Photo: Orlando Ramirez/ USA Today
We are back with the third edition of The Funnel Pin Golf Rankings. Remember this is a subjective exercise. We take a look at the data, but also rely a good deal on the old fashion eye test. We also take into account all tours across the golfing landscape to create what we feel is the best 30 players in the world right now. Let us take a look and see how the third edition of our rankings turned out.
1. Jon Rahm: Rahm withdrew from The Players this year. Besides that he has finished outside the top 15 only twice in his 13 starts this season. He has four wins and 7 top five finishes. His current 50 round moving SG average is 3.0, a full stroke better than what “elite” golf is considered at 2.0 SG. He has no real weaknesses to his game and shows no signs of slowing down. His consistency paired with his ceiling is unlike anyone else we have in golf right now.
2. Scottie Scheffler: Scottie’s last two starts were a T11 and T10 at The RBC Heritage and The Masters respectively. Which feels like a let down. That is the type of expectations we now have for him which indicates what a true world class player he has become. He already has wins in two designated events this year, The Players and Phoenix. He has yet to miss a cut and if you take out his first event of the year, The CJ Cup (T45) his worst finish is a T12 at The Genesis. Scottie’s putter hasn’t quite been the same as last year, which is why he hasn’t grabbed more wins this year. If that changes for him, he could rip off multiple victories in a very short amount of time.
3. Rory McIlroy: Rory is in a weird spot right now. He won his first two starts of the year and then has had some real ups and downs. His most recent WD from The RBC Heritage was a real head scratcher for many. His MC at The Masters left many golf fans perplexed. He still has flashes of elite form with his 3rd place finish at Match Play and his T2 at API. Rory gets the benefit of the doubt more than most players, which is why he is still here at three. If his form doesn’t change much in the near future, we could see him slide down these rankings in a hurry.
4. Tony Finau: Tony Finau has six career wins after his victory at The Mexico open. With the exception of The Northern Trust in 2021, all of his wins are against objectively weak fields. What we love to see from Finau is his immaculate approach play. He is currently 2.5 standard deviations better than your average tour player in approach play. That is staggeringly good. He is giving himself seemingly endless birdie chances and week to week it is just a matter of if they drop or not. His effortless power makes the game so simple, and his improved approach play gives him a chance every week. It is only a matter of time until Finau picks off either a designated event or a major victory.
5. Matthew Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick was having a bad year, plain and simple. However, it is reasonable to attribute his poor form to a nagging neck injury that seemed to be giving him more trouble than he let on. Now that he is healthy, he is back in a big way. He played with his brother at The Zurich most recently, finishing T19. In his last two regular starts he has a win at RBC heritage and a T10 at The Masters. It feels like he is heating up at the right time of the golf season. Right now his approach play is statistically lagging behind where it was last year. In weeks where he is positive in strokes gained approach, his worst finish is a T14 at API. It feels like more positive SG approach weeks are coming for Fitzpatrick, and when he is doing that, he can beat anyone in the world.
6. Patrick Cantlay: Cantlay may not play fast but he does play well. The dude is a top 10 machine and rarely has a week of poor play. The reason that Cantlay finds himself outside of the top is two fold. He doesn’t have any wins this season and he has been non competitive in majors in his career. He only has one career top 5 in a major in 24 starts. That is a concerningly poor career major record for someone with as much talent as Cantlay has. He is such a good player with such a well rounded game, it was honestly hard to place him outside of the top five. I just want to see a little more when the lights are brightest, or for him to grab a win this year, before he moves up there.
7. Cameron Smith: Cam Smith finished T34 at The Masters. With almost all his other starts being LIV events, it is hard to contextualize him in the golf landscape currently. He has a real Spiethian quality to him in which every time he hits a shot, you could convince me of any possible outcome. His driving this year has let him down more so than even in recent years past. His strength will always be his irons and his wedges. He has so much quality and creativity with those clubs, he can save himself from any situation. I still feel like he is a threat when he tees it up in big time events. If he doesn’t produce more in the coming majors however, he will fall down these rankings fast.
8. Collin Morikawa: Morikawa is the most accurate player in the world when you combine his approach play and his driving. When you hit the fairway as often as he does, and then you are also one of the best iron players in golf, you are going to be high in these rankings. This year his putting has held him back. He has lost strokes putting in events more often than he has gained them. Handicapping his game is always an interesting task because you are essentially just betting on a hot week with the putter from him. He will be around in almost every event he plays because of his premier accuracy, but if he wants to start ripping off some wins, he will need to free himself up with his putter.
9. Xander Schauffele: Xander this low is truly more of an eye test and feel thing for me than a statistical case. His swing is so pure and repeatable it makes you wonder how he ever mishits a shot. He is a premier approach player and is stellar around the greens. He is also around the top of the leaderboard all the time in the events he plays. He just feels a half tier below the alpha dogs of The PGA Tour. He doesn’t feel like someone who will run people down from behind. He lacks a certain fear factor that other players have when you see them on the leaderboard. I could be in a spot here to eat a lot of crowe on this one depending on what happens this summer. For now though, he will be hanging out at number nine in these rankings.
