Photo: Sky Sports
With all the talk of OWGR recently, here at Funnel Pin Golf we wanted to take some time to break down where we think players fall in the greater landscape of global professional golf. While there is statistical evidence provided to back up some of our thoughts, these rankings are centered around who we think the top golfers in the world are. That factors in a myriad of things, talent, peak weeks, consistency, mental toughness, and all the many other things that go into making a golfer who they are. It is a true eye test combined with some stats and recent form. These rankings will be updated on a monthly basis to reflect the ever changing landscape of professional golf. Lastly, we included golfers from any and all tours in our rankings, not just the PGA Tour. With that settled let us begin.
1.Jon Rahm: Pop quiz, how many cuts did Rahm miss in the 2022 PGA tour season? Zero. None. Not one time. There are a lot of nicknames that get thrown around in the world of professional sports, but none may be more appropriate than the one the NLU guys throw Rahm’s way: The Buoy. People may have thought that this last year was a down year for Rahm due to the absence of big wins he could hang his hat on. His short game around the green let him down with a dip in his strokes gained around the green last season compared to his norm. That hasn’t slowed him from getting the job done though this year. Having three wins already and one of them being one of the most prestigious of the year at The Genesis, he is on top of the golfing world right now.
2.Scottie Scheffler: Obviously we witnessed an all time heater from Scottie last year from The WM Phoenix Open through The Masters, winning 4 out of 6 starts including The Masters and The API. He has backed that up by already grabbing a win this year defending his title at The WM Phoenix Open. He is one of the few players in the world that feels like they have no true weaknesses and that makes him a threat to win at every event he plays in.
3.Cam Smith: Looking at the totality of the global golf landscape, we feel for right now Cam Smith deserves to be the player who is near the top of our Funnel Pin Golf Rankings. Looking at his 2022 he captured 5 wins: The Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Players, The Open, LIV Chicago, and The Australian PGA. While some of those may be more impressive than others, there is no doubt that 2022 was a massive success for Cam. Cam’s hyper aggressive play is some of the most entertaining to watch, as he highlights his extraordinary talent, but also puts himself in a pinch from time to time. Thankfully for him, he has some of the softest hands around the green on the planet and an outstanding putting stroke. When you combine his recent successes, his all around talent, and the mentality he plays with, it feels like Cam Smith is one of the top players in the world. We have not seen him tee it up in a long time and are eager to see what he can do this season on LIV.
4.Rory McIlroy: He is the best driver of the golf ball in the world and it makes him a threat every week. We have seen him put up a T32 and T29 in his last two events which makes me pause and wonder if he is trending in the wrong direction. With his absolutely blistering form at the end of last season and the start of this season his wedge play was a true weapon for him. He has leveled out on that recently which is really noticeable for him because of how often he has wedge in his hand after hitting bombs off the tee. This is a trend we will most certainly be tracking because Rory goes as his wedges go.
5.Max Homa: Max for a while had a public persona that outpaced his game. That is not the case any longer. It is clear that his game has taken a step in the right direction as both indicated by his play over The PGA Tour season as well as his inclusion on the U.S Presidents Cup team. He has two wins this year, a runner up, and a T3 as his best results this season so far. These results have not felt flukey either. He is doing it against some of the strongest fields with consistent all around game that translates to any scenario. He also has a true clutch gene in him. A big next step for Max is improved major performance. He has more missed cuts than any other result in his major career. That is a trend that is likely to break over the next few years. He is a well rounded player with a more level head on his shoulders than ever. There is reason to believe that the Max that we saw last year is the one that is here to stay for years to come.
6.Justin Thomas: A true golfers golfer in many ways. His bogey free round in the second round of The Players this year almost added more to his legend than his PGA Championship victory at Southern Hills did. JT has every shot in the bag and then some. There isn’t a course in the world that doesn’t fit his game and there is not a shot that he cannot hit. When you combine those two things, it makes you one of the best golfers in the world. He’s off to a slightly slow start this year. Even with that, he has a pair of five top finishes and hasn’t missed a cut. It will not be long before he grabs a win this year.
