2001 pga tour players

THE PLAYERS Championship

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PAST CHAMPIONS

Already the best in the world, Scottie Scheffler added another layer to his legend Sunday. He became the first player to win back-to-back in 50 years of THE PLAYERS Championship by matching the biggest comeback and the lowest closing round by a winner.

Scheffler ran off five straight birdies in the middle of his round, built a six-shot lead and left all the drama to everyone else on his way to a 3-under 69 to win the richest prize on the PGA TOUR by five shots.

In a dynamic conclusion to five days of bad weather and high drama, Smith one-putted eight of his last nine holes with his pure stroke and delivered one of the gutsiest shots of his career for the cushion he needed to win.

While others melted down, Thomas went 5 under on holes 9-12, including an eagle at the par-5 11th hole, to seize control. He went even par the rest of the way for his 14th PGA TOUR victory.

McIlroy, a former FedExCup champion, earned 600 FedExCup points, a $2.25 million check and is the proud owner of the redesigned PLAYERS trophy.

Simpson’s record-setting streak continued on moving day, where he fired a 68 to tie the 54-hole scoring record and extend his lead to seven strokes, the largest 54-hole lead in THE PLAYERS history. Simpson had not only conquered the Stadium Course; he had outplayed the best field in the game.

Remarkably, the experience provided the confidence Kim, 21, needed to become the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS and join Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth as the only players with two PGA TOUR wins before the age of 22.

Day had started with a record-tying 63, added a 66, and went 73-71 on the weekend for 15-under 273 to win by four over Kevin Chappell. It was simple, said his opponents: Day is ferocious off the tee, relentless with his irons, and has arguably the best short game going.

When THE PLAYERS folklore is circulated, Fowler at the island-green 17th will resonate loudly. He birdied it in regulation, then again in the playoff (as did Kisner). Now a sudden death back at 17, Fowler for a third time in less than an hour stuffed his shot within 7 feet, made his third birdie, and prevailed when Kisner missed. (For the week, Fowler birdied 17 five out of six times.)

When one final par putt fell, a slippery 3 ½-footer on 18, Kaymer with a 71 was done at 13-under 275, one better than hard-charging Jim Furyk (66).

It was Woods’ 78th career win, but more notable was this: He became just the sixth player with at least two wins in THE PLAYERS.

With water everywhere at 16-17-18, Kuchar needed the “What, Me Worry?” persona like never before. And he delivered: A birdie at 16 put him back up by three, a bogey at 17 hardly crushed his chances, a par at 18 for a round of 70 and at 13-under 275 he won by two over a foursome of talented names (Fowler, Laird, Ben Curtis and Zach Johnson).

Choi, 40, and Toms, 44, each shot 2-under 70, but the closing swings of momentum were memorable — a bogey for Toms at 16, a birdie for Choi at 17, a birdie for Toms at 18. The three-putt bogey by Toms at the island-green 17th in the playoff provided the clinching drama.

Clark had piled up massive amounts of prize money without winning, making him sort of a trivia answer. But thanks to a perfect storm — third-round leader Lee Westwood shot a closing 74 and his closest pursuers, Robert Allenby and Lucas Glover had 70s — Clark put on a mid-round blitz of five birdies in six holes, shot 67, and claimed the $1.71 million prize.

Few have risen to the occasion at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass quite like the Swede did that day. He made six birdies and recorded the only bogey-free fourth round, matched the low score of the day, and made a five-stroke deficit evaporate.

Warm and blustery winds moved wildly and indiscriminately throughout THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, but that was nothing compared to the haphazard dash made by thousands of fans after the final hole of regulation at THE PLAYERS Championship 2008.

Doubt Lefty at your peril, because he’s a fascinating study in determination and he proved that again at the 34th edition of this showcase event on the PGA TOUR. Every world-class player was in attendance, but it was Mickelson who shined brightest as he overtook 26-year-old Sean O’Hair in the final round, the highlight to his three-win season.

His third back-nine 33 of the week gave him the best score of the day, a 5-under 67, and at 14-under 274 he whipped Retief Goosen (69) by six in the 25th go-round for the championship at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

Funk’s fourth-round 71 came on a day when the field average was 76.512. He birdied the par-5 16th to seize the lead, then made a 5-foot putt to save par at 18 and secure a one-stroke win over Luke Donald (76), Scott Verplank (70) and Tom Lehman (66).

A wedge to 10 feet set up his putt for 70 and 12-under 276, good for a one-stroke win. The youngest winner of THE PLAYERS, Scott did it in his debut, no less.

Love was determined to answer critics who felt he had underachieved, despite 15 wins. So, while there was quantity (a $1,170,000 prize), Love embraced quality — golf’s best field and purest test in the 30th anniversary of the showcase event on the PGA TOUR.

Consider March 24, 2004, the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship when Craig Perks left everyone giddy, though speechless and stunned at the same time.

Woods stormed back with a third-round 66 punctuated by a 60-foot birdie putt at the island-green 17th that rode two tiers and broke three times before falling. “Better than most,” was the iconic call by NBC’s Gary Koch, and indeed it might have been as good as anything fans had ever seen.

Consider the closing moments to THE PLAYERS Championship 2000 when Hal Sutton coached his ball toward the final green. “Be the right club,” Sutton said as his 6-iron shot from 179 yards tracked the flagstick. “Be the right club today.”

THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was firm, fast and tough — conditions that suited Duval’s focused personality. He was a kid from Jacksonville Beach. Just a few hours down the Florida coast, Duval’s father, Bob, was in contention at a PGA TOUR Champions tournament.

There were wild cheers for Leonard’s brilliance — with a fourth-round, 5-under 67 to finish at 10-under 278, he won for the third time in nine months, each time overcoming a final-round deficit.

With rounds of 66-69-68-69, Elkington finished at 16-under 272 to establish THE PLAYERS record for margin of victory, seven strokes over Scott Hoch, who stumbled home with a closing 74.

As for Couples, who finished at 18-under 270 to join select company with two wins in THE PLAYERS, this was life at the other end of the golf spectrum: “It was a pretty easy 64.”

Up by two, Janzen showed his heralded grit with up-and-downs from a bunker at the island-green 17th and greenside rough at 18 for 1-under 71 and 5-under 283, one clear of Langer.

A $250,000 purse in 1974 was now $2.5 million and with Norman’s victory, it meant that of the 21 championships played during Beman’s tenure, a future Hall of Famer had won 12 times.

When Price scratched out a win in 1991 and two more in 1992, he felt relieved. But when he put on a clinic at THE PLAYERS Championship 1993, the Zimbabwean knew he had arrived.

Fred Couples had set a course-record 63 Saturday to get within one of Love, but never got closer. This time, THE PLAYERS was truly a Love story.

The Australian was the second foreign-born winner of The PGA TOUR’s showcase event in five years and for a third straight time at THE PLAYERS, the margin of victory was one.

Birdies early (Nos. 2 and 3) and late (island-green 17th) were instrumental for Mudd, then in the midst of his best season. He would also win the TOUR Championship in the fall and finish fifth on the money list in 1990. Six years later, however, Mudd walked away from the game at the age of 36.

Everything about the bottom line to THE PLAYERS Championship 1989 had a consistency to it that made sense. The deepest and toughest field of the year was won by the season’s best player, Tom Kite, leading money-winner ($1.395 million) and Player of the Year.

McCumber had every reason to be emotional after a brilliant performance (65-72-67-69 for 15-under 273) to establish a new 72-hole scoring mark at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

The first playoff at the Stadium Course and the first $1 million purse at THE PLAYERS ended at the next hole with mixed results on putts for par – Jeff Sluman missed his 12-footer, Lyle made his 8-footer. “I have a fairly low heartbeat in those situations,” Lyle said.

Anything can happen over those closing holes; unfortunately for Larry Mize it was all negative, bogeys at 15, 16 and 18 allowing Mahaffey to storm into the winner’s circle by one at 13-under 275.

No one who studied the landscape would have called it a surprise, not with Peete’s uncanny driving ability. It was Peete’s ninth PGA TOUR win since 1982, and no one had won more in that time frame.

What was for Couples, whose syrupy swing authored trips of 71-64-71-71 for 11-under 277 and for the second straight year a 24-year-old earned the game’s richest prize against the best field in golf.

Considered to have been Rookie of the Year in 1982, Sutton used his win at THE PLAYERS to top the money list in 1983 ($426,668) and win Player of the Year honors.

The perfection reached a crescendo at THE PLAYERS Championship 1982 when Pate authored an unforgettable script to usher this showcase event into a new era.

Not only did he take THE PLAYERS prize of $72,000, but Floyd — a winner the week before — earned a $200,000 bonus for having won two straight on the Florida swing.

Coming home in 2-under 70 for a 10-under 278 total, Trevino outshined Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, both of whom shot 73.

In Round 4, conditions were again demanding, but Lanny Wadkins was at his ball-striking best, a closing 72 eclipsed only by Tom Watson’s 71. At 5-under 283, Wadkins beat Tom Watson by five as Lee Trevino faded to a share of fifth with a 79.

Nothing scintillating about his round, Nicklaus conceded, but his smile confirmed that there was everything to like about winning THE PLAYERS for the third time in five years.

Six behind after the first day, the then 27-year-old Hayes, a two-time winner in 1976, shot a second-round 74 in 40 mph winds. Weekend scores of 71-72 left Hayes at 1-over 289, the only over-par score that won a PGA TOUR tournament that season.

The final-round 65 for 19-under 269 quieted the doubters. It also accounted for Nicklaus’ 60th career win and was a fitting way to usher THE PLAYERS into its new home base, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

The only man to break 70 each day, Geiberger won for the second time in 1975 and it was the seventh of his 11 career wins.

THE PLAYERS was launched fittingly: The best player won the TOUR’s best tournament against the strongest field.

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THE PLAYERS Championship

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Tiger Woods' 'better than most' putt: Flashback to iconic shot from 2001 Players Championship win

A look back at the 2001 Players Championship which was won by Tiger Woods, who holed a famous putt on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass en route to victory, a putt described as 'better than most' in a memorable commentary from NBC's Gary Koch

Wednesday 10 March 2021 12:05, UK

Tiger Woods has produced plenty of memorable moments during his career and 20 years ago at TPC Sawgrass he holed a putt that was "better than most".

That was how Woods' monster putt on the iconic 17th green during the third round of The Players Championship in March 2001 was described by NBC commentator Gary Koch.

Woods was only tied for eighth after two rounds, but made his move on the Saturday with a round of 66, the highlight being his birdie at the 17th. He faced a 60-foot, downhill, triple-breaker from the back fringe of the island green for a birdie and few would have been expecting him to make it.

Woods started his ball to the right of the hole before it drifted left down the slope and then turned sharply right before finding the right edge of the cup and dropping in, all this accompanied by three calls of "better than most" from Koch in the commentary box.

Koch later told the PGA Tour website: "He hits the putt and initially Johnny (Miller) says, 'how's that look?'. The first, 'better than most,' came out. Then as it got going down the hill, it was clear to me the ball was far enough to the left, way more so than any other ball had been all day long. That was when the next, 'better than most,' came out. And then, of course, it went in the hole. 'Better than most'. It was a classic Tiger moment."

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The Players Championship Live

The crowd around the 17th green went wild after the ball dropped in with a smiling Woods lifting both his arms above his head before raising his right fist to salute the cheers. Woods was later asked about the putt and admitted he had Fred Funk to thank for its success.

He said: "The truth is that I had a little teach before that putt. We had a delay there on the 17th tee, and Fred Funk was playing right in front of us. He hit it up on the top shelf and he four-putted the hole and so I saw how as it came over the rise and as it started going to the right, how much it picked up speed.

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"He almost putted it off the green. In fact he did putt it off the green. So I knew how quick it was, so I gave it a little bit more. It broke left a lot at the top with the old green and then it just snapped at the right."

Woods ended the third round in a share of second place with Vijay Singh, two behind Jerry Kelly, following his 66.

Tiger Woods: 2001 Players Champs

Bad weather led to the final nine holes being played on the Monday, with a five-under 67 proving good enough to give Woods a one-shot victory over Singh - that birdie putt proving to be 'better than most' when it came to providing his narrow winning margin.

Was Woods' 'better than most' putt the most iconic in his PGA Tour career? Click on the video above and judge for yourself!

Watch The Players throughout the week live on Sky Sports' dedicated channel. Live coverage begins on Thursday March 11 from 11.30am on Sky Sports The Players.

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Back in St. Louis 20 Years Later, 9/11 Remains a Gut-Wrenching Memory for Players

• Author: Dan O'Neill

PGA Tour Champions players vividly recall how the tragically surreal day—and week—unfolded at the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship.

ST. LOUIS — The morning was a postcard, blues skies above, temperatures in the high 60s, as good as it gets on Sept. 11 in St. Louis. The emerald lawns at Bellerive Country Club were in remarkable shape. Golf fans were pouring through the gates, while many players were still on their way to the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship. The stage was set; the show was about to begin.

