Jon Rahm is back at No. 1 in Golfweek/Sagarin rankings after Jordan Spieth’s tough week in the Bahamas

December 7, 2021

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It was a struggle for Jordan Spieth down in Albany, the Bahamas, this past weekend at the Hero World Challenge. He came in dead last, didn’t have a round in the 60s at a course that gave up an 18 under winning score, and for the cherry on top, teed off from the wrong box at one point.

Spieth was playing with Henrik Stenson when the pair mistakenly hit from the wrong tee box on the ninth hole. They were assessed a two-shot penalty and had to go back and start the hole from the correct hitting area.

Spieth made a triple-bogey eight, while Stenson made double.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. pic.twitter.com/YKHt2S5mGr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 6, 2021

Due to Spieth’s 6-over performance, he has fallen to No. 4 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Taking his place as top dog is World No. 1 Jon Rahm, who hasn’t played since the Andalucia Masters in October where he missed the cut after rounds of 78, 74.

Rahm missed the cut at the Fortinet Championship in his only PGA Tour start this season.

How the Sagarin rankings are determined

Jeff Sagarin’s rating system is based on a mathematical formula that uses a player’s won-lost-tied record against other players when they play on the same course on the same day, and the stroke differential between those players, then links all players to one another based on common opponents.

The following list is an explanation of each category Sagarin uses to formulate his rankings.

Power rating: This is NOT a stroke average. The rating is calculated using a player’s record, stroke differential, and connection to all the other players in the database. The difference between two ratings predicts the difference between two players in a typical round.
Schedule strength: The average strength of each event in which the player has played, calculated using the power ratings of every player in every field.
Schedule rank: The player’s schedule is ranked by difficulty among the entire database.
Records: A player’s won-lost-tied record, based on head-to-head competition, in each category. The winner in a 156-player field has a record of 155-0-0, the runner-up is 154-1-0, and so on.

First thing we have to realize and know is that this is a head-to-head ranking. This is calculated on who a player beats and who a player loses to. There is no weight or extra credit given for winning or better finishes. And unlike the OWGR, as a result of head-to-head wins and losses, a missed cut or a finish near the bottom of a field will hurt a lot more in GW/Sags than in OWGR.

The Golfweek/Sagarin rankings use a one-year window as opposed to two and consistency is paramount.