10. Jordan Spieth: Spieth could very easily have two wins this season. He was one bad tee shot away from being in contention to win The Valspar. He was maybe a combined 4 inches from winning The RBC Heritage on numerous putts that burned edges. We have been clamoring for it for a while… I think Spieth might be officially back? He will never lose his intense watchability. No golfer has a more wide range of outcomes every time he steps up to the ball. When he is on, some people have described him as an artist. To me, he feels more like a magician. This is one of the best putting seasons we have seen from him since the earlier years of his career, which is the real reason he finds himself back in the top ten of these rankings and back as a truly relevant figure in the golf ecosystem.
11. Max Homa: Homa is in poor form as of late. His last three starts are MC, MC, T43. But even with his poor form as of late, his ability is undeniable. He has two wins this season as well as a solo second and a T3. He has a well rounded game that travels to any golf course The Tour plays on. He finds himself down here in large part because of his major resume. He has 8 MC’s in his 14 major starts with a career best finish of a T13. If he is going to move up the rankings we need to see more from him in majors.
12. Sungjae IM: Sungjae plays so much golf. He has 17 starts and has only missed one cut. He has placed in the top 20 in 11 of his 17 starts. We are now in the range of the rankings that a lot of the players share similar characteristics. Great golfers who week to week on tour will likely finish towards the top of the leaderboard. However, they either do not have many wins to their name or have not shown up in the majors. That is Sungjae’s story. He has pretty much been a non-factor in the majors in his career. Sungjae is barely 25 years old, so he has some more time to develop into a truly elite player. He is well above Tour average in all statistical categories except for driving distance. It could do him well to maybe hit the speed training and squeeze some more length off the tee.
13. Cameron Young: Cam Young is a unique case in these rankings. Last year was his rookie year on tour and he performed so well. The way he hits the ball, visually, is stunning and is almost incomparable. He has had five major starts since he got his tour card, three of them resulted in top seven finishes, including a solo second at The Open last year. The only thing holding him down in these rankings is the lack of a win on his resume. It almost seems unfathomable that he does not have a PGA Tour win yet, but he does not. He has yet to miss a cut in an event this year. It is certainly a matter of when, not if, he will get his first win on The PGA Tour. He is one of the longest hitters this game has ever seen and is an elite iron player to match. One of these weeks his putter will be hot enough to bring him a win.
14. Viktor Hovland: Now having Hovland below Cam Young may seem odd to some. He has three PGA Tour wins, two international wins, and two hero challenge wins. However, Viktor has a glaring weakness in his game and a mostly non competitive major record. Viktors chipping has plagued him his whole career. He has only really contended one time in his major career in thirteen starts. Now Viktor is still a premier player in the world. 13 is no slight to him or his ability. He is one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world and that is an invaluable skill. Viktor will be around for a long time and hopefully at some point, he can patch up his weakness in his game.
15. Sahith Theegala: Sahith is a captivating player to watch play. He is a wizard on and around the greens and can get himself out of almost any bad situation. Which is good because he unfortunately finds himself in some tough spots off the tee with some frequency. If he can figure out that part of his game, he will be an absolute force to be reckoned with. He already has six top six finishes so far this year, with half of them being in designated events. He has only played in four career majors, so it is tough to say much about his resume as of now. The future is bright for Theegala. Side note, players 12-15 in these rankings are all 25 years old, golf is in good hands going forward.
16. Sam Burns: Sam Burns has a unique skill profile on data golf. He is one of the best putters in the world. He is also one of the longest hitters in the game. However he is just about average in approach and around the green. He is only 26 so he has some time to improve on those areas of the game. He won the Match Play this year, showing he can quite literally go head to head with the best players in the world and come out on top. However, in majors, approach play tends to reign supreme, and that is reflected in his major record. His best career finish in a major is T20, which is not what you would expect from a player of his caliber.
17. Jason Day: In the middle of 2022, it seemed highly unlikely that Jason Day would ever be an elite competitive golfer again. Oh my how things have changed! The former world number one is firmly back in relevance on Tour. He already has five top 10 finishes. He has only finished worse than T21 in one event in which he made the cut. He has a well rounded game that seems to show up every week no matter the venue. He feels like a threat to pick off a major championship again, which seemed inconceivable 12 months ago.
18. Tyrrell Hatton: Tyrrell has maybe the most balanced game in all of golf. Truly elite at nothing, but no worse than above average at everything. When you have no elite skill, it is hard to have spike weeks that lead to victory often. With the make up of his game however, he is almost never irrelevant in any event he tees it up in. He has a solo second at The Players and a T4 at API as his best results this season. It will be interesting to see if everything can click for him at an event this year and he can grab a win.