Mark Calcavecchia was on the 11th fairway with Tiger Woods , playing Tuesday morning practice holes on the back nine. The clock was just about to strike 8 a.m. local time when a security official alerted the two players about something happening—a plane had slammed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center. The details were sketchy, the implications were uncertain, and so they played on.

They got one hole further when they heard a second plane had hit. Like everyone, they began to realize the circumstances were something more than a tragic accident. Disturbing news kept coming, with each additional hole. The Pentagon was hit, the buildings collapsed, the horror was real.

“We were like, ‘Oh my God,'” Calcavecchia recalled. “Then I'm walking up 18 fairway, we were only going to play nine anyway, and I'm standing next to Tiger Woods. And it dawned on me, I thought, ‘This might not be the smartest thing to do—standing right next to the world's most famous athlete, right?’ Holy cow.

“Then we got in and everybody was just sitting in the locker room with their jaw hanging down, just looking at the TV and just, you know, it was terrible.”

As fate has it, 20 years later, Calcavecchia and others at Bellerive on that day are back in St. Louis, competing in the PGA Tour Champions Ascension Charity Classic at Norwood Hills Country Club.

And as Kenny Perry acknowledged, it’s a bit surreal. 

“They always say you remember the place you are when a tragedy happens,” Perry said. “I'll always tell everybody, ‘I was at Bellerive on 9/11, I was on the porch of the clubhouse walking in when it happened.’

“It’s that clear to me. I had just flown in and had gotten my courtesy car and had driven to the club. I was walking up the steps in the clubhouse at Bellerive and the guy said, ‘Did you hear what happened?’ And I said no.

“I just remember they had a TV inside the door there, and I just sat there for hours watching the recap of the planes hitting the towers. Then everything went crazy.”

RELATED: Tiger, 9/11 and Me: A Personal Essay From Bellerive

Bernhard Langer was walking through the clubhouse, on his way to the driving range that Tuesday morning. He never made it.

“I'll never forget,” Langer said. “Somebody inside a room said, ‘Wow, you've got to see this, this can't be right, there's planes crashing into buildings.’ I'm going, ‘No way,’ so I stopped and went in there and watched some on TV what was unfolding.

“It didn't look real, it didn't seem real and we couldn’t … I couldn't grasp my head around how anybody would kill themselves to fly a plane into a building and kill thousands of others, but it was true. And then there was the rumor of more planes and all that, so it was a terrible day.

“I wish I could forget it, but it's ingrained in my brain. As I said, I think it's one of the darkest days and I hope it will never happen again.”

Norwood Hills is located some 3 ½ miles northeast of Bellerive, in a different part of town. But South African Ernie Els doesn’t need reminding of where he was on 9/11, and where he is now.

“I'm staying in the same hotel as in 2001,” Els said. “I came in (Wednesday), went to the same hotel 20 years later, so it's very eerie."

As things unfolded that morning, the response was uncertain. Initially, the PGA Tour announced the tournament would be postponed one day, with 36 holes to be conducted on Friday, followed by standard rounds on Saturday and Sunday. By Wednesday morning, sporting events around the country were canceled, and PGA Tour head Tim Finchem faced a wrenching decision.

Months of preparation had put everything in place, including Woods, who won the Masters earlier that year to complete a “Tiger Slam,” who was the biggest star on the planet, who was playing in St. Louis for the first time. The sponsorship packages were sold, the galleries were bulging, the event was putting St. Louis back on the championship golf map. Moreover, a PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament had not been canceled since 1949, when rain washed out the Colonial NIT.

But the morning after Sept. 11, 2001, it was all irrelevant. The event was canceled. Todd Rhinehart, a Florida resident, had spent the previous 8 ½ months of his life in St. Louis, laying the groundwork at Bellerive. But the tournament director had no trouble understanding an unshakeable rationale for pulling the plug.

“We can sit here in St. Louis, in this beautiful weather, on this beautiful golf course,” Rhinehart said, “while in New York right now, they are using the American Express building for a morgue.”

Once the WGC-American Express Championship was canceled the following day, players, like Mark Calcavecchia, had to figure out how to return home.

When the championship stood down, the players faced another difficult situation—how to get home. Air traffic had been grounded throughout the country. Rental cars were like lost treasure.

For Woods, having a sponsorship deal with Buick—which also sponsored the championship—didn’t hurt. He was able to secure his courtesy car and drive 17 hours home to Orlando. Years later, he recalled, “It was a very surreal time for myself on that drive and a lot of reflecting.”

Langer also lucked out. He teamed up with golf writer Tim Rosaforte to share a car to South Florida. One moment, he was headed to the driving range, the next … “We were heading home, and couldn't figure out where the world was going,” he said.

Other players were not as fortunate. Several Europeans had no way of getting home, and could be found on the range at Bellerive days later, trying to stay sharp.

Perry’s home in Franklin, Ky., is 300 miles southeast of St. Louis. Relatively speaking, that’s a short drive. But it’s a long walk. And after he checked out of his hotel, returned his courtesy car and fired blanks on finding a rental, Perry wasn’t sure which he would be doing.

“I'll never forget, I was stuck,” he said. “I didn't have a car to get home to Kentucky, and thank goodness my caddie had driven here. He lives in Denver, but he drove me all the way back to Franklin, Ky. It's not that far from here. But still, four hours would be eight hours for him. Because then he had to head back to Denver.”

As for Calcavecchia, he was among the fortunate few to land a rental car on Wednesday evening. He hopped in his Pontiac Grand Am, put the pedal to the metal and covered the 1,600 miles home to Phoenix in 19 hours.

While the miles flew by, the hours gave Calcavecchia an opportunity to process what had taken place. “I was on my phone a lot,” he said. “But mainly, just listening to music and just still thinking about it.

“I mean, you still see the planes flying into the building and it's just …”

Calcavecchia never finished the thought. Like all of us, he never has.

Players Championship Past Winners: All 49 Champions Of The PGA Tour's Flagship Event

The Players Championship is the PGA Tour’s flagship event and, for many years, had been largely considered the fifth Major. 

There were several reasons for that unofficial status, including its permanent home, TPC Sawgrass, and perks of winning the event , such as exemptions to all four official Majors for the next three years and huge prize money.

That notion has diminished in recent years with the emergence of LIV Golf. In the two years since its inception, the circuit has accumulated many of the world’s best in their peak years, including 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2022 Open winner Cameron Smith, five-time Major winner Brooks Koepka and 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm.

LIV Golf has five former winners of The Players Championship on its roster, too – Smith, who won it in the same year as his Open victory, two-time Major winner Martin Kaymer, who claimed victory in 2014, 2009 champion Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, who won in 2008, and Phil Mickelson, who took the title the year before.

None of those stars are currently eligible for The Players Championship because of their decision to join LIV Golf, so as well as that impacting the strength of its fields, it also differs from the four official Majors, which still allow LIV golfers to appear.

Despite that, it remains a hugely prestigious event, and that was highlighted in 2023 when one of the world’s best players won the trophy. Scottie Scheffler, who was The Masters champion at the time, won the 2023 edition by five shots to help establish his reputation as one of the biggest talents of his generation.

Further evidence that it is still a tournament to be reckoned with can be found by looking down the 2023 leaderboard, with modern-day stars including Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth all finishing in its upper echelons.

Aside from Scheffler and the five former champions now with LIV Golf, the list of Players Championship winners is peppered with many of the great and good of the game.

That was evident from the very beginning, with one of the best ever, Jack Nicklaus, taking the first of his three Players Championship titles at the inaugural event in 1974. 

Other notable names include six-time Major winner Lee Trevino, who took the title in 1980, four-time Major winner Raymond Floyd, who succeeded Trevino as champion. Fred Couples then won it in 1984, eight years before his Masters victory, with two-time Major winner Sandy Lyle winning it three years later.

During the 1990s, winners included former World No.1 Nick Price, Greg Norman and Couples for a second time in 1996.

After the turn of the century, Tiger Woods won in 2001 in a performance that included one of the event's iconic moments - an astonishing 60-foot triple-breaker downhill putt on the 17th during the third round. 

Woods won it again in 2013, before Australian stars Adam Scott and Jason Day took the title. Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy claimed victory in 2019, with Justin Thomas winning the 2021 title a year before his second Major success at the PGA Championship.

While the prestige of The Players Championship may be in question following events off the course in recent years, there’s no reason to suspect it won’t continue to serve up huge names as champions in the years to come. 

Here are the winners of the TPC Sawgrass tournament to date.

Winners Of The Players Championship

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MOMENTS THAT DEFINED WOMEN'S GOLF

The top 100 players on the PGA Tour, ranked

How did the PGA Tour's best players spend their "winter breaks?" Relaxing? Working on their games? A little of both? These are the questions we'll be asking beginning at this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions, as the tour resumes the 2021-22 season in Maui. Ahead of that, our Golf Digest staff spent its winter break coming up with our second annual ranking of the top 100 players on tour. To gather our list, we looked through the prism of what we expect from players in 2022 while acknowledging their form and feats from the recent past. Below is our collective answer.

For clarification, this list is specific to those who play on the PGA Tour. This is why you won’t see players like Victor Perez or Min Woo Lee, both fine talents who spend most of their time on the the European Tour. Obviously a handful of players compete on multiple circuits; we judged these jump balls as best we could.

Here then are the top 100 players on the PGA Tour, from No. 100 to the top spot.

100. Andrew Landry

Age: 34 / owgr (as of jan. 3, 2022): 187 / ’22 fedex cup (entering sentry toc): 40.

Landry came out on the business end of the 2020-21 “super season,” missing the cut in half of his starts and turning in a lone top-25 finish. Four MCs in six fall starts doesn’t look much better. But top-10s in those two made cuts this past autumn (T-4 at Sanderson Farms, T-7 at Mayakoba) give hope that a turnaround is ‘round the corner. — Joel Beall

99. Taylor Pendrith

Age: 30 / owgr: 229 / ’22 fedex cup: 47.

Canadian rookie has one of the most impressive moves you’ll see anywhere—think Matthew Wolff meets Jim Furyk, with 190-mph ball speed. There’s a good chance he finishes top five in driving distance when the dust settles. —Dan Rapaport

98. Jason Day

Age: 34 / owgr: 126 / ’22 fedex cup: 196.

It seems like eons since the talented but injury-prone Aussie was one of the most dominant players in golf. Coming off his worst season since 2012, when he hadn’t yet fully rounded into the form that made him a force in 2015-16, Day appears at a crossroads at age 34. Just four top-10s dotted an unremarkable season that saw him fail to reach the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time. He has fallen out of the top 100 in the world, and most of his struggles appear to be with his usually reliable putting, where he dropped to 95th in strokes gained. His tee-to-green game (37th SG) still shines, so there is something to build on. Or rebuild on. —Dave Shedloski

MORE: How Jason Day is rediscovering his game with an assist from a 9-year-old

97. Denny McCarthy

Age: 28 / owgr: 180 / ’22 fedex cup: 30.

If one man could ever disprove the old adage, “You drive for show and you putt for dough,” it’s this guy. McCarthy has twice led the PGA Tour in strokes gained/putting, yet he’s still searching for his maiden victory. That being said, he’s made some decent dough with $4.3 million in earnings in four seasons, and he’s started this campaign by making more with four consecutive made cuts. —Alex Myers

96. Hudson Swafford

Age: 34 / owgr: 163 / ’22 fedex cup: 118.

It's extremely difficult to bring up Swafford without noting his eerie physical similarity to college teammate Harris English, and we'll be the latest to fail. To his credit, he takes it in stride, and plods steadily along in a career that reads as "journeyman" on the surface, but does include two tour wins, including his latest in September 2020 in the Dominican Republic. It's a fact of life that Swafford is going to miss cuts, but as he proved last season, he can miss a bunch (17) and still post a high FedEx Cup finishing position (36th). — Shane Ryan

Jared C. Tilton

95. Adam Schenk

Age: 29 / owgr: 156 / ’22 fedex cup: 37.

The man with the most unfortunate name in golf hit anything but a shank over the last eight months. Since the RBC Heritage, Schenk has finished T-18 or better five times, including three inside the top four. Should he keep it rolling into 2022, there are ample low-key, early-season events for the former Purdue Boilermaker to pick off a maiden win. —Christopher Powers

94. Adam Hadwin

Age: 34 / owgr: 150 / ’22 fedex cup: 126.

The streaky Canadian—he missed three straight cuts during three stretches in 2021—can put it all together at times. Hadwin had three top-eights last season but the short hitter rarely produces a charge on the weekend. He averaged 70.38 on both Saturday and Sunday—91st for both days on tour. —Tod Leonard

MORE: Complete top 25 of Golf Digest’s Newsmakers of 2021

93. Luke List

Age: 36 / owgr: 152 / ’22 fedex cup: 28.

