Another week, another chance at a game of musical chairs at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The big three — No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 2 Rory McIlroy and No. 3 Jon Rahm — are back in action at the Masters, and the latter two have the chance to usurp the reigning Masters champ if either wins at Augusta National this week.
But they have to win… and get a little help from Scheffler.
According to Twitter’s resident OWGR guru, Nosferatu, here’s what needs to happen for either to return to No. 1:
Rory McIlroy
- Scheffler finishes worse than solo third, or worse than a four-way T-2
- Regardless of Rahm’s finish
Jon Rahm
- Scheffler finishes worse than solo fourth, or worse than a four-way T-3, or worse than a seven-way T-2
- Regardless of McIlroy’s finish
No other finish will get McIlroy or Rahm to the top, and no other player has a shot at the top spot. That being said, here’s where some other top players could move to if they win…
- To #2… Patrick Cantlay
- To #4… Max Homa, Cam Smith, Xander Schauffele, and Will Zalatoris
- To #5… Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Cameron Young, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth
- To #7… Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im
- To #8… Tom Kim, Kurt Kitayama, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, Joaquin Niemann
- To #9… Shane Lowry, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Abrahama Ancer
- To #10… Tom Hoge, Billy Horschel
Of course, we couldn’t forget the name on everyone’s mind at every Masters: Tiger Woods.
Woods could jump as high as No. 29 if he won his sixth green jacket, defying the odds. If he’s solo fifth or better, he’ll jump into the top 200, and if he’s solo second, he’ll move to No. 67. Not too bad for a guy who can only play a handful of tournaments a year nowadays.
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