Who Really Are The Best Golfers in The World

I challenge anybody to say that golf’s world rankings are a fair and accurate reflection of the planet’s best golfers.

It is not just because of LIV golfers not receiving ranking points. I have a real bee in my bonnet about the way points are awarded to DP World Tour players when compared with their counterparts in America. 

Run-of-the-mill PGA Tour events award far more points than those staged in Europe, mainly because the prize funds are so much higher. 

But will somebody please explain to me why a golfer winning the Procore Championship should see a bigger boost to his ranking than a European winning, say, the British Masters.

Dean Burmester has won twice on the DP World Tour this season. His ranking? 132nd. Matteo Manassero has enjoyed a remarkable comeback season, winning the Jonsson Workwear Challenge and recording a host of top-10 finishes at some big events but is still only ranked in 86th place despite sitting in seventh place in the 2024 Race to Dubai. It is a nonsense.

And how can Germany’s Marcel Siem, winner of the Italian Open, be regarded as the world’s 154th best player?

It goes on and on. BMW International Open champion Ewen Ferguson languishes in 118th position. Matt Wallace, winner of the European Masters, has produced some superb form in 2024 and yet he is ranked 66th, behind the likes of Thomas Detry and Will Zalatoris. How does that occur?

Angel Hidalgo won the Open de Espana from a field that included Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Patrick Reed and yet still finds himself ranked 170th in the world.

And speaking of Rahm - 13th in the world? It is certainly unlucky for him and absolutely no reflection of his ability or the season he has had with LIV, where he did not once finish outside the top 10 and won the overall individual title.

All 12 players who competed for the USA at the Presidents Cup find themselves in the top 25 in the world rankings. There are 16 Americans in the top 30 and I take issue with several of them.

I have no problem with Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele occupying the top two spots - Scheffler has won eight times in 2024, including The Masters and the Olympic golf tournament. 

But Wyndham Clark as the sixth-best golfer in the world? Patrick Cantlay is ninth but hasn’t won a golf tournament since August 2022. And how can Max Homa be ranked as the world’s 25th-best player after the season he has had? 

Let’s focus on LIV’s players. Bryson DeChambeau nearly won the US PGA and did claim the US Open but finds himself as the 11th-best player. Really? Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka is 64th. Stop it! Cameron Smith, who was the second-ranked player after winning The Open in 2022, is now languishing in 107th place, Joaquin Niemann is 128th, Reed is 140th. And so it goes on.

When the Ryder Cup takes place in New York in 2025, anybody who looks at the rankings will be forgiven for thinking that Europe have no chance. But the same thing could be said every two years. No golf event more perfectly highlights just how inaccurate the system is.

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the world rankings have become an irrelevance. The system is broken. It is too heavily skewed in favour of the PGA Tour and, although it goes against the grain for me to say this, it needs to find a way to start rewarding LIV golfers.

For the record, this is my top 10:

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Xander Schauffele

3. Bryson DeChambeau

4. Ludvig Aberg

5. Rory McIlroy

6. Jon Rahm

7. Robert MacIntyre

8. Collin Morikawa

9. Sahith Theegala

10. Brooks Koepka