List is the only player from the last decade to have led the tour in driving distance for the year and never won on tour. Most other to lead in distance, like Bubba, Bryson, DJ, and Rory, also have majors. List can hammer the ball, and his tee-to-green numbers will always be elite with that asset. But his putting has been historically poor—if you look at one of those Data Golf charts measuring five skills, the shape List delivers is more of the rare triangle than some form of pentagon. But hey, you just need one hot week with the putter and you can pull the Cameron Champ and pick off a win or two. —Brendan Porath

92. Henrik Norlander

Age: 34 / owgr: 162 / ’22 fedex cup: 49.

The Swede finished fourth at Sanderson Farms in the fall, spurred by a final-round 64. Though he turned pro in 2011 after helping lead Augusta State to back-to-back NCAA team titles, this is just Norlander’s fifth season on the PGA Tour, alternating between the Korn Ferry and Challenge Tours in between. His strength is his iron play: Norlander ranked 27th last season on tour in strokes gained/approach. — Stephen Hennessey

91. Robert Streb

Age: 34 / owgr: 120 / ’22 fedex cup: 45.

After winning the 2020 RSM Classic, Streb played 23 events the rest of the 2020-21 season and missed more cuts than he made (12 to 11) with just three top-20 finishes. The fall was better, though, with two top-10s, and having a card through 2023 means he doesn’t have to sweat things out this season. That has to be somewhat liberating after finishing outside the top 125 in 2018, 2019 and 2020. —Ryan Herrington

90. Troy Merritt

Age: 36 / owgr: 106 / ’22 fedex cup: 52.

When you hear discussions about how the tour is looking out for its rank-and-file members, Merritt is the player they’re talking about. He’s proven he can win (he’s done it twice), made more than $11 million and has played well enough to keep his card for nine straight seasons. Yet for as consistent a career as that is, he’s never gotten to the Tour Championship. Can 2022 be different? Perhaps … he finished the fall ranked 14th in SG/approach the green and 34th total, which rank as career bests if extended through an entire season. —R.H.

89. Aaron Rai

Age: 26 / owgr: 100 / ’22 fedex cup: 59.

Perhaps known best by American golf fans for his iron headcovers, Rai made a name for himself in the U.S. in 2021, nearly winning on the Korn Ferry Tour in his first start. It was a painful runner-up finish—needing just an up-and-down to secure victory he instead took four strokes, missing a playoff—but the KFT result in Boise secured his PGA Tour card for this season. The Englishman missed his first three cuts on the PGA Tour but finished the year with three consecutive top-20s. — S.H.

Steve Dykes

MORE: This pro’s reason for using iron headcovers will make you feel pretty bad about making fun of him

88. Brendan Steele

Age: 38 / owgr: 101 / ’22 fedex cup: 20.

The Sultan of the Safeway Open had a “down” 2021, if you consider it purely on FEC finish, which was 105th. But he still made almost $1.4 million, so he was making cuts and cashing checks, which he’s done all his career. Steele has the length to hang on the modern tour, and he’ll pick and choose his venues where he knows he can pop after several years on the circuit. —B.P.

87. Davis Riley

Age: 25 / owgr: 362 / ’22 fedex cup: 111.

Cruelly, the former Alabama star was third on the Korn Ferry points list in 2020, but didn’t get promoted when the season was extended due to the pandemic. Riley forged on with seven top-10s, including two wins, that got eventually got him onto the PGA Tour for 2021-22. The new season has been a rollercoaster—four missed cuts, countered by a T-7 in Bermuda. The flat stick in a hinderance: Riley is 131st in SG/putting. —T.L.

86. Chris Kirk

Age: 36 / owgr: 96 / ’22 fedex cup: 97.

Between 2011 and 2015, Kirk ripped off four wins and earned a spot on the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team. The six years that followed were tough both on and off the course for Kirk, who opened up about his battle with alcoholism in 2019. Since then he’s found his golf game again, winning a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2020 and collecting eight top-16 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2021. Perhaps 2022 is the year he ends what is now a six-plus-year victory drought. —C.P.

85. Lanto Griffin

Age: 33 / owgr: 111 / '22 fedex cup: 42.

We haven't fully checked the record books, but it seems likely that Griffin is the one-and-only PGA Tour winner to be named by his hippie parents after a spiritual master (in this case, "Lord Lanto, a Chohan of the Second Ray of Illumination"). It took him years to reach the PGA Tour, but a win at the 2019 Houston Open gave him serious traction, and after holding on to the top 100 last season, he's off to a big start with two top-10s in the fall. And fun fact: Thanks to those hippie parents, Griffin has never eaten red meat. —S.R.

MORE: Lanto Griffin—from broke to the PGA Tour in five months

84. Matt Kuchar

Age: 43 / owgr: 116 / ’22 fedex cup: 91.

One of the game’s top earners for more than a decade, Kuchar has cooled down with only one top-10 in each of the past two seasons. The nine-time tour winner was always able to get around a lack of distance, but that’s getting harder to do these days—especially with an eroding iron game. Kuchar ranked 108th and 98th in SG/approach the past two seasons, and is currently 184th. —A.M.

Alex Goodlett

MORE: Even Matt Kuchar is chasing speed with his swing

83. Bubba Watson

Age: 43 / owgr: 85 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

Because he remains one of the longest hitters, and because he can create shots, and because he puts himself out there with genuine emotion, Watson still is a compelling and competitive presence on the PGA Tour. To return to legitimate threat, the lithe left-hander needs to shake off that middle-aged putting stroke, because being 149th in SG/putting (minus-.210) last season nullified an encouraging 36th position in SG/tee to green (plus-.751)—which explains his paltry 3.59 birdie average. And though he had just five top-10 finishes in 22 events, he only missed four cuts (plus one WD), and he qualified for the playoffs for the 15th time, one of just six players with perfect attendance in the FedEx Cup era. Watson and longtime caddie Ted Scott have split amicably, but maybe a new voice will get him to a 13th career win. —D.S.

MORE: In new book, Bubba opens up about the struggles he kept to himself

82. Adam Long

Age: 29 / owgr: 143 / ’22 fedex cup: 36.

Started this wrap-around season with four straight top-25 finishes to set himself up nicely in the FedEx Cup race. Don’t let the name fool you—he ranked only 88th in driving distance last season. —D.R.

81. Jhonattan Vegas

Age: 37 / owgr: 82 / ’22 fedex cup: 56.

Vegas enjoyed a career revival in 2020-21 thanks to three runner-up finishes, a performance he carried over into the fall (fifth in SG/off-the-tee, 17th in SG/tee-to-green). That this is a Presidents Cup year should provide extra incentive for Vegas. The International team has depth for the first time in, well, forever, yet most of those names are young and unproven. Vegas—who won his singles match at the 2017 Presidents Cup—will be 38 when the biennial match kicks off at Quail Hollow, and would give captain Trevor Immelman a steady, likeable veteran presence on the squad. —J.B.

Mike Ehrmann

80. Pat Perez

Age: 45 / owgr: 280 / ’22 fedex cup: 192.

Perez has historically used the fall to jumpstart his seasons, but this autumn was none too kind (five starts, three missed cuts, a WD and a T-44). Turning 46 in March, it’s fair to wonder how much gas Perez has left in the tank. Yet the man has been a model of consistency, missing the playoffs just once in its 15-year existence … and that once was due to an injury that sidelined him for seven months in 2016. The 2021 super season was another solid campaign for Perez, making the cut in 21 of 32 starts and finishing 53rd in strokes gained. He’ll need the West Coast Swing to right his wrongs, but it’s a safe bet to see Perez once again come playoff time. —J.B.

79. Emiliano Grillo

Age: 29 / owgr: 92 / ’22 fedex cup: 114.

Sometimes, the PGA Tour rookie of the year award is a harbinger of greatness. For Grillo, the 2016 winner, it hasn’t quite turned out that way, though he remains a terrific ball-striker who’s seen success in weaker-field events. —D.R.

78. Joel Dahmen

Age: 34 / owgr: 93 / ’22 fedex cup: 46.

A season with three top-10s doesn’t sound all that great, except that when one of them is your first PGA Tour win in your 12th year as a professional, it’s everything. So Dahmen, winner in the Dominican Republic, has that going for him, which is … well, you know … nice. One of the shorter drivers of the ball, Dahmen has to do other things well. Hitting fairways is one where he did fine (ranked 22nd). Getting to the greens and then operating on them, not so much, and on that last item, the 34-year-old Washington native gave up way too much ground at 164th SG/putting (minus-.344). —D.S.

Kevin C. Cox

MORE: How Joel Dahmen got his mind right before his first PGA Tour win

77. Lee Westwood

Age: 48 / owgr: 37 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

Oh, what could have been in 2021 as Westwood played his way into the final pairing in back-to-back events (Bay Hill and the Players) before finishing runner-up in both. Sadly, reminiscent of his long list of close calls in majors throughout his career. Westy’s OWGR remains rather lofty based on those two finishes as well as winning the 2020 Race to Dubai title on the European Tour, but a T-21 as his best performance since March indicates he’s headed on a different trajectory now as he closes in on his 49th birthday in April. —A.M.

76. Cameron Young

Age: 24 / owgr: 135 / ’22 fedex cup: 26.

Search for Cameron Young on Wikipedia, and the first hit is a G-League NBA player; check the World Ranking, and Young is the fifth-most famous Cameron, after Smith, Tringale, Davis and Champ. And yet the Wake Forest grad is brimming with raw potential, and even more importantly, he's a winner: He earned his card on the strength of back-to-back wins on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, and though he ran hot-and-cold the rest of the season, he nearly won his second PGA Tour event at Sanderson Farms. The son of the head pro at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Young is still untested, but he has a nose for trophies. —S.R.

MORE: 7 unsung heroes of the PGA Tour fall season

75. Sahith Theegala

Age: 24 / owgr: 382 / ’22 fedex cup: 85.

Theegala is not yet on the level of some of the other studs in his age group, but his appearance in this ranking is a prediction that he will be soon. He didn’t rewrite the Korn Ferry Tour history books in the 2020-21 season, but his consecutive top-six finishes in the final two KFT Finals events saw him earn his PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. There will be growing pains, no doubt, but we’re betting on the crazy-talented 24-year-old from Pepperdine to introduce himself to the casual golf fan in a big way in 2022. —C.P.

Sam Greenwood

74. Cameron Davis

Age: 26 / owgr: 78 / ’22 fedex cup: 151.

The Aussie has been trying to live up to the promise he showed in capturing the 2017 Australian Open, beating the likes of Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. Davis finally delivered on the Fourth of July by outlasting Troy Merritt in a five-hole playoff to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He also had a third in The American Express, but posted only one other top-10. Davis is a big hitter (19th in driving distance), but not strong with the irons (120th in GIR). —T.L.

73. Tom Hoge

Age: 32 / owgr: 110 / ’22 fedex cup: 27.

An established regular on tour, Hoge has moved beyond “No, what is it?” status. That’s the reply Tiger Woods gave in 2015 when he was asked if he would recognize Tom Hoge, who would be his playing partner the next day at the Wyndham (presumably Tiger thought the inquisitor was referring to a sandwich of some sort). Hoge will likely make some 30 starts and make around as many cuts as he misses, relying on hot stretches with his below-average putter that occasionally bump him into contention. —B.P.

72. Matt Wallace

Age: 31 / owgr: 80 / ’22 fedex cup: 48.

Wallace had five top-10 finishes across the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in 2021, including a T-4 at the Zozo Championship in the fall. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the Valero Texas Open, falling short to Jordan Spieth despite Wallace putting on a ball-striking clinic, gaining 15.3 strokes to the field tee-to-green. — S.H.

71. Ian Poulter

Age: 45 / owgr: 57 / ’22 fedex cup: t-141.

The Brit turns 46 on Jan. 10 and with no Ryder Cup to aim for in 2022, the question is what kind of motivation does he have. To wit, he missed three cuts in four tour starts after Whistling Straits last fall. The most cuts he’s missed in any season on tour since 2005 is four. That said, he has posted 39 top-10s in 92 tour starts from 2017-21. —R.H.

70. Harold Varner III

Age: 31 / owgr: 95 / ’22 fedex cup: 64.

There might not be any player on tour who more of his peers are pulling for to get that first win than Varner, the North Carolina native is that well liked. But the journey to win No. 1 continues to have its rocky moments as Varner struggles to sustain momentum after posting solid first rounds. The good news? In 2021, he had a career-best 10 top-25s, along with his first top-three finish (T-2 at Harbour Town). And as a new dad to baby Liam, there’s some new incentive to succeed in 2022. —R.H.

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69. Charley Hoffman

Age: 45 / owgr: 76 / ’22 fedex cup: 92.

Entering his 17th year on tour, Hoffman has been a model of consistency—keeping his card every year since 2006. The San Diego native had five top-10s last season, including a runner-up at the Valero Texas Open (where he closed with rounds of 66-65-66) and a third-place finish at Colonial, adding to an impressive résumé in the Lone Star State: 14 career top-10 finishes and 30 top-25s. —S.H.

68. Alex Noren

Age: 39 / owgr: 71 / ’22 fedex cup: 126.