19. Dustin Johnson: He’s been mostly non-competitive on LIV this year and put up a T48 at The Masters. It is hard to think that he isn’t kind of just coasting through these LIV events and trying to peak for majors. He was one of the best players in the world just a couple of years ago and I still think he has that form in him. The next couple of months will be very telling for him and if he doesn’t bring it in a serious way in the majors, he will drop down these rankings.
20. Tom Kim: Somehow a win, T5, T6, and T7 in this season, feels like a bit of a disappointment for Tom Kim this year. He became the darling of the golfing world last year with his late charge in The PGA Tour season and his antics and heroics for the International team in the Presidents cup. It is important to keep in mind that Tom Kim is still only 20 years old. He is perhaps the most accurate driver of the ball on Tour, but he could be incentivised to give some of that up for more length as he is below average in distance off the tee. He is a star in the making and we will continue to see his game improve as time goes on.
21. Brooks Koepka: Brooks is a hard player to rank accurately. When his competitive juices are not flowing from the stakes of an event, he is a good candidate to practically no show. You can see this in how he started off his LIV season with 31st and 29th place finishes. As we all saw at The Masters this year, when he is in peak competitive form, he can still hang with the best this game has to offer. If Brooks puts up more positive showings in the other Majors this year, he could even crack the top ten of this list.
22. Justin Thomas: It is jarring to see JT so far down this list. He only has two top five finishes this year and his most recent one was a solo 4th at Phoenix. His putting has been poor and he just isn’t hitting the ball as far as he was in recent years. It is hard to put him any lower than this in the rankings because of the talent we know that he possesses. Placing him this low could make me look like a fool, but right now he just doesn’t feel like a threat to win serious events right now. Hopefully I don’t have to do a full apology piece like Kevin Van Valkenburg did last year after The PGA.
23. Talor Gooch: Gooch is the hottest player in the golfing world right now. He is coming off dominant performances in the last two LIV events, which he won both of. He doesn’t hit it very far, but when he is in good form he is a stellar iron player. That is how he dominated the last two LIV events. Just a seemingly endless barrage of GIR. Before I get carried away and throw him in the top 15, I want to see him flash this same form in a major.
24. Hideki Matsuyama: Hideki’s datagolf skill profile honestly looks jarringly similar to Talor Gooch’s. Hideki has had a tame year by his standard with his best finish being a solo fifth at The Players. He only has two weeks this season in which he was positive strokes gained in all statistical categories. Not surprisingly, those were his two best finishes this year, solo 5th and T9. Hideki can never be counted out because of his immense talent, but right now we just need to see some better form out of him.
25. Rickie Fowler: Rickie has found a form that many people thought we would never see from him again. He has only missed one cut in his 13 starts this season. Compare that to last season when he missed nine cuts in 22 starts and you can see the drastic improvement in his game. He has been a top 20 machine this season with nine in his 13 starts. If he keeps up his great form, we could even see him contend for a Ryder Cup captains pick for this summer.
26. Joaquin Niemann: I honestly do not have much to say about Joaquin. He is a slightly above average player in all areas of the game besides driving distance. He crushes the ball off the tee which gives him an advantage. He posted a good Masters result with a T16 and should be taken seriously when majors roll around.
27. Russell Henley: Henley is a player in great form. He put in an awesome showing finishing T4 at The Masters. With that, he also has four consecutive top 19 finishes to his name. He won earlier this year in the fall series down at Mayakoba. He is rather short off the tee compared to his peers. He makes up for his lack of distance with supreme accuracy off the tee and wonderful approach play. He almost never puts himself in bad situations and that makes him a high floor player who is showing good form right now.
28. Chris Kirk: Chris Kirk went on a midseason tear. In the course of four events he went solo third, T3, MC, Win. He has only missed one cut in his last seven starts. Kirk has a steady approach to the game and is consistent on a week to week basis. The closest thing he has to an elite skill is his short game, which provides him with a high floor to his game.
29. Corey Conners: It is easy to forget that Conners won the Valero Texas open just one month ago. It was a microcosm of his season so far. He was absolutely stuffing the pinata with his approach play, and could only muster .04 strokes gained putting. Thankfully the rest of his game was good enough that week to grab the win. He feels like a past version of Tony Finau right now. Maybe that comparison comes to mind as they are both Ping guys, but it is hard to watch someone play so well and putt themselves out of contention and not think of past years Tony Finau. Conners is a solid player and when the putter cooperates, he can contend in any event.
30. Tommy Fleetwood: Tommy is still waiting on that first PGA Tour victory. He threatened to grab it a few times this year with a T3 at Valspar and a T4 at The CJ Cup. Tommy has no elite skill. He has a well rounded game that is above average in all areas. That gives you the longevity of a career that Tommy has modeled, but it also makes it hard to have those big spike weeks you need to win on tour. He had two top five finishes in Major Championships last year which gives me some hope that he can get the monkey off his back and get a win in a Tour event this year, maybe event a designated one.