7.Dustin Johnson: Maybe a controversial inclusion at this spot, but DJ still is a world class player. According to his Datagolf profile, he was a strokes gained monster once he made the jump to the LIV Golf Tour. A T6 at The Open Championship last year shows that he really can still play with the best of them. DJ has long been one of the most talented golfers to ever play this game, and he is clinging to the back end of his prime years. DJ could still contend in any event against other big name players and I think we will see more of that at the majors in 2023. It will be interesting to see how he fares as LIV kicks off their year at Mayakoba this weekend.
8.Xander Schauffele: Xander is a premium player. The reason he falls at this spot in the rankings is his record in premium events. No major victories in his career and in the last three seasons he has managed two top five finishes in majors, while also missing the same number of cuts. Xander seems steady, dedicated to his process. He has been someone who has maximized his talent in all areas of the game. It does seem like a matter of time until he starts taking home more top 5s and victories in premium tour events, and when he does, he will shoot up these rankings. In the meantime, he has four top 10 finishes this year and he has not missed a single cut.
9.Patrick Cantlay: Cantlay and Xander can never be too far apart. When people think of a professional golfer, they most likely imagine someone a lot like Patrick Cantlay. He is steady, goes about his business, and executes with a level of precision and routine that is somewhere between hypnotic and boring to take in. He does not have an outsized personality, he seems to be about golf and golf alone. Much like his buddy Xander, his record in majors leaves a lot to be desired. He has three top ten finishes in majors since 2011. While he has not been able to have peak weeks when he seemingly would like to the most, he still is undoubtedly one of the best golfers in the world. We see his top play seemingly in team events and at the BMW Championship, one day it will carry over to the four biggest events each year.
10.Matt Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick is someone who is unapologetically himself. He has the sneaker deal with Sketchers, chips crosshanded at times, rocks braces, and plays absolutely world class golf. Many golfers chase big gains in ball speed and distance only to sacrifice what made them successful in the first place. Fitzpatrick managed to make huge gains in ball speed and not sacrifice the rest of his game, launching him into a new tier of golfer. Also, as we saw in The U.S. Open this year, he is a gutsy player who is unflappable. His bunker shot on the 72nd hole of the tournament is one of the most clutch shots in recent memory and perhaps longer than that. Fitzpatrick is a player who could certainly continue to climb these rankings. He is having a shaky start to his 2023 season, having missed two cuts and only recording one top 10.
11.Tony Finau: A loveable but controversial golfer is Tony Finau. A three time tour winner this last calendar year would perhaps be higher up in the rankings for some people. There are also people who will be upset if he is on this list anywhere. Finau has been able to leverage his effortless distance into some more consistent performances this year. Hopefully with his string of victories this year he is able to shed his lack of ability to close in the premium tour events. Tony has traits that many other golfers only dream of, and because of that we think Tony deserves to be seen as a top 11 player in the world. In every event he has made the cut in this year he has not finished worse than T20 which is an impressive feat.
12.Sungjae IM: It is shocking that Sungjae is only 24 years old as it feels he has been around in our golfing zeitgeist for so long now. In some ways, Sungjae feels like he is in the same bucket of player as JT. There is never a week on tour that you look at a course or a field and think he is out of contention before it begins. He is again a golfers golfer, having all the creativity you could hope for and the ability to carve the ball around the golf course. His relative lack of experience holds him back from breaking into the absolute top class of golfer in the world right now, but he has a lot of time to gain that and become a true force in the world of golf.
13.Will Zalatoris: If Zalatoris has one or two different bounces of the golf ball in his short career, we may already talk about him as a top five player in the world. Having already had three runner up finishes in majors to his name at 24 years old, he is off to a torrent pace to start his career. He is one of the purest ball strikers in the world and that will carry you to the top of this game. The questions that linger now for him are only about his health and the current state of his game. With a rather slim frame, he has a violent golf swing that puts a lot of pressure on his body. His recent back injury is scary and hopefully not a sign of what is to come in his future. In his four starts this year he has been inconsistent, but that feels almost to be expected. A hard charge at Riv gave him his best finish of a solo 4th, giving him a positive outlook going forward from here.