After getting hot in the playoffs and nearly making it to Atlanta, 2021 was a rebound season of sorts for Noren, who once ascended into the top 10 in the world and made a Ryder Cup team. Noren’s majors record is rather underwhelming after 30 career starts, and his tee-to-green deficiencies relative to the modern elite players will continue to make breakthroughs at many of those setups a challenge. — B.P.

67. Cameron Champ

Age: 26 / owgr: 83 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

We don’t yet know what Champ’s season is going to look like because a wrist injury forced him to shut things down after just one start in October. He must be hugely disappointed, considering Champ—who was third on the tour in driving distance (317 yards)—won for the third straight year in July at the 3M Open. It’s the putter that holds Champ back from contending more; he was 188th in SG/putting in 2020-21. —T.L.

66. Keith Mitchell

Age: 29 / owgr: 89 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 31.

Mitchell owns one of the more impressive non-major wins in recent memory, defeating both Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler by one stroke at the 2019 Honda Classic. He hasn’t followed it with another trophy, but a trio of recent top-five finishes (Wells Fargo, 3M Open, CJ Cup) would lead one to believe that the former Georgia Bulldog isn’t likely to be just a one-win wonder. —C.P.

65. Keegan Bradley

Age: 35 / owgr: 86 / ’22 fedex cup: 84.

The peak of Bradley's career so far came in 2012, when he came into the Ryder Cup as a major champion and teamed with Phil Mickelson to electrify the Chicago crowds for the first two days. He's only 35, but the fall from those heights was definitive, and he's only managed a single win since. Still, he hasn't gone away, and on the strength of four top-10s last season, he put himself in position to make the Tour Championship and prove that even though that initial surge to stardom was part mirage, he's still a very good professional golfer. —S.R.

64. Garrick Higgo

Age: 22 / owgr: 61 / ’22 fedex cup: 160.

The talented South African has been piling up wins at an impressive rate, no matter what tour he plays on. After winning on the European Tour in back-to-back months, Higgo captured his first PGA Tour title at Congaree in June, just weeks after turning 22. He enters 2022 outside the top 50 in the OWGR, but it doesn’t appear like he’ll stay there for long. —A.M.

63. Branden Grace

Age: 33 / owgr: 70 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 105.

There is a reason that Grace’s best SG stat is around the greens: He doesn’t hit many of them, averaging just 64.47 percent last season (144th on tour). But when he does have a week like he did at the Puerto Rico Open, where he was T-3 in the field after finding 57 of 72 (79.2 percent), the South African veteran does OK. In fact, he won his second tour title there and first anywhere in five years. Hey, that was one more win than countryman Louis Oosthuizen, the hard-luck loser of 2021 majors. Grace posted three other top-seven finishes, including runner-up at the Wyndham. He tends to make the most of his opportunities. —D.S.

62. Kevin Streelman

Age: 43 / owgr: 77 / ’22 fedex cup: 128.

Not someone you’d stop to watch on the driving range, but he’s kept his tour card for 15 years and has made more than $23 million. Picked up his first major top-10 in 26 tries at the PGA Championship at Kiawah. —D.R.

MORE: Kevin Streelman was the other underdog at the 2021 PGA

61. Aaron Wise

Age: 25 / owgr: 64 / ’22 fedex cup: 22.

The rookie of the year in 2018 went sideways in his second and third years on tour but bounced back in a big way during 2020-21, racking up nine top-25 finishes on his way to reaching the second stage of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Wise carried that fine display to the fall with three top-15s in five starts thanks to a stout tee-to-green game. If he can tighten up his short game (no better than 132nd in SG/putting the past three seasons) the former NCAA champ could be on the precipice of a breakout campaign. —J.B.

60. Rickie Fowler

Age: 33 / owgr: 87 / ’22 fedex cup: 43.

The 2021 super season was a super nightmare for Fowler. He had just one top-10 against nine missed cuts in 24 starts, failed to qualify for the Masters and U.S. Open, and he did not make the postseason for the first time in his career. But Fowler did contend in the fall at the CJ Cup in Vegas, ultimately coming in T-3 (his first top-three finish since the 2019 Honda Classic) to show the obituaries are premature. To keep the momentum going into 2022, Fowler will need to shore up his short game. Historically one of the better putters on tour (even ranking first in SG/putting in 2017), Fowler fell to 126th in the category last season. —J.B.

Gregory Shamus

59. Brian Harman

Age: 26 / owgr: 59 / ’22 fedex cup: 189.

Somewhat limited due to his lack of length but Harman makes a boatload of cuts. Manages his game extremely well and ranked inside the top 30 in both SG/putting and around the green in 2020-21. —D.R.

58. Ryan Palmer

Age: 45 / owgr: 47 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 108.

In the long history of great Texas golfers, Palmer wouldn’t garner much attention, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a very good player for a very long time. The four-time tour winner is sinewy strong, averaging 304.6 yards off the tee last season (38th) while ranking 49th in SG/off the tee. That will keep you relevant. He remains a decent putter (89th SG), also helpful. The only category where he lost strokes was around the greens. —D.S.

57. K.H. Lee

Age: 30 / owgr: 63 / ’22 fedex cup: 66.

We’ll be rooting for the former “husky boy” to achieve his stated goal of becoming the “sexiest golfer in the world” in 2022, unless he already claimed that title in your view. In 2021, Lee captured his first tour win, triggering another run of firsts in the coming year, where he’ll start inside the top 100 for the first time in his career, play his rookie Masters and, potentially, earn a Presidents Cup bid. The next step is making his first cut at a major championship, where his record is markedly inexperienced and thin (four starts, four missed cuts). —B.P.

56. Seamus Power

Age: 34 / owgr: 73 / ’22 fedex cup: 25.

It sounds unbelievable, but prior to Power’s win at the Barbasol in July, only four players from the Republic of Ireland had won a PGA Tour event. That was the cherry on top of an incredible summer for Power, whose World Ranking skyrocketed from the 400s to top 70 on the strength of that win and six other top-20 finishes. At the RSM Classic, the final event of the fall, he posted a T-4, giving warning that his meteoric rise in the summer was a beginning, not an end. —S.R.

55. Cameron Tringale

Age: 34 / owgr: 51 / ’22 fedex cup: 13.

Even if you’re a casual golf-watcher, chances are you’ve seen Tringale’s name at the top of the leader board upwards of a million times over the last handful of seasons (he has 15 top-25s since November 2020). That has yet to translate into a win on the PGA Tour, but chances are if he continues to put himself in position to win he’ll get there sooner or later. —C.P.

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54. Stewart Cink

Age: 48 / owgr: 52 / ’22 fedex cup: 199.

Yes, Phil Mickelson rightfully grabbed the headlines by being the oldest major winner, but Cink notching two wins in a seven-month span, at 48, was arguably just as impressive. Remember, he won the Safeway Open by going 65-65 on the weekend and opened his title week in the Heritage with back-to-back 63s. For anybody, that’s playing your behind off. The iron play was fabulous, ranking Cink at 34th in SG/approach. He’s going to have to drive it better to be factor this year; in four events, he’s 104th in distance and 176th in accuracy. —T.L.

Patrick Smith

53 . Harry Higgs

Age: 30 / owgr: 138 / ’22 fedex cup: 69.

A social-media darling, and for good reason, as Higgs brings character, humor and flavor to a tour with one too many mayo sandwiches. At 30, his career progression has been steady and stable, what we used to see as the norm in a prior era. He’s worked his way up with success, and wins, at each level, and 2021 came with a top-five finish in his first (and still only) major championship. —B.P.

52. Phil Mickelson

Age: 51 / owgr: 33 / ’22 fedex cup: 174.

What a glorious year for Lefty, who become the oldest major champion in golf history by outdueling major slayer Brooks Koepka at Kiawah Island. He also added four victories in six starts on the PGA Tour Champions in his first season, becoming just the second player to accomplish the feat, joining Jack Nicklaus. The question is whether the senior success and that major magic will translate into more consistency in regular PGA Tour starts, where he had just one other top-20 showing outside the PGA win in the 2020-21 season. — S.H.

MORE: 101 things that happened to Phil Mickelson in 2021

51. Russell Henley

Age: 32 / owgr: 55 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 38.

You think of Henley as older than 32 given the fact he’s already playing his 10th season. He’s been a consistent performer during that time, finishing inside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup ranking every year. Yet he’s only qualified for the Tour Championship twice (2014 and 2017) and hasn’t won since April 2017. So is Henley’s biological clock ticking? Perhaps. He’s learned to live with the fact he isn’t the longest player out there, but that means he needs to figure out a way to shore up his short game if he hopes to have more than a solid career. —R.H.

50. Sergio Garcia

Age: 41 / owgr: 45 / ’22 fedex cup: 73.

What’s left for Sergio, who has his major and his stellar Ryder Cup record and turns 42 on Jan. 9? In 2018 and 2020, he was outside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list, only to bounce back with solid seasons in 2019 and 2021. Interestingly, the Spaniard hasn’t shot a round over par on the PGA Tour since the first round of The Northern Trust in August. Ended the fall with a T-7 finish in Mexico, which certainly provides a positive vibe heading into the new year. —R.H.

49. Shane Lowry

Age: 34 / owgr: 44 / ’22 fedex cup: 203.

The 2019 Open champion had six worldwide top-10s in 2021, plus a T-12 in defending his title at The Open. The Irishman had several career-best finishes last year: at the PGA Championship (T-4), the Memorial (T-6), The Players (eighth) and the Masters (T-21). — S.H.

Warren Little

48 . Justin Rose

Age: 41 / owgr: 42 / ’22 fedex cup: 103.

It’s been a disappointing past two-plus seasons for this former World No. 1. In 33 starts, Rose racked up just five top-10s with a T-3 at the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge being his best result. Still in tremendous physical shape (just check his Instagram feed), a final-round 65 at the RSM Classic in the last official round of 2021 to finish T-12 indicates he has more good golf left in him—even if it happens less frequently. —A.M.

47. Mito Pereira

Age: 26 / owgr: 98 / ’22 fedex cup: 21.

Still a mystery to most American fans, the Chilean could make a big splash in ’22 if his trajectory continues. The Texas Tech alum earned a battlefield promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour with three wins in 2021, including back-to-back victories in June. Since then, Pereira has three top-10s on the PGA Tour and finished just off the podium in the Olympics. The stellar iron player has already competed seven times for 2021-22 and has four top-30s and only one missed cut. —T.L.

46. Kevin Kisner

Age: 37 / owgr: 43 / ’22 fedex cup: 203.

“This ain’t no hobby” and “they give away a lot [of $$] for 20th,” two of Kisner’s famous quotes, seem to be opposing ideas, but they actually sum up his PGA Tour existence perfectly. Golf is not a hobby for Kisner (he’s among the 50 best in the world at it), but he knows his skills are limited to shorter, shot-maker’s golf courses. He pops at those spots, like Harbour Town, Sedgefield and Detroit Golf Club, then happily takes his T-23s in the events where distance matters greatly. He knows who he is and makes no apologies for it, making him a fan favorite. —C.P.

45. Maverick McNealy

Age: 26 / owgr: 68 / ’22 fedex cup: 12.

It's easy to fly under the radar when you're still looking for your first professional win, but McNealy was one of the more quietly impressive players on tour last year, rising from 166th in the World Ranking at the start of 2021 to 69th at the end. Second-place finishes at Pebble Beach and Napa are the highlights, and he became more consistent as the season went along, making seven straight cuts to reach the BMW Championship. At 26, it's clear that McNealy is beginning to enter his prime. —S.R.

44. Tommy Fleetwood

Age: 30 / owgr: 40 / ’22 fedex cup: 95.

Now in his 30s, Fleetwood doesn’t quite fit the “Young Gunz” category anymore, but he still has a lot of golf in front of him. That being said—and not to sound too much like Paul Azinger—it has to be disheartening that this five-time European Tour winner has yet to break through in the U.S. More alarming is the only time he came close last year ended with a Sunday 77 at Bay Hill. Already with a T-7 in Vegas and still one of the game’s best ball-strikers, we expect to see his name on more leader boards in 2022—even if it’s not all the way on top. —A.M.

43. Erik van Rooyen

Age: 31 / owgr: 66 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 138.

The South African enjoyed a rookie season that included a victory and a spot in the Tour Championship, thanks to consecutive top-five finishes in the Playoffs, so it stands to reason that expectations will be much higher in the coming year. He certainly has room for improvement, with a stat sheet that shows his best category was SG/putting (64th). Van Rooyen missed the cut in all three majors in which he competed and fell short of the weekend in 11 of 27 starts, so more consistency should be a stated goal in 2022. —D.S.

​​ 42. Lucas Herbert

Age: 26 / owgr: 41 / ’22 fedex cup: 9.

Secured his card through the Korn Ferry finals and promptly earned some job security by winning his third starts as a PGA Tour member in October at the Bermuda Championship. The Aussie has a great chance to make this year’s Presidents Cup team. —D.R.

41. Sebastian Munoz

Age: 28 / owgr: 60 / ’22 fedex cup: 19.

