years. It started when she won the Boca Rio on the LPGA Tour in Florida back in January. She also added the BMW Ladies Championship and Tour Championship, which was worth a cool $2m. At one point she had fallen as low as 50th in the world.

Sam Burns

Burns won his first tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018. He then arrived on the PGA Tour and announced himself with two victories in 2021. Could he keep it up in 2022? You had better believe it. He won twice again, although he had to do it the hard way, successfully defending his Valspar Championship title in a playoff and then adding the Charles Schwab Challenge, also in a playoff. He is a hugely impressive young golfer.

Ryan Fox

The New Zealander began the year ranked 217th in the world. He ended it in 27th place after a quite extraordinary year on the DP World Tour. Fox has always been known as a big hitter but 2022 was the year when every other part of his game fell into place. He won twice, his season culminating in victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. But it was his level of consistency that marked him out as he finished runner-up four times. He now gets to play in all four majors and the full WGC tournament schedule.

Jordan Smith

Smith made his bow on the DP World Tour in 2017, played in 31 tournaments, won the Porsche European Open and finished the year in 24th place in the rankings. Then it all went quiet for the Englishman. He never finished worse than 70th in the end-of-season standings but there was a sense that he had failed to live up to his promise. And then came 2022. Smith teed it up 25 times and made 21 cuts, an impressive statistic by anybody’s standards. He twice finished runner-up and then, finally, won the Portugal Masters in October. He ended the year in 12th place in the standings.

Matthew Fitzpatrick

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Fitzpatrick’s ability and consistency have never been in doubt. Week in, week out he turns up for tournaments and is there or thereabouts. He is one of the very best putters the game has ever seen. With seven DP World Tour victories to his credit, his pedigree was never in doubt. In 2022 he began to play more often on the PGA Tour and produced a series of excellent finishes. And then came his crowning glory. In June he beat a world-class field to win the US Open at Brookline.