14.Collin Morikawa: While most people saw Morikawa’s year last year as a down year, it would be seen as a career year for some people. He is more a victim of his own circumstances than anything. He currently has played in 11 majors in his career and won two of them. That is an insane rate that obviously will not be sustained. However, that has marked him with a different standard than almost any other golfer in the world. He is still a strokes gained approach king with his irons. His putting is still more often than not in the negative strokes gained category for him. When that picks up to a slightly higher level, expect Morikawa to be holding a lot more trophies. He has a lot of good finishes this year, however some of them are more backdoor than true contention which is why he finds himself outside of the top 10 right now.
15.Tom Kim: While acknowledging that this ranking could be a victim of the moment in some ways, it is hard to ignore the way Tom Kim has played since the U.S Open. Grabbing 4 top 10 finishes including a victory at The Wyndham, it is clear that he has established himself as one of the best players in the world. His personality also seems to be a separating factor for him from the rest of the golf world. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and then some. He is genuine in a way that propels him forward. It seems as if at times he doesn’t know that people are even watching him. He is a stone cold killer. Honestly he may be even a few spots up higher on the list if only for two things. The first being sample size, we want to make sure he didn’t just catch fire for a short bit there. Second, please play faster, Tom. I don’t know how someone who is adjacent to the energizer bunny in a lot of ways stands over his iron shots for so long before hitting them.
16.Viktor Hovland: Viktor Hovland has won five times on The PGA Tour and not once has it been in the USA. Which is a problem considering most tour events are in the USA. While this is just a strange coincidence more than anything, his major championship record is jarring for someone who is so talented. He only has one top 10 in his career in majors. It used to be his short game around the green that was a glaring factor holding him back. To his credit, he has worked really hard on that area of his game and has raised the ceiling on what he is capable of around the green. However, he still has moments where his short game lets him down. He is only 25 years old and has a game that is trending in the right direction overall. This could be the year we see Viktor pick up his first major victory.
17.Cameron Young: Simply put, Cam Young is one of the most impressive young players in the world. We have seen that his spike weeks put him in contention with anyone in the world. And with his length being one of the best in the world, he has an advantage that travels with him almost anywhere he plays. This next PGA season, we just want to see some more consistency from Cam. He logged seven missed cuts last year, which is noticeably more than the true top tier players in the world. If Cam Young can raise the floor of his play, he will also raise his FPGR standing. His best finish so far this year was runner up to Abe Ancer at an Asian tour event that was mostly put up for LIV guys to get world ranking points. If Cam doesn’t start to put up some better PGA event finishes, he will slide down this list.
18.Joaquin Niemann: Joaquin is barely 24 years old, meaning he should have a lot of his best golf in front of him. He is long off the tee and accurate with his irons. He has already proven he can hang with some of the best in the world by winning The Genesis this past season. It will be interesting to see if he can increase his game both around and on the green as he is currently average at both by professional golf standards.
19.Jordan Spieth: Spieth has had such an interesting career. From being absolutely dominant in 2015, to making swing changes that looked utterly painful to the average viewer this past season, only one thing stays the same about him, and it is that he is certainly never boring. There is never a shot that Spieth thinks he can’t pull off, and more often than not he is correct. When he isn’t clicking, he does not change the way he plays. Which leads to some really inconsistent results. Can Spieth win any tournament he plays in? Absolutely. Is he one of the top players in the game still? No, not quite. This is well captured by his T6 at WM followed by a MC at Genesis. We will see how he continues to settle in with his swing changes and see what the 2023 season has in store for him.
20.Sahith Theegala: We put Sahith next to Spieth because he seems to have a similar feel in the way he plays the game. Sahith is currently hitting his driver all over the map. He is one of the least accurate drivers on tour statistically. Then comes the rest of his game. He is long off the tee, accurate with the irons, a magnificent short game, and solid putting. It is always an adventure for him, but he usually gets the ball in the hole quickly. He already has five top 6 finishes this year making his presence felt amongst some of the biggest names in the game.
21.Sam Burns: A three time winner in the 2022 season alone, Sam Burns has a case to maybe be higher in these rankings. However, there are some things that seem to hold him back from making a leap in the golf world. He is around average in strokes gained driving accuracy, approach, and around the green. He is a long hitter who is an elite putter, which is a very unusual combination. Sam is a quality player who will be a high level tour player for years to come. However, he seems to lack a true killer instinct when the spotlight is bright. His best career finish in any major is a T20, which is concerning in his young career. Hopefully he can shake this trend and just carry over his play from the Valspar every year to other tour events.