Munoz doesn’t do anything that particularly jumps out. In that same breath, the man possesses view weaknesses. See ball, hit ball, keep ball in play. It’s an equation that’s paid dividends: Thanks to a T-4 at the Zozo and a third at the RSM, Munoz begins 2022 inside the FedEx Cup top 20. Should he stay in the discussion for a trip to East Lake, it may be enough to snag a spot on the Presidents Cup team. To solidify his spot on the International squad, as well as make the jump into the next echelon of tour players, Munoz needs to keep the bigger numbers at bay: He ranked 131st in bogey avoidance last season. Improving his putting from inside 10 feet (111th in the category last year) will go ways towards that goal. —J.B.

Tom Pennington

40. Adam Scott

Age: 41 / owgr: 46 / ’22 fedex cup: 62.

Scott has advanced to the Tour Championship just twice in the last seven seasons. Part of that stems from his penchant for playing a light schedule (he’s only played more than 20 events once in his career), yet his performance in those limited appearances, while good, has trended the wrong direction with age. Nevertheless, Scott did post a T-5 at the CJ Cup in the fall, and a golfer’s 40s are no longer the purgatory they once were on tour. With the Presidents Cup on tap this year, don’t be surprised if we see a revival from the former Masters champ. —J.B.

39. Si Woo Kim

Age: 26 / owgr: 53 / ’22 fedex cup: 44.

Hard to believe he’s still three-plus years from 30. Hasn’t quite delivered on the top-10 potential he flashed in winning the 2018 Players at 21, but he’s got three wins and is coming off his most consistent season yet. —D.R.

MORE: The 31 biggest rules issues of 2021

38. Mackenzie Hughes

Age: 31 / owgr: 39 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 11.

A strong fall campaign, highlighted by a T-4 at the Zozo and second at the RSM, augers well for the Canadian veteran. Hughes did just enough during the 2020-21 campaign to make it to the BMW Championship despite losing more than half a stroke to the field in SG/total. Four top-10s, including T-6 at The Open, and adding a T-15 finish at the U.S. Open sure helped. His relative lack of power always will make things challenging, but the last few years Hughes has gotten the putting-for-dough thing nailed down (including 15th in SG, ninth in total putting last season). —D.S.

37. Matt Fitzpatrick

Age: 27 / owgr: 24 / ’22 fedex cup: 154.

The Brit has made a steady climb up the OWGR despite not winning yet on the PGA Tour. Already a seven-time champ in Europe, however, he clearly has what it takes to close out golf tournaments—especially those played in difficult scoring conditions. “I’d love to tick that off,” Fitzpatrick told Today’s Golfer in October. “But I’m not a rookie anymore. I’m 27. In my own mind, I know I’ve got to start competing in the big events so my name is up at the top of the leader board more often.” We couldn’t agree more, Matt. —A.M.

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36. Paul Casey

Age: 44 / owgr: 27 / ’22 fedex cup: 152.

The veteran Brit must have discovered the fountain of youth, and we're not saying that just because of his boyish face. Firmly in his mid-40s, he made 18 of 20 cuts on tour last season, posted seven top-10s, made yet another Ryder Cup, and is the oldest man inside the world top 30. His consistency is a marvel, and so is his approach game—in 2020-21, only Morikawa was better on SG/approach. —S.R.

35. Webb Simpson

Age: 36 / owgr: 28 / ’22 fedex cup: 54.

In comparison to 2018, 2019 and 2020, when Simpson enjoyed a career resurgence after going five-plus years without a win, 2021 was a down season for the former U.S. Open champ. And yet, he still had five finishes of T-9 or better in 21 starts, three of them coming at three of his favorite tour courses—Harbour Town (RBC Heritage), Sedgefield (Wyndham) and Sea Island (RSM Classic). You can pencil him in for top-10s at those stops again in 2022, and we should expect much more from this prolific winner who still has plenty of good golf left in him. —C.P.

34. Matthew Wolff

Age: 22 / owgr: 30 / ’22 fedex cup: 7.

He’s so young, but this still seems like a critical season for Wolff. Will he better handle the pressure that came with his early success and then sidelined him for a mental-health break in ’21? The early returns are positive, with Wolff finishing second, T-5 and T-11 among his first four starts of the 2021-22 season. The putter has been a huge strength (12th thus far in SG), and he’s fourth in SG overall. That’s impressive for a guy who was fourth in driving distance last year (315.9), though he needs to keep it more on the short stuff; Wolff was 189th in accuracy. —T.L.

MORE: Matthew Wolff details depths of his mental health struggles

33. Corey Conners

Age: 29 / owgr: 38 / ’22 fedex cup: 87.

Your favorite flusher’s favorite flusher became the trendy description of Conners in 2021, a breakout year for him with multiple appearances on major championship leader boards and a trip to Atlanta for the Tour Championship. If we’re judging just based on tee to green, he could have been argued as a top-10 player in the world. What happens around and on the green makes it a bit more adventurous, but he’s too skilled in all-too-important areas of the game to not expect a bucket of more top 10s and a likely Presidents Cup spot representing Canada in 2022. —B.P.

32. Carlos Ortiz

Age: 30 / owgr: 54 / ’22 fedex cup: 16.

Ortiz edged a crowded leader board to earn his first PGA Tour title at the 2020 Houston Open, becoming the first winner from Mexico since 1978 (Victor Regalado). He contended for a third straight year at Mayakoba in his home country but finished four strokes behind winner Viktor Hovland. — S.H.

31. Tyrrell Hatton

Age: 30 / owgr: 22 / ’22 fedex cup: 125.

The Englishman would likely place higher on this list if European Tour results weighed heavier: He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and finished runner-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links in 2021. But Hatton had just one individual top-10 on the PGA Tour last year, a runner-up at Congaree. — S.H.

30. Billy Horschel

Age: 35 / owgr: 23 / ’22 fedex cup: 167.

Has some ground to make up in the FedEx Cup standings after playing just one PGA Tour event in the fall (T-33 at Mayakoba) while moonlighting on the European Tour. Still, he’s finished outside the top 50 only one since 2012 so there’s not much reasons to sweat it. A victory in the BMW Championship at Wentworth in September after a win at the WGC-Dell Match Play in March suggests Horschel has the game to win big events. But that record in majors—one top-15 finish and just two top-20s in 31 starts as a pro—is something that he would like to remedy. —R.H.

29. Talor Gooch

Age: 30 / owgr: 32 / ’ 22 fedex cup: 1.

There was no hotter player on the tour this fall than the former Oklahoma State golfer. He carded five top-11 finishes in six starts including an “at last” breakout win at the RSM Classic to jump top the FedEx Cup ranking entering 2022. And this all happened despite ranking 149th in SG/off the tee (-.124). That’s been typical of Gooch in his four years on tour; he has never ranked better than 107th and always finished with a negative number. If he could shore up his driving, he has an iron game that will get him to the Tour Championship for the first time in his career. —R.H.

Cliff Hawkins

MORE: Talor Gooch finishes excellent fall with breakthrough win

28. Marc Leishman

Age: 38 / owgr: 36 / ’22 fedex cup: 18.

Leishman bats it around as well as anyone on tour, and while he may have been inconsistent week-to-week last year, the year-over-year results speak for themselves. He’s got five wins in the last five years and finished inside the top 30 of the OWGR in five of the last six. He’s a reliable, professional golfer with a couple top five finishes already in the fall portion of the season. —B.P.

27. Louis Oosthuizen

Age: 39 / owgr: 11 / ’22 fedex cup: 117.

The South African is coming off a tremendous campaign, but there’s the nagging feeling that he missed out on something truly special. Oosthuizen tied for second in the PGA Championship and then held the Sunday back-nine lead in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines before succumbing to Jon Rahm’s charge. He also had a T-3 in The Open. Oosthuizen is the consummate “putt for dough” player—ranking No. 1 in SG/putting in ’21 while being 101st off the tee. —T.L.

MORE: Louis Oothuizen is not wondering ‘what if’ about major misses

26. Max Homa

Age: 31 / owgr: 35 / ’22 fedex cup: 6.

Homa, once a Korn Ferry Tour grinder who struggled his first few seasons on the PGA Tour, has come into his own in his late 20s and early 30s. He’s now a certified winner, with three victories between 2019 and 2021, two of them in big-time events (Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, Genesis at Riviera). No longer just the funny golfer on Twitter, Homa now lets his clubs do the talking, though he’s still pretty hilarious when he logs on to the bird app. —C.P.

25. Joaquin Niemann

Age: 23 / owgr: 31 / ’22 fedex cup: 55.

Plainly put, it's time for Niemann to win again. In the last calendar year, he's had six top-10s on tour, another in the Olympics, and came agonizingly close to winning his second career title at both the Sentry TOC and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He lost in a playoff each time, but his World Ranking steadily improved throughout the year. Before a rocky finish to the fall, he had missed exactly one cut in 13 months, and even though he's still very, very young, he's ready to move from the upper echelons of the tour to the upper, upper echelons. —S.R.

24. Kevin Na

Age: 38 / owgr: 29 / ’22 fedex cup: 199.

Incredibly, this guy already has two decades of being a pro in the books. More amazing, though, is the fact he’s coming off the best season of his career. After winning just once in his first decade on tour, Na enters this year on a four-season winning streak. And after entering his name into the Ryder Cup conversation, perhaps he’ll finally get to wear the red, white and blue at this year’s Presidents Cup. —A.M.

23. Patrick Reed

Age: 31 / owgr: 25 / ’22 fedex cup: 29.

After winning his ninth tour title in January at the Farmers Insurance Open and occupying the top 10 in the World Ranking for the first half of 2021, Reed was hardly a factor the rest of the season. The falloff, and an untimely illness that landed him in the hospital, cost the so-called “Captain America” a spot on the record-setting U.S. Ryder Cup team. The guy’s short game and putting (seventh in SG/around the green, fourth in SG/putting) still prove to be lethal, but it’s right to wonder how long the former Masters winner can stay among the top Americans while his greens in regulation figures continue to deteriorate. —D.S.

MORE: Patrick Reed confronts his image and his critics

​​ 22. Will Zalatoris

Age: 25 / owgr: 34 / ’22 fedex cup: 67.

Fell one shot short of becoming the first since 1979 to win his first Masters appearance and holds the rare distinction of winning rookie of the year despite not being a full member of the PGA Tour. Now in his first FedEx Cup-eligible season, he’ll be keen to back up his breakout season with a first tour victory. —D.R.

21. Sungjae Im

Age: 23 / owgr: 26 / ’22 fedex cup: 3.

It’s frankly amazing that Im has logged more than 100 starts on tour … and he doesn’t turn 24 until March. A strong start in the fall (highlighted by a win at the Shriners followed by a T-9 at the CJ Cup) has Im poised for another stellar season. Despite his youth there’s little to nitpick with his game; the next step for Im would be for a bit more consistency at the big events—following a runner-up at the 2020 Masters, he failed to crack the top 15 at the majors or Players in 2021—but, again, he’s just 23. He seems odd to earmark Im as a potential breakout candidate given his success, yet with the Presidents Cup on tap along with some major venues that fit his game (cough, cough Southern Hills), the fledgling star is not far from gaining full-blown leading-man status in the sport. —J.B.

MORE: Sungjae Im (aka the Birdie Machine) was the perfect fit to win in Las Vegas

20. Abraham Ancer

Age: 30 / owgr: 17 / ’22 fedex cup: 63.

He has a lone win to his name. Don’t let that fool you; this cat can ball. Ancer is coming off a career year, finishing the regular season sixth in the FedEx Cup and ranking 12th in scoring and 15th in strokes gained. The output is especially impressive considering Ancer is one of the shortest hitters on tour (157th in distance), although he more than compensates by hitting more fairways than a John Deere (fifth in accuracy). It is fair to wonder if the lack of pop has held him back at majors, with just one top-10 finish in 11 starts; conversely, it could also just be a matter of reps, and his second-shot prowess (23rd in approach), ability to rack up red figures (20th in birdies) while keeping the big numbers off the card (fifth in bogey avoidance) should make him a formidable figure at one of golf’s big four … and soon. —J.B.

19. Cameron Smith

Age: 28 / owgr: 21 / ’22 fedex cup: 33.

The Aussie flashes one of best short games on tour, even if he’s still prone to a foul ball off the tee, like the one that sealed a playoff loss to Tony Finau at The Northern Trust. Cruised into the Tour Championship on the strength of perhaps his best year as a professional. —D.R.

Stacy Revere

18. Harris English

Age: 32 / owgr: 12 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

Dismissing his dismal fall performance (two missed cuts and a WD), English enjoyed his best year in 2021 with a pair of wins and a fourth-place finish in the FedEx Cup regular-season standings. He rose to a career-best 10th in the World Ranking. At 32, he’s in the prime of his career, and the Georgia native has shown he knows how to score—and win—despite stats that don’t necessarily impress. He’ll go as far as his putter (12th SG/putting) takes him. —D.S.

