OWGR movement: Who’s up, who’s down in world rankings after 2023?

Ludvig Åberg

Movement: +99.02% (No. 3,064 to No. 30)

Why the rise? Åberg turned pro after the NCAA Championship in June and forced himself onto the European Ryder Cup team with stellar play on two different tours. He ranked second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: off-the-tee while posting five pre-Ryder Cup top-25s. He’d follow with top-10s in each of his four fall starts, including his maiden PGA Tour title at the RSM Classic. His run of T-4, win, T-10 on the DP World Tour this summer solidified his ticket to Rome, where he went 2-2 in his Ryder Cup debut. “I still pinch myself in the morning when I wake up to kind of realize that this is what I do for a job,” Åberg said after his victory in Sea Island. “It’s been so much fun. These experiences that I’ve had over the last six months have been beyond my dreams, and I’ll never forget it.” The addition of veteran caddie Joe Skovron for 2024 should contribute to the 24-year-old Åberg’s meteoric rise continuing.

Rico Hoey

Movement: +95.14% (No. 3,064 to No. 149)

Why the rise? Hoey entered this year with no world-ranking points and just one worldwide top-10 in four years. Two years ago, he took a job at his home course, Goose Creek Golf Club in Mira Loma, California, and spent over a month waking up early to set tee markers. But he found his way back to pro golf fulltime, and after forging his way back onto the Korn Ferry Tour at final stage last year, Hoey posted six top-10s in his first 11 starts on the circuit, including his first KFT win at the Visit Knoxville Open. Nicknamed “World’s Greatest Driver” while at USC, Hoey lived up to the moniker by leading the KFT in total driving last season. Hoey will now be a 28-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour next season. “It’s going to be my first year out there,” Hoey told Golf Channel earlier this year. “I’m going to have to get my feet wet and just kind of get the lay of everything out there. I’m excited to get out there and learn a lot from the best and see what I can do.”

Wyndham Clark

Movement: +93.87% (No. 163 to No. 10)

Why the rise? Iron play. Clark took ownership of his swing by becoming his own swing coach entering this year. That coupled with him changing the lie angles on his irons from basically flat to 3 degrees upright helped Clark go from No. 173 in strokes gained: approach-the-green in 2021-22 to No. 29 this past season. Clark finished the season ranked No. 13 in total strokes gained, and his all-around game led him not only to two landmark victories this year, at the signature Wells Fargo and the U.S. Open, but also a year where he missed just one cut and made the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Clark also credits his work with mental coach Julie Elion to unlocking his top-10 talent. “This year a huge success would have been in my mind just getting better mentally to where I feel more comfortable on Thursday, Friday, Saturdays and Sundays, and handling adversity better, handling the tough pressure moments better, and then also enjoying the process a lot more,” Clark said at BMW. “That’s how I kind of judge my seasons. … This year has obviously had a lot of success.”

Eric Cole

Movement: +89.32% (No. 384 to No. 41)

Why the rise? There’s a reason why Eric Cole is likely to win PGA Tour Rookie of the Year over Ludvig Åberg; it’s because the 35-year-old, mini-tour legend racked up 14 top-25s in 37 starts in his debut campaign on the PGA Tour, all of which came in his last 27 starts. He was twice a runner-up and closed this past fall with finishes of T-3, T-2, T-3. Cole did his damage despite struggling mightily with the driver (No. 158 in strokes gained: off-the-tee), but he was a top-20 player in the other three major strokes-gained categories. “I was very happy with the way I played, especially in the fall,” Cole said at RSM. “Like everyone says, I played a lot and somewhat consistently there, so it was definitely nice run this year.” Cole will enter his sophomore season not only a top-50 player in the world but also a married man after he and his now-bride, Stephanie, wed Dec. 9 in Key Largo, Florida.

Zac Blair

Movement: +86.09% (No. 719 to No. 100)

Why the rise? Blair missed about 21 months after undergoing shoulder surgery to repair two tears in his right labrum in November 2020. “Basically went from playing 18 or 36 holes every day for the last seven, eight years to not touching a club for five, six, seven months,” Blair said earlier this year. He returned last fall and playing on a major medical did enough to keep his card, satisfying his extension with a T-2 finish at Travelers and eventually ending up No. 93 in FedExCup points. Blair is 33 years old and averaged just 281.6 yards off the tee last season, but he’s still capable of popping every now and then.

Alejandro Tosti

Movement: +83.09% (No. 627 to No. 106)

Why the rise? Tosti’s 11 top-10s, including a win, on the Korn Ferry Tour this year earned the 27-year-old Argentine his PGA Tour card for the first time. There have been some disciplinary issues, but there’s no denying Tosti’s skillset – third in driving distance, third in putting average and nearly top 30 in greens hit last season on the KFT. His days of bouncing around the developmental tours are over.