22.Shane Lowry: Honestly, there isn’t too much to say about Shane Lowry. His data golf profile is almost a perfect pentagon. His game is well rounded and above average. He rarely has massive spike weeks that put him in true contention, but he rarely ever lays an egg at an event either. Lowry is a consummate professional who is one of the staple figures in professional golf. He shook off a MC at WM to put up a respectable T14 at Riv this last week which hopefully will get him on track for this PGA Tour season.
23.Taylor Montgomery: With this 2022-23 season being his first with his full tour card, Taylor Montgomery is coming out swinging. He had six top 15 finishes in seven events. That kind of consistency is what makes people top tour players. He is a world class putter of the golf ball, which raises a little red flag for the sustainability of this all. However, why throw cold water on the start of his tour career? He has been an impressive player thus far and it feels real to us. The doubters will point to his last two events in which he has two missed cuts. While that is a valid assertion we simply cannot discredit his start to the season too much and move him even further down this list.
24.Jason Day: We might have a serious J Day resurgence on our hands! He has three consecutive top 9 finishes against some really quality competition. When we have watched him in recent years, he has looked more like a shell of his former self due to the many back injuries and off course struggles he has had to deal with. He looks refreshed both mentally and physically and is playing what is certainly his best golf since he was world number one back in 2017. In addition, In his last two majors he has a T11 and a T9, showing some positive form in more premium events. If this is less of a heater and more of a return to form, we could see him crack the top 15 in these rankings soon enough.
25.Billy Horschel: Billy is a polarizing figure. You certainly feel his presence at every event he plays, whether it is for his game or just him as a person. He won The Memorial last year, which is a big time tour event. He is slightly below average in length off the tee for a tour player. However, this tends to be made up for by his accuracy in all phases of the game. Billy doesn’t feel like a real threat to win majors when push comes to shove, but he also is someone who has improved as a player in the last few years and deserves to be recognized in a different class of tour player than he was a few years ago.
26.Aaron Wise: At only 26 years old, Aaron wise made a big leap in his game last year. Hovering in his career often times between .5 and 0 strokes gained per round, last year saw him consistently be between 1 and 1.5 strokes gained per round according to data golf. He is a phenomenal chipper of the golf ball and putts it well too. If he is able to drive the ball with a little more accuracy in the future, he could become a contender on a regular basis.
27.Tom Hoge: Brian Harman is a bit of a roller coaster ride. He lacks the true consistency of a top tier player on The PGA Tour. However, last season he recorded six top ten finishes, which shows that when his game is on he is a contender to win events. If he can find any way to start getting more distance off the tee box, I think we will start to see him in contention more often.
28.Corey Conners: Corey is a precision golfer. He is one of the most accurate drivers of the golf ball in the world and his ball striking is up there with anyone. However, when he gets on and around the greens his game starts to melt a little. When his ball striking is even slightly off, you see some not so great results from Corey. He isn’t your apex predator type of golfer, but the man oozes talent which is how he finds himself in this 27th slot.
29.Keegan Bradley: Love him or hate him, at this point Keegan Bradley is a known quantity. Having been in our golfing lives since 2011, we know his game and his personality well. He has a grittiness that a lot of golfers do not possess, which definitely helps elevate him in certain scenarios. Statistically he is just about an average professional player in every area of the game except he is an above average approach player, which is where he has hung his hat for years and there is no reason to think that will change now.
30.Thomas Pieters: A pretty classic bomb and gouge type player, Pieters is a hit or miss type player from week to week. His results are littered with missed cuts and top ten finishes. When you are as long as he is, and also a positive strokes gained approach player, you have the ability to contend anywhere any week, which is what puts him above some other guys who did not make this list.
These are the players we left out of our top 30 who just barely missed the cut for inclusion on the rankings.
HM: Adam Scott, Denny Mccarthy, Emilliano Grillo, Wyndham Clark, Daniel Berger, Maverick Mcnealy, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Thomas Pieters, Seamus Power, Abe Ancer, JT Poston, Brian Harman.