17. Daniel Berger

Age: 28 / owgr: 19 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

The man who won the first event of the COVID restart in 2020 added another victory at Pebble Beach in 2021 to make that four in his PGA Tour career. Berger also had a pair of top-10s in majors and played (well) in his first Ryder Cup after being one of Steve Stricker’s captain’s picks. Interesting didn’t make a start in the fall season. It’s unlikely he’ll ever reach the level or status of fellow Class of 2011 stars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, but being the third wheel among that group isn’t too shabby. —A.M.

16. Jason Kokrak

Age: 36 / owgr: 20 / ’22 fedex cup: 8.

A victory at the Houston Open in the fall gave the big-hitting, 6-foot-4 Ohio native his third title in a 13-month span, adding to wins at Colonial (2021) and Shadow Creek (2020)—after going winless in his first 232 starts on the PGA Tour. The biggest difference-maker for the 36-year-old? His putting. Kokrak ranked sixth last season in strokes gained/putting. Compare that to his ranks in the previous five seasons: 151st; 103rd; 110th; 175th; 154th. — S.H.

15. Hideki Matsuyama

Age: 29 / owgr: 18 / ’22 fedex cup: 4.

As the game of golf gets increasingly global, there are fewer barriers to break, but Matsuyama shattered two huge ones when he became the first Asian-born golfer to win the Masters, and the first Japanese man to win a major. The rest of his season was decidedly average, which is understandable, but with a fall win at home at the Zozo Championship, he's riding into 2022 with major momentum. We could be looking at another career year. —S.R.

Atsushi Tomura

14. Jordan Spieth

Age: 28 / owgr: 14 / ’22 fedex cup: 141.

The former World No. 1 finally ended his post 2017 Open Championship “slump” in April, winning the Valero Texas Open just one week before the Masters. A T-7 at Augusta, plus a solo second later in the summer at The Open, served as definitive proof he was all the way back. A fourth major title will effectively silence any doubters left, and the 2022 majors schedule, which includes two of his favorite haunts (Augusta, St. Andrews), sets up quite nicely for him to check off that box. —C.P.

13. Tony Finau

Age: 32 / owgr: 15 / ’22 fedex cup: 169.

Finau shook off the King Kong-sized gorilla on his back when he gutted out a playoff win in August’s Northern Trust to win for the first time in 142 starts. He had eight runners-up in that span, and at least we don’t have to hear the laments that he can’t close. A slow starter, Finau ranked 116th in first-round scoring average (70.92) in ’21, but he was a Friday monster, averaging 68.60 (second). —T.L.

12. Brooks Koepka

Age: 31 / owgr: 16 / ’22 fedex cup: 172.

He remains golf’s best big-game hunter on the men’s side, with three more finishes T6 or better at the majors in 2021. An MC at the first, The Masters, came largely due to a knee injury he probably should not have been playing on yet. Given he admitted early last year that there were dark times rehabbing and his knee may never be 100 percent, injuries will continue to be a concern in 2022. But set aside the season-long numbers or holistic rankings, he’s the best at performing when it matters most and we’d need to see a year of total flops for that title to change. —B.P.

MORE: Brooks Koepka doesn’t hold back in our poolside interview

11. Scottie Scheffler

Age: 25 / owgr: 13 / ’22 fedex cup: 14.

An impressive Sunday singles victory over Jon Rahm at the Ryder Cup built Scheffler more equity as he tries to grab what feels inevitable—a first win on the PGA Tour. But the longer it takes, the trickier it will be fending off questions of why it hasn’t happened yet. Let’s just remember, the guy is only 25 and he’s already had 17 top-10 finishes in just 57 starts. He had two top-five finishes in the fall despite not ranking in the top 50 in any major strokes-gained category. When his game gets in gear at some point this spring, it’s hard not to think the inevitable comes to pass. —R.H.

10. Sam Burns

Age: 25 / owgr: 10 / ’22 fedex cup: 2.

The former college POY at LSU in 2017 had a breakout year in 2021, winning his first two career titles and holding the lead after the most rounds of any player on tour. After starting the year 154th in the World Ranking, he finished 11th, the biggest jump of any player in the top 50. Burns leads the tour at the winter break in SG/tee-to-green after being ninth in SG/putting in 2020-21, showcasing the versatility within his game. Just missed making the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but we have to think he’s a likely candidate for Davis Love III’s Presidents Cup squad. —R.H.

9. Dustin Johnson

Age: 37 / owgr: 3 / ’22 fedex cup: 194.

Spring 2021 was not kind to the 2020 Masters champ—DJ had just one top-10 finish from February through June. But the 24-time PGA Tour winner had top-10s in four of his final six starts of the season and then punctuated his 2021 with a flawless 5-0 performance at the Ryder Cup. If DJ wins this season (which we’d expect to happen), he’d have a victory in his first 15 seasons on tour. Only Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer boast a higher total (17). —S.H.

8. Bryson DeChambeau

Age: 28 / owgr: 5 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

PIP metrics and trophies aside, he is arguably the tour’s top superstar (non-Tiger category) thanks to a swarm of curiosity and tumult that extends to a larger audience outside the golf corner of the world. He once again led the tour in driving distance and drama in 2021. His all-gas, no-brake focus on the tee ball has yielded resounding results in its first couple years. He led the tour in SG/off-the-tee again in 2021, and the difference between his average and second place was the same as second all the way to 18th. Given the offseason social-media videos replete with speed training, expect the same in 2022. —B.P.

MORE: Bryson vs Brooks feud dominated golf chatter but was it good for the game?

7. Xander Schauffele

Age: 28 / owgr: 5 / ’22 fedex cup: 112.

The Olympic gold medal and a stellar first appearance in the Ryder Cup certainly defined a memorable season for Schauffle, but there’s more work to be done. Namely, to get that first major win to salve the sting of six top-fives in the Big Four. For the second straight appearance, Schauffele contended deep into Masters Sunday, but was beaten by a hotter player. In trying to win for the first time since early 2019, he had seconds in the CJ Cup, Farmers and Phoenix, and he contended (T-7) in his home major, the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, despite a short-lived switch to an arm-lock putting grip. Few players on tour can match Schauffele’s consistent all-around attack. In 2020-21, he was 41st in SG/off-tee, 14th in approach and 16th in putting. —T.L.

6. Viktor Hovland

Age: 24 / owgr: 7 / ’22 fedex cup: 5.

With three wins—plus an OWGR-counting victory at the Hero World Challenge—before age 25, the young Norwegian has seemingly already delivered on all the promise he displayed in winning the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach. The one area that continues to hold him back, though, is chipping, which he once claimed he “sucked” at. Should he continue to make slight improvements around the greens, his ceiling is second only to Collin Morikawa among the tour’s rising stars. Oddsmakers tend to agree, as Hovland is +550 to win a major in 2022 on the DraftKings Sportsbook. —C.P.

5. Rory McIlroy

Age: 32 / owgr: 9 / ’22 fedex cup: 9.

Since 2014, the dominant strain of discourse around McIlroy has been when or if he'll win another major, and it will continue to be so forever, if necessary. The story is the same—his putting just isn't good enough, and to win majors as a below-average putter, you need to be an approach genius like Collin Morikawa, which Rory is not. Still, he's now won twice on tour in the last year, including his October win at the CJ Cup, his putting is improving, and maybe—maybe—he's ready to take the leap again. —S.R.

4. Justin Thomas

Age: 28 / owgr: 8 / ’22 fedex cup: 32.

It was a strange 2021 for the American star, who found himself mired in controversy and in the first prolonged slump of his career. After losing his Ralph Lauren deal in January and winning the Players Championship in March, Thomas didn’t record another top 10 until the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But two top fives in those three events followed by another two at the Mayakoba and Hero indicate he’s got his game in better shape. And as we saw with his five-win campaign in 2016-2017, few are capable of going on bigger heaters. —A.M.

3. Patrick Cantlay

Age: 29 / owgr: 4 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

After seeing his career derailed by a back injury for more than two years, Cantlay finally has assumed what many thought should be his rightful place among the elite of his age group by winning four times in the 2020-21 season, capturing the FedEx Cup and winning Player of the Year honors. He showed no real weaknesses in his game, ranking no worse than 30th in the key SG metrics and finishing third in SG/total. The only things left for the laconic California native is to add his name to the column of major winners and to rise to World No. 1, and who thinks he won’t eventually achieve those goals? —D.S.

2. Collin Morikawa

Age: 24 / owgr: 2 / ’22 fedex cup: 15.

In the past year, he’s taken “The Leap” from great young player to perhaps the finest player on Earth. His record through 60 professional starts—six wins, two majors, 24 top 10s—has drawn some (unfair) Tiger comparisons; so has his habit of closing out tournaments with relentless, bogey-free rounds. Among a historically great group of 30 and younger Americans, he currently stands alone at the top. —D.R.

1. Jon Rahm

Age: 27 / owgr: 1 / ’22 fedex cup: nr.

The numbers are staggering. Fifteen top-10s versus one missed cut in 22 starts last season. Second in SG/off-the-tee, eighth in approach and first in SG/overall. First in birdie average AND bogey avoidance. Yet those numbers fail to illustrate the most impressive figure of all: the “1” that replaced “0” in Rahm’s major total, shedding the label of backdoor finisher by closing out the 2021 U.S. Open with vigor. Though Rahm technically had just one win to his name—if “just” can describe his breakthrough at Torrey Pines—he tied for the lowest score over four days at East Lake during the Tour Championship and held a six-stroke lead through 54 holes at the Memorial before a positive COVID-19 test knocked him out of the event, in the process solidifying his claim as the sport’s top dog. —J.B.

Donald Miralle

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Kevin streelman isn't just co-leading the valspar championship. he also cares deeply about the pga tour and has strong opinions on its future, share this article.

Upon graduating from Duke University in 2001, most of Kevin Streelman’s friends headed for Wall Street or law school. Not Streelman. He used his mom’s Nissan Altima to travel to South Dakota for the 2001 Dakotas Tour. He burned out three cars logging more than 300,000 miles crisscrossing the country while playing various tours before earning his PGA Tour card in 2008 and has kept it ever since, which is no easy trick. Along the way, he’s won twice on Tour, including the 2013 Valspar Championship, banking more than $26 million and this week marks his 444th Tour start.

Streelman, 45, opened with a 64 to grab the first-round lead 11 years after notching his maiden victory at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida. It could be a big weekend for him if he were to win again, and certainly can go a long way to regaining his Tour privileges for yet another season. During his tenure Streelman also has been involved in Tour policy, serving on the Player Advisory Council, as a player director on the Policy Board (he noted that he mostly dealt with benign topics such as slow play and his tenure ending in 2019 was “the luckiest and greatest time to come off the board in the history of the game,” right before COVID hit and then the emergence of LIV on top of that), and most recently on the Tour’s Governance Committee, which was formed after the announcement of the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with PIF on June 6.

While he likely is on the back nine of his playing career, he still cares deeply about the Tour’s future and professional golf in general and has strong opinions about the direction it has been heading. The following conversation began in person at the Players Championship and resumed via phone after Streelman had weathered difficult conditions on Friday to share the 36-hole lead in Tampa.

GWK: What's your reaction to Joe Ogilvie, your fellow Dukie, being named to the two PGA Tour boards as a player liaison?

Joe Ogilvie follows his ball after hitting off of the 4th tee during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament at the Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, CA. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

KS: I love Joe taking this role. I was involved in recommending him when I was on the Governance Committee. When we were designing that whole structure of having a player liaison director he was the first person I had in mind for that role. He’s smart and he cares. He’s a player first but also has a business mindset. I’ve been friends with him for 25 years. 

GWK: Has Jay Monahan done a good job of re-establishing trust?

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan looks on during the trophy ceremony during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass on March 17, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

KS: I don’t know. Decisions were made, things were signed a year ago and we’re just trying to clarify some things. I’m 45, I care deeply about the Tour but I didn’t get elected as the next PAC chairman so it’s like I’ve gotta just try to keep my job. It’s one of those structures where the Tour is supposed to have our backs and you’re supposed to trust them and they kind of did some things where they lost some of that and now what more can we do except show up and play the next week. A tournament begins and we’re trying to win. We’re like rabbits in that sense. This other stuff is pretty far down the list. It’s been disheartening to a degree. 

The way the Tour has pivoted to appease the highest talent levels — and I understand that they need to be taken care of – but what makes the PGA Tour special is the accessibility for young superstars to have access to see how good they can do. We know how good the top players are. We want to see how good the next generation of superstars are when they get a chance to play the best of the best. So, seeing a onesome on a Thursday and Friday at a signature event is comical. Bring in the next ranked player in the FedEx standings. There’s some things that need to get ironed out now but part of us are like, yeah, if it’s at the cost of our careers, we’re going to try to figure it out. 

I don’t know where it falls. I sincerely hope our fans, our tournaments, our sponsors, our volunteers know that we really care about them. It’s what makes our sport great, it’s what makes our sport different. There are no guarantees of a job. You can have that magical week and it changes your life forever. You can miss 10 cuts in a row and have that magical week; there’s something beautiful about that. In baseball, your team can be out of it by June and it’s so depressing.