Jason Day

Movement: +83.04% (No. 112 to No. 19)

Why the rise? Day, now 36, snapped a five-year victory drought back in May at the AT&T Byron Nelson, but perhaps more impressive was his start to last season – 12 finishes of T-21 or better, including seven top-10s, in his first 14 starts. Add in a T-2 at The Open and it was a promising year for Day as he looks to climb back into the top 10 in the world rankings. His approach numbers were still below average, but Day bounced back big-time with the driver and putter this past season. He also welcomed a fifth child with wife, Ellie. “I feel like every time I’ve won recently, I keep adding a child,” Day said after winning the Grant Thornton Invitational with partner Lydia Ko earlier this month. “It just keeps coming, and there’s more of them. I’m very blessed to be able to have my family with me always on the road. Very blessed to have a loving wife, and the kids are all healthy. Like everything in my world is really, really great. Don’t worry, I’m done now, hopefully. Me and Tony [Finau], we’re fighting for strokes gained kids on the Tour.”

Andy Ogletree

Movement: +80.26% (No. 861 to No. 170)

Why the rise? After losing his LIV spot following the circuit’s first event two Junes ago, Ogletree has been relegated to the Asian Tour for the past year and a half while making a few spot-starts for LIV this year. However, the 25-year-old George Tech product won twice on the Asian Tour’s International Series and won that money title to punch a full-time ticket back to LIV in 2024. “It’s been a lot of hard work this year and a lot of great golf has gone into this,” Ogletree said after locking up his LIV card. “I just want to thank everyone that’s gotten me to this point: the Asian Tour for all that they’ve done, and my team back home for allowing me to play the way I’ve played this year. I couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to play LIV next year. I’ll definitely play a few events on The International Series along with all the LIV events that I’m going to play, so next year should be a great year and I just can’t wait to get started.” Of course, with LIV still not awarding world-ranking points, Ogletree will need strong performances again in the International Series to avoid dropping in the OWGR.

Nicholas Lindheim

Movement: +79.66% (No. 762 to No. 155)

Why the rise? The 39-year-old Nicholas Lindheim had a unique year. He began last season on the PGA Tour and played just two fall events before hitting the disabled list with a back injury. When Lindheim returned to action nearly six months later, he did so on the Korn Ferry Tour. He tied for eighth at the Club Car Championship in late March and then added four more top-10s, including a win, over eight starts. He also logged four late-season events on the PGA Tour and made all those cuts as well, ensuring that he went an entire year without missing a weekend. “When you’re playing well, there’s nothing better,” Lindheim, a father of two, told PGATour.com earlier this year. “The low times are the hard part. Having kids, family, it’s nice … when you’re struggling, they don’t care if I’m playing good or bad. It’s a good thing. I really am grateful and thankful for what I have.” One cool nugget on Lindheim: His strong play in limited action this past year has him ending 2023 ranked No. 13 in the Golfweek/Sagaring rankings, just ahead of Russell Henley, Collin Morikawa and Tony Finau.

Rickie Fowler

Movement: +77.67% (No. 103 to No. 23)

Why the rise? Fowler made some big changes last year, switching caddies and then returning to longtime instructor Butch Harmon. They worked. Fowler went from well outside the top 100 in strokes gained: off-the-tee, strokes gained: approach-the-green and strokes gained: putting to No. 77, No. 7 and No. 48 in those categories, respectively. The results followed suit, too, as Fowler notched 18 top-25s, including eight top-10s and a win, in 26 starts. He snapped a lengthy victory drought in Detroit just two weeks after contending in the U.S. Open.

Way down

Daniel Berger

Movement: -1,041.18% (No. 51 to No. 582)

Why the fall? Berger was ranked No. 25 in the world when he missed the cut at the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline. He hasn’t played since because of a back injury. Berger spoke with The Associated Press last May, shortly before he pulled out of U.S. Open final qualifying, and he said that he had been diagnosed with only a slightly bulged disc in his lower back as well as deep bone sensitivity, and he had been working with a trainer on a rehab program created by a Canadian professor who specializes in spine biomechanics. At this point, when Berger returns he won’t be eligible for any majors and will be playing off a major medical extensions, though not exempt for signature events. “When I took time off, I was a top-20 player. I’ll be coming back with nothing,” Berger told the AP. “I get it — it’s part of the game. You’ve got to earn everything. When I come back, I’ll come back with fire in my belly. I’ll enjoy the challenge of getting back to where I was.”

