Hero World Challenge field: 8 of OWGR’s top 10; no Tiger Woods … yet

Eight of the top 10 players as of this week’s Official World Golf Ranking have accepted invitations to compete in this year’s Hero World Challenge.

The 20-man field for Tiger Woods’ annual tournament in New Providence, Bahamas, includes world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 4 and two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland, No. 5 Xander Schauffele and No. 24 Will Zalatoris, who hasn’t competed since an April back surgery.

The current field does not include Tiger Woods, who hasn’t played since withdrawing from the Masters earlier this year and a subsequent right-ankle surgery. There is, however, still one tournament exemption left to be announced.

Woods hasn’t teed it up in his host event since a solo fourth in 2019.

Here is a look at the current field for the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 event at Albany:

• Scottie Scheffler (1), USA
• Viktor Hovland (4), Norway
• Patrick Cantlay (5) USA
• Xander Schauffele (6), USA
• Max Homa (7), USA
• Matt Fitzpatrick (8), England
• Brian Harman (9), USA
• Wyndham Clark (10), USA
• Jordan Spieth (12), USA
• Cameron Young (17), USA
• Keegan Bradley (18), USA
• Collin Morikawa (19), USA
• Tony Finau (20), USA
• Sam Burns (21), USA
• Jason Day (22), Australia
• Sepp Straka (23), Austria
• Will Zalatoris (24), USA
• Rickie Fowler, USA, tournament exemption
• Justin Thomas, USA, tournament exemption

World Nos. 2 and 3, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, are the only top-10 players not included in the initial field.