GWK: The Tour shared some current numbers for top 50 churn and the number of opportunities to the signature events being provided to the membership outside of the top 50 and it suggests the new model is working. What do you think?

Kevin Streelman on the 16th tee during the first round of the 2024 Valspar Championship. (Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

KS: If we’re going to make separate tours, which is pretty much what we have now. As soon as you make the points different it’s hard to hang your hat on one tour. That being said, if they want those superstar big events, maybe you do it as a separate ultra-tour events and you pump up bigger boards and cut the access where you have players falling in, falling out. It could be exciting. I just don’t agree with 50-60 player fields. It’s not exciting to me. If that’s what our fans want, then that’s what our fans want.

GWK: Do you like the idea of a cut at the signature events?

KS: I understand both sides. Cuts are a part of the Tour and professional golf. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods wanted them. If any of the guys have a problem with them, they should talk to them. There’s a reason they wanted them.

GWK: What's the right number for field size at the signature events?

KS: Last year's signature events were 100-120 and they were awesome, right?

GWK: But it led to some watered-down fields. Now you've got guys on the outside playing more regular events to get in, the guys who are playing poorly in the signature events are signing up for more regular events because they are worried about falling out of the top 50 for next season, plus the guys who have a shot at the getting into the next signature event are forced to play and protect their position. The result is better fields at the regular events to the extent that Korn Ferry guys and other rookies can't even get in.

KS: We've got to do a better job of getting the Korn Ferry Tour and rookies in as soon as possible.

GWK: Do you like that they expanded fields for Valspar, Houston and Valero?

KS: Do I like it? No. But do they deserve starts? Yes. We're not going to make a cut until Saturday at Valspar and then have to play threesomes on the weekend. It's something we fought against for years. Is there a magical answer? No. I hope we're investing to make as many events like this (the Players) as possible. I think our product is fricking awesome. I think the talent we have and our product should speak for itself. The competition needs to be healthy. 

GWK: What's your stance on allowing LIV Golf guys back on the Tour?

KS: It's probably lessened over time. At first, if you believe what Jay said, if you left you'd never play a PGA Tour event again. I think what they will probably do is say (to the Tour loyalists who stayed), look, you've got some equity and if we bring the top guys back the value of your equity in PGA Tour Enterprises is going to go up. I don't think a lot of the LIV guys will want to come back. My friends that are out there they like playing for $4 million purses against about 40 guys versus grinding and playing against these 20-year-old studs. 

GWK: Do you think LIV Golf will survive in some form if the Tour and PIF strike a deal?

Kevin Streelman watches his putt on the fifth green during the second round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

KS: I think Yasir is interested in access to as many western sports leagues as possible. He just got into tennis with the ATP Tour. He's going to probably want an MLB team, an NFL team. A deal with SSG provides them with more access to those type of ownership communities. It's very smart but I don't think their passion is golf; I think their passion is Saudi Arabia. So they continue to invest for what's good for Saudi Arabia. It's naive to think they care about growing the game.

Editor's Note: The conversation picked up about a week later via phone in Tampa, where Streelman held a share of the 36-hole lead.

GWK: You were a member of the governance committee. What is the most important thing you achieved?

KS: We tried to go into it with a very open mind. We dove into our constitution and bylaws and looked at some things that were archaic and needed to be changed and ratified and then came up with some of our own opinions and ideas to better represent the entire player body not only for the PGA Tour policy board but also for the PGA Tour Enterprises board going forward. 

GWK: Anything specific that you were able to achieve ?

KS: It was an interesting process. There were some commonsense implications and changes that were made such as independent directors being more visible to the players and coming to a few more events. For the most part, the membership doesn't understand how the governance had been set up, how the independent directors are chosen, how the commissioner is chosen and how it's done in most modern board settings. It was our belief that the players should have more of a say, more of an influence on who and how they are put into office. 

GWK: On a scale of 1-10 with one being no biggie and 10 being mad as hell, what was your level of disappointment that you weren't selected PAC chair (Camilo Villegas won the vote) or chosen to replace Rory when he stepped down on the Tour policy board in November (Jordan Spieth was selected by the Board)?

KS: Probably somewhere in the middle. I said this from Day One, historically our voting percentage was in the 30s and 40s percent. I found that disappointing. I just encouraged the Tour to make the voting as simple and easy as possible. They did answer that request and added a link in registration where guys could go on and vote. I think 72 percent of the body voted. Unfortunately for me, I was injured during the tournaments when most of the voting went on. I'm good friends with Camillo. I think he will do a great job. He hasn't served as many posts as I have -- from board to PAC to governance committee -- but that doesn't necessarily mean I'd do a better job than him. I'd just say I have a little more hands-on experience. It's something I enjoy, it's something I could possibly see myself doing in the future on the business side of golf. All that being said, I didn't get elected and I didn't lose any sleep over it and I'm sure he'll do a good job.

GWK: How do you think the influx of capital from SSG and and potentially more rolling in will be invested?

KS: We're getting these informational portals sent to us of how they view the equity program working. No one still knows where they fall in those equity buckets. My hope is that it goes to investing in the PGA Tour, into our tournaments, our fan experience and our player experience week in, week out. I think if you build the best product, the best play and the fans will follow. I believe our product is superior and if you make that that much better then our fans should be content with the product we put in front of them. That was my hope all along, that any sort of influx of money would be invested into our product and I really hope that we don't just have to pay players that decided not to go and keep them as happy as possible. I don't think that's the point of an investment into our company. We'll have to see how this pans out. Very smart people have been brought into the fray and given us some really good past experience with people who have led in big sports leagues, bigger than golf, and what works and doesn't work for them, and hopefully we can make golf that much stronger.

GWK: What is your biggest frustration with the state of professional golf?

KS:  The obvious answer is the split. You want to see the best players playing together in historical tournaments. My dream as a kid was to play at Copperhead to Harbour Town and even John Deere. I drove around the country trying to Monday Qualify into these tournaments. I did it for the competition. The money took care of itself with great golf. It wasn't look what I've done and I deserve this. This false market narrative has been established of what people think their value is and it's upended the true Western market of how things have historically worked and that's what being dealt with now. 

GWK: Do you fear that pro golf is being overvalued too much and it will lead to an inevitable bubble burst?

KS:  I hope not. I wasn't privy to that meeting with Yasir and what his vision with professional golf is but clearly there are discussions that want him involved to some degree. When you hold the cards that he has, it's hard to deny or ignore anymore. It seems like it will have to somehow run through him if we can find some sort of continuity going forward. We will have to see how as time progresses here.

GWK: How would you unify the game and what should LIV players be forced to do on their return?

KS:  I don't know what guys will have to be forced to do. I think a number of them won't want to come back. I think a fair answer to that question would be guys that want to come back and lost their status would have to go through some sort of qualifying, whether that's Korn Ferry Tour or Q-School. You shouldn't be guaranteed starts to come back. The tricky question is the guys who still have exempt status. Should they come right back and play in Signature events? I don't believe so nor do I think that will be allowed. They come back and get some sort of status to play in I guess you call them standard PGA Tour events and play their way in, that would be more seen as more practical and fair from the rest of the body. It depends who you ask on that situation.

GWK: What do you think is the future of the fall schedule?

KS:  That's a good question. They haven't even released it to us yet. I guess it would be still chasing that 125 number but whether the Tour wants to make that number smaller or not, I bet that will be a question that gets asked. What the exempt number of cards should be if we're going to go with the Signature events idea for a long time. 

There are some great tournaments in the fall. I love going to Napa, I love the people in Jackson (Mississippi) and the course is incredible and Vegas is near and dear to my heart. It would be tough to lose tournaments that are willing to sponsor the PGA Tour.

GWK: Is having two tours a bad thing? If so, why?

KS:  If you ask players, if you ask sponsors, if you ask fans, you probably get different answers. For me, someone who has been out here for almost 20 years, it's a tough pill to swallow. Events like Pebble Beach that I played 16 times in a row, I'm top 5 on the all-time money list, Hartford, where I've played 16 years in a row and a past champion, Hilton Head, where I'm probably top 10 in all-time money, events that have been my bread and butter and have been part of my year schedule are now taken away. I understand why they've done it as well. It has made top players happy. They have smaller fields and bigger purses without cuts. It also makes other events stronger, you know you're going to get everyone from 51 to 150 and there are big names in that bracket also. We're seeing that who gets left out are the rookies and the Korn Ferry guys coming up. That's why we're adding to these fields to accommodate those guys, which I understand.

If you want to talk about a fair factor, I'd say it's a little unfair playing Signature events short, playing a one-some at Bay Hill on Thursday and Friday rubbed me the wrong way, and then playing our normal events long. That to me from a competitive fairness factor doesn't seem right. That's the bed that's been made. We're working through the kinks now but it's just a shame that it's coming at the expense of people's careers. 

GWK: If you were commish for a day, what would you do?

KS:  It would be a busy day. I would sit down with our sponsors and make them a priority. I would sit down with top players and mid-level and veteran players too and get to some sort of vision of what we want to build going forward. I think it's tough to go too far backwards once you've created these Signature events.

My outside-the-box idea that I'd talk to guys about that I think could have some legs is I'd say if this is what you want to do, I'll give you 15-16 100-120 field events with the top players and the majors and all of a sudden you have 20 events to choose from. Then you have an elevated Korn Ferry Tour or PGA Tour smaller deal and you have 144 players consisting of the best KFT and all the PGA Tour players who didn't finish high enough and you set those purses in the $4 million-$8 million area. Then you have some relegation. So, 20-25 guys moving up and moving down to those two tours. At that price point, you'd have a lot more accessibility to different markets in different cities and I think you could put on a great tour on that secondary tour but then the top guys can get their smaller fields, their smaller schedule, and you make it global and maybe 4-5 of those tournament you give to LIV and make those massive for those guys.

But you have to have hope as a professional golfer. You have to be able to move in or out. If you don't perform, you have to fall out and if you do perform you have to have hope you can move forward. A lot of these rookies now don't have a ton of hope. They have five spots in these swings and they're not even getting into many events. I had a thought something like this could give guys enough drive to get to those big events but make a nice enough living where they can feel like they are still playing big professional events that mean things and also put things at a price point where our markets and our sponsors can afford it. 

GWK: Is there a place for team golf in the PGA Tour?

KS:  I haven't thought much about it. It's not really my thing. I like either getting the glory or having the pain and I want it all on my shoulders. Even in college, if the team did well and I played badly, I didn't feel much better about myself. To me, golf is an individual sport.

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Column: Silver medals for Cameron Young don’t tarnish the talent

Cameron Young hits his tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 24, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Cameron Young chips onto the second green during the final round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 24, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Cameron Young hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Saturday, March 23, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Cameron Young reacts after putting out on the 17th green during the first round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Thursday, March 21, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Peter Malnati reacts as he wins the Valspar Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 24, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

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David Duval was headed to the California desert for the next PGA Tour Champions event when something in his news feed caught his attention. Cameron Young has seven runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour in the last 40 years, the most of anyone who had never won.

The phrasing made it sound as if Young had set a record, and Duval didn’t think that was right. Because three decades ago, the news item could have been about him.

“Wasn’t it seven for me?” he asked.

Duval was runner-up to Greg Norman and Tom Watson at the Memorial in consecutive years, to Mark O’Meara and Peter Jacobsen at Pebble Beach, along with second-place finishes in Canada, Atlanta and the Bob Hope Classic. So yes, that adds to seven.

Young joined him on Sunday in the Valspar Championship . He was tied for the lead until Peter Malnati hit 5-iron to 6 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th. Young, playing in the group ahead, made it easier for Malnati with a wild tee shot, a decent recovery and a three-putt bogey from 50 feet to finish two shots behind.

That was his seventh runner-up finish, and he can only hope there are more comparisons with Duval before long.

“He’s lucky — he tied a good player,” Duval said. It was a sardonic boast, yes, but also a reminder to Young — whom he has never met — that silver medals don’t tarnish talent.

Duval went 75 starts from his rookie year in 1995 before he finally broke through at the end of his third season. He then won 13 times over his next 79 starts, including the 2001 British Open, the best Sunday 59 in history and two stints at No. 1 when Tiger Woods was in his prime.

All he knows about the 26-year-old Young is what he sees on TV — that rhythmic takeaway, the pause at the top and a swing that looks like it can rip the urethane off his Pro V1.

But he can appreciate the impatience and frustration when the chatter is more about the talent than the trophy.

“Once you realize as a player that you’re doing everything you can and you don’t have to do anything different, it opens up the gates,” Duval said. “You feel like you have to win. But really you’ve just got to play.”

Young has never had a 54-hole lead when finishing second. He also doesn’t have a final round over par in those opportunities. One loss was in the Dell Match Play last year, when he took out Rory McIlroy in the semifinals before running into the hot putter of Sam Burns.

Most crushing were the majors in 2022. He took a double bogey from the bunker on the 16th hole at Southern Hills in the PGA Championship and finished one shot out of a playoff. “One of those times I’m going to shoot 5 under on the back and that’s going to be good enough,” he said that day.

Two months later, Young shot 31 on the back nine at St. Andrews . Cameron Smith shot 30 and beat him by one in the British Open. That was runner-up No. 4 for Young.

He now can be called the best player on the PGA Tour without a victory — Tommy Fleetwood gets a mention, but those seven European titles count mightily in a global game — and it’s starting to wear on Young.

Young doesn’t say a lot, but he gets straight to the point. So when he was asked Saturday evening at Innisbrook how he has stayed patient while chasing his first win, Young bluntly replied, “I haven’t, really.”

“I’ve definitely let it get to me at times,” Young said. “I feel like right now I’m in a really nice place mentally. I’ve had really good control over my thoughts and emotions this week. They have definitely got the better of me at times, but I feel like I’m in a really nice place and I’m just trying to hit each shot the best I can.”

Runner-up No. 6 for Duval came at Pebble Beach in 1997 when he tied for second with Woods at 19-under par, a score that would have won the previous 55 editions of the tournament except for O’Meara posting at 20 under.

A month later, Duval was asked if he was more tired from getting asked about not winning or from not having won.

“I’m not tired of either,” he said. “Because if I wasn’t asked about it, I’d feel like maybe people don’t think very highly of me as a player. But seeing as I’m asked a lot, that shows that a lot of people out here believe in my abilities. And so that’s a good thing. That’s a good feeling.”

That might be the soundest advice for Young.

Young isn’t doing everything right — a putt here, a fairway there — or he would have won by now. He’s not doing a lot wrong, either. His scoring average in his six runner-up finishes in stroke play is 67.5.

He was proud of some of the shots he took on, and mostly how he kept his head clear of everything but the next shot.

“I think I handled my own thoughts really well, and for me, that’s a big win regardless of the outcome,” he said, before leaving Innisbrook with little more than another close call.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, Ernie Els among 10 players to watch in Galleri Classic golf tourney

The PGA Tour Champions returns to the desert this week with the second annual Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

From major champions to golfers who won The American Express title in the desert, here’s a look at 10 players to watch this week:

Steve Stricker

The history of the PGA Tour Champions is built on players having dominant seasons, from Lee Trevino to Hale Irwin to Bernhard Langer. Stricker may be the latest in that line after a six-win season in 2023 that included three majors and a second place in another major. Stricker broke 70 in all three rounds of the Galleri Classic last year, eventually tying for fifth. He’s a threat in any tournament he plays.

Steven Alker

You understand how good Alker’s 2022 season was when you remember that he won twice in 2023 including the season-ending Charles Schwab Champions but the year was kind of a letdown. Alker, from New Zealand, won four times in 2022 Including the KitchenAid Senior PGA Champions on the way to player of the year honors. Alker made a late charge to finish second in the Galleri Classic in 2023 and should be in contention again this year after already winning once this season.

Toms started 2023 with two wins in his first five starts, including the inaugural Galleri Classic. While those were his only victories of the season, he added eight more top-10 finishes and was one of the consistent names on leaderboards throughout the season. With the same focus he brought to 2023, Toms should again be on leaderboards in 2024.

Miguel Angel Jimenez

One of the most consistent winners on the PGA Tour Champions through the years, 2023 was the first year Jimenez did not win a senior event since joining the tour in 2014. But the 13-time tour winner from Spain has already contended in several events on the tour this year, including a third-place finish in the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach last week.

Stephen Ames

If not for Stricker, Ames would have made a serious run at player of the year honors on the PGA Tour Champions last year. Ames won four times in 2023, and a win at the Chubb Classic this year gives him seven career senior victories. Ames is another player likely to contend for a win every week.

Fred Couples

Couples is always a fan favorite, and that is especially true in the desert where he has been a part-time resident for years. Couples might not be the winning player he was in past years, but he knows more about the Mission Hills course than anyone in the tournament from his years of playing the course when representing Landmark Land, which owned Mission Hills at one time.

A four-time major winner on the regular tour, Els still has the silky swing that makes you wonder how he has only won three times on the PGA Tour Champions. He has the length and the driving ability to take advantage of the par-5s on the Dinah Shore Course, and his last win on the tour was the Hoag Classic in Orange County last season.

The big-hitting Daly has been hampered by injuries in recent years and even in the last few months, but that hasn't stopped him from being a fan favorite. The question with Daly is can he fight off the injuries to put together three solid rounds of golf and get into contention.

Retief Goosen

A two-time U.S. Open champion renown for his putting prowess, Goosen made a strong run at the inaugural Galleri Classic before finishing in a tie for third. Goosen's game seems to fit Mission Hills, particular his putting stroke on what can be some tricky greens on the Dinah Shore Course.

The most recent of Durant's five wins on the PGA Tour Champions came earlier this month at the Cologuard Classic in Arizona. Durant has a strong connection with the desert, having won the American Express tournament in 2001 with a PGA Tour record 36-under par total for the five-day tournament.

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Houston Open Odds, Prediction, Pick: Scottie Scheffler massive favorite to win

The PGA Tour shifts to the Lone Star State for the Texas Children’s Houston Open, where a Texan arrives as a heavy favorite.

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The PGA Tour heads to Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston, Texas, where two of the top four players in the world will tee it up this week. Scottie Scheffler, who has won two events in his last two starts, is in the field, as is reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark .

Other notables include young stars Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala , while Tony Finau arrives at the Texas Children’s Houston Open as the defending champion.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Odds:

Here are the current odds for players to win, per DraftKings:

• Scottie Scheffler +280
• Wyndham Clark +1400
• Will Zalatoris +2000
• Tony Finau +2000
• Sahith Theegala +2200
• Jason Day +2800
• Si Woo Kim +3500
• Keith Mitchell +4000
• Alex Noren +4000
• Tom Hoge +4500
• Stephan Jaegar +4500
• Beau Hossler +4500
• Aaron Rai +5000

Is Anyone of Value Besides Scheffler?

Very rarely do you see a golfer listed with odds as low as Scheffler’s this week. What does this mean? Essentially, oddsmakers have determined that it is Scheffler against the field.

If you decide to go with the number one player in the world, you will not receive a big payday, and understandably so. Scheffler has won his last two starts , one being a Signature Event and the other being The Players, routinely dubbed “the strongest field in golf.”

This week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open does not feature a strong field. It is by far the weakest event Scheffler has played in 2024, as many top players have opted to rest following the Florida Swing in preparation for Augusta National .

Still, there is some value to be had down the board.

Jason Day has had a solid season to date, recording three top 10s and missing only one cut at Torrey Pines.

So, too, has Sahith Theegala.

The former Pepperdine standout finished solo second at The Sentry and has three other top 10s to his name. He most recently tied for 9th at The Players after finishing in a tie for 6th the week before at Bay Hill.

Theegala is a sneaky play at +2200 to win, while we also find value in Day at +2800.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Long Shot Pick

Since missing his first two cuts of the season, Doug Ghim has had an excellent stretch of golf. Before last week, when he tied for 67th at the Valspar Championship due to a poor final round, Ghim recorded five straight top-20s, with his best finish coming at the Mexico Open, where he tied for 8th.

He also tied for 16th at The Players Championship, highlighted by his chip-in on the 17th hole. His par-breaker there emulated Tiger Woods’ “Better Than Most” birdie in 2001.

Plus, Ghim ranks 30th in strokes gained off the tee, and Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston prioritizes tee shots. He does not hit it long by PGA Tour standards, but he keeps the ball in play, ranking 12th on tour in driving accuracy.

Hence, we like Ghim at +7000. He is a long shot, sure, but tournaments like these often produce young first-time winners on the PGA Tour. Should Ghim go on to do so, he would also receive an invitation to The Masters.

Texas Children’s Houston Open Pick

Scottie Scheffler is simply playing in a league of his own.

Because of that, we feel obligated to take Scheffler once again in Houston. He will decimate Memorial Park from tee to green and rely on his new mallet putter to win his third straight start.

The value is not there, but Scheffler has played so well lately that not taking him would be a mistake. The only hesitancy here is Scheffler’s neck, which ailed him on Friday at TPC Sawgrass. Even then, he persevered against a much stronger field, fired one of the best rounds of his career on Sunday, and became the first player to repeat as Players champion.

With Scheffler’s strokes gained metrics tee to green drawing comparisons to peak Tiger Woods , the only question is, how do you not take him against this field?

For all other sports betting content, check out SB Nation’s DraftKings site .

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Next Up In Golf

• Tony Finau knew Scottie Scheffler had “special” talent during his rookie season
• Houston Open: How to watch, streaming, preview, tee times, and more
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Scottie Scheffler pushing towards Tiger-like Masters odds after PLAYERS triumph

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – THE PLAYERS champion Scottie Scheffler is on track to start as the shortest-priced Masters favorite since Tiger Woods in 2013 after his successful title defense at TPC Sawgrass.

On the 50th anniversary of the storied tournament, Scheffler surged home with an 8-under 64 on Sunday to fittingly become the first person to successfully defend THE PLAYERS. His 20-under total prevailed by a shot over The Open champion Brian Harman, U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele, all of whom missed birdie tries on the final hole to force a playoff.

Incredibly, Scheffler triumphed despite suffering from a neck strain that needed treatment over the final three days, including mid-round on Friday.

Following the victory, coming a week after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Scheffler was moved from +650 to +500 with BetMGM Sportsbook to win the upcoming Masters, played April 11-14 at Augusta National. Scheffler opened at +950 last summer and was still priced at +850 at BetMGM before his win two weeks ago at Bay Hill.

Should those numbers hold over the next month, or drop even lower, Scheffler will be the shortest-priced betting favorite at the Masters since Tiger Woods was +350 ahead of the 2013 tournament. Woods went on to finish T4 that year.

Updated odds to win the Masters (via BetMGM)

• +500: Scottie Scheffler
• +1000: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
• +1800: Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth
• +2000: Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka
• +2200: Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris
• +2500: Wyndham Clark, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Ludvig Åberg

They’re also the shortest major championship odds since Jordan Spieth was +500 ahead of the 2015 Open Championship, after having won the Masters and U.S. Open earlier that season. Spieth missed a playoff by one shot that year at St. Andrews.

“Anytime you can be compared to Tiger is really special, but, I mean, the guy stands alone in our game," Scheffler said after his victory. "He really does.

“This is my eighth tournament win now out here, I've tied him in PLAYERS Championships. Outside of that, I got 14 more majors and 70-some PGA TOUR events to catch up. So, I think I'm going to stick to my routine and just continue to plot along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can.”

Consistency hasn’t been a problem for Scheffler. He is a proven performer as a front-runner. But the last two weeks has shown he can fire up a killer instinct from behind. Scheffler fell five shots behind in the third round at Bay Hill before ultimately winning by five. At TPC Sawgrass, he started the final round five shots off the pace, having not overcome more than a two-shot 54-hole deficit in his career prior.

Scottie Scheffler goes back-to-back at THE PLAYERS

The 27-year-old has been in the midst of next-level ball-striking over the last 18 months, but prior to winning at Bay Hill had failed to salute in an official PGA TOUR event since the 2023 PLAYERS.

Despite finishing no worse than T31 in 18 events, with 14 top-10s (and winning the unofficial Hero World Challenge in December), Scheffler was seen as underachieving thanks to struggles on the greens. He routinely finished near the back end of fields in Strokes Gained: Putting.

But midway through the Arnold Palmer Invitational something clicked and his percentages of made putts rose, spelling trouble for his competitors.

“I feel like I’m much more free in what I’m doing. I’m much more engaged in the process of things,” Scheffler added, an ominous thought for the competition.

As impressive as his Masters odds are, Scheffler is still a long way from the halcyon Woods days of being +150 ahead of majors of which he would go on to win. In his 15 major victories, Woods ranged from +150 at the 2000 Open Championship and 2001 Masters to a “juicy” +1400 at the 2019 Masters. Woods was +500 or less for 12 of his 15 major wins.

“I'm not going to remember the exact numbers, but like we're playing at Riv this year, and I hit my tee ball and this guy yells out like congrats on being No. 1 Scottie … 11 more years to go… 11 more years to go,” Scheffler said while laughing.

“We all idolize Tiger. He's been our guy. Watching what he did in special moments over the years is crazy to watch. I've learned a lot just from being around him. We're just very thankful that he's still a part of our sport.”

Scheffler’s lone major was the 2022 Masters where he cruised to a three-shot win after being priced +1600 pre-tournament. His worst finish from four starts at Augusta National is T19. While he failed to win a major in 2023, the Texan was the betting favorite in three of the four events, priced between +700 and +750 for each.

Should the current figures hold, it will mark the fifth time overall he’s the outright betting favorite before a major: 2022 PGA Championship (MC), 2023 PGA Championship (T2), 2023 U.S. Open (third) and the 2023 Open (T23).

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Senior Writer, Golfbet Follow Ben Everill on Twitter .