Kevin Kisner

Movement: -554.84% (No. 31 to No. 203)

Why the fall? The 39-year-old Kisner, a four-time PGA Tour winner, is still exempt through next season courtesy of his 2019 WGC-Dell Match Play title, but evidenced by him logging just 18 starts last season and stepping away from competition for a few months last summer, plus now flirting with broadcasting, Kisner appears well aware of the mountain climb back. “There have been times golf has been that way, but not after having so much success, and then your family is asking where you are, and you see the results you’re getting,” Kisner told The Associated Press prior to his return this past fall, where he played three events and didn’t finish better than T-51. Kisner didn’t post enough rounds to be ranked statistically last season, but he did lose strokes in all four strokes-gained categories. He’ll join the NBC team for next year’s Sentry event at Kapalua and the WM Phoenix Open, so there’s at least one non-signature event that Kisner won’t be playing. How much he does tee it up in 2024 remains to be seen.

Will Zalatoris

Movement: -442.86% (No. 7 to No. 38)

Why the fall? Zalatoris had been battling intermittent back issues ever since hitting one fat out of the fescue during the 2021 Open Championship, and he finally got to the point after withdrawing the morning of this year’s Masters opening round where he needed surgery. So, the 27-year-old rising superstar underwent a microdiscectomy that Saturday of the first major of the year, an operation that kept him on the shelf until he returned at the Hero World Challenge and finished last by nine shots. In the Bahamas, it was clear that the putter was still a concern, so while the iron play should be Zalatoris’ usual elite-elite in 2024, what he does on the greens will determine how much success he has next year.

Aaron Wise

Movement: -309.09% (No. 33 to No. 135)

Why the fall? Wise climbed back inside the top 50 in the world late last year only to miss four of his first five cuts of 2023 and then withdraw from the Masters to focus on his mentally health. Wise returned after a seven-week hiatus and finished T-50 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, but three missed cuts – PGA, RBC Canadian Open and U.S. Open – forced Wise back to some time off. He’s still not played since, and he’s been dark on social media, too – well, other than a September tweet about Colorado football.

Billy Horschel

Movement: -244.44% (No. 18 to No. 62)

Why the fall? This Horschel quote from June’s Memorial Tournament summed up what was a frustrating year: “My confidence is the lowest it’s been in my entire career.” Horschel began 2023 comfortably inside the world’s top 50, but he didn’t crack the top 30 in a worldwide start until July’s 3M Open – that skid included his opening 84 at Muirfield Village, which prompted Horschel to get emotional with reporters, as well as two MCs and no top-40s in the four majors. Horschel also just finished inside the top 150 in strokes gained: tee-to-green last season. But there is reason for optimism heading into the new year, as Horschel went overseas to play four tournaments in five weeks after failing to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs, and he posted three top-20s.

Justin Thomas

Movement: -225% (No. 8 to No. 26)

Why the fall? Perhaps the most well-documented slump of 2023, Thomas only notched two top-10s on the PGA Tour before narrowly missing out on the 70-man FedExCup Playoffs. In the big events, Thomas was especially dumfounded, missing three of four cuts with a T-65 in his PGA defense not much better. It was a year in which Thomas wrestled both his diet and his ball-striking – his No. 39 rank in strokes gained: approach-the-green was a career-worst. He couldn’t get the putts to fall either (No. 135 in strokes gained: putting). As a result of ending up outside the top 50 in points, he’s not guaranteed starts in all the signature events for 2024, though common thought is Thomas will garner sponsor exemptions in almost all of them should he not qualify. “Golf is a funky game,” Thomas told The Associated Press recently. “Doesn’t matter how good of a player, any accomplishments you’ve had. You can have an off year and miss the playoffs just like I did. Everybody has got to work hard, and you have to earn it.” And after three straight top-5s to end the year, Thomas appears on his way to earning back what he lost in 2023.

Rory Sabbatini

Movement: -203.18% (No. 283 to No. 858)

Why the fall? Sabbatini was able to use a top-25 career money exemption last season after nine players either resigned their PGA Tour membership or were suspended after jumping to LIV Golf. He didn’t, however, take advantage, making just two cuts in 14 starts as the now-47-year-old said back at the Valspar Championship, where he actually tied for 16^th, “I told my wife, I said, my body’s breaking down faster than a Twinkie in a fat kid’s hand.” The six-time PGA Tour winner has merely past champion status to use next season – if he’s even healthy enough. At least the Boy from Bratislava still has the Olympic silver medal to polish.

Complete ranking

A look at the Official World Golf Ranking movement of every golfer who either started or finished 2022 with world-ranking points: