The race for the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking will heat up this week at the PGA Championship, where five players could leave Bethpage with the No. 1 spot.
Dustin Johnson remains world No. 1 this week, followed by Justin Rose and defending PGA champ Brooks Koepka. Both Rose and Koepka could ascend to No. 1 with a win, as could world No. 4 Rory McIlroy. The fifth member of the quintet is Tiger Woods, who rose from 13th to sixth after his win at the Masters last month.
Woods remains at No. 6 this week, having not hit a competitive shot since leaving Augusta National. Should he add a 16th major title at Bethpage, assuming Johnson finishes outside the top 10 and Rose and Koepka don’t finish second, Woods would return to No. 1 in the OWGR for the first time since March 2013.
Justin Thomas remains ahead of Woods at No. 5 in the latest rankings, while Francesco Molinari, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler round out the top 10.
Sung Kang’s maiden PGA Tour win at the AT&T Byron Nelson lifted him 63 spots to No. 75 in the world, while Nelson runner-up Matt Every jumped more than 200 spots to No. 235. Scott Piercy tied for second alongside Every, and he’s now up 22 spots to No. 64.
Piercy’s ascent is notable given that the top 60 in the rankings after this week will become exempt into next month’s U.S. Open. Other notable names near the bubble and not otherwise exempt for Pebble Beach include Keith Mitchell (56th), Sungjae Im (60th), Emiliano Grillo (61st), Charley Hoffman (70th) and Lee Westwood (71st).
Source: Internet
