SI World Golf Rankings: Ryan Fox Triumphs Over Elite Field at Wentworth

Ryan Fox earned his fourth career DP World Tour title at the BMW PGA Championship to lead this week's list of risers in the Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings.

Jeff Ritter | Sep 18, 2023

SI World Golf Rankings: Ryan Fox Triumphs Over Elite Field at Wentworth /

All 12 members of the European Ryder Cup team played last weekend at the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, and all made the cut. The big winner was New Zealand’s Ryder Fox, who earned his fourth career title on the DP World Tour and a nice paycheck. By defeating an elite field, Fox is up 26 spots this week’s Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings, our proprietary, data-driven list of the top 100 men’s golfers in the world right now. Here’s how we run our numbers.

Seven members of the upcoming European Ryder Cup team finished in the top 12, which Europe hopes is a good omen.

On the PGA Tour, Sahith Theegala enjoyed a breakthrough win at the Fortinet Championship, where U.S. Ryder Cupper Justin Thomas finished an encouraging fifth.

3 Risers in the SI World Golf Rankings

Ryan Fox - Up 26 Spots

Ryan Fox, BMW PGA Championship — Getty Images

This Week: 53

Last Week: 79

Skinny: Fired a 66-67 on the weekend at Wentworth to emerge from an elite pack of challengers and win his fourth career event.

Aaron Rai - Up 19 Spots

This Week: 73

Last Week: 92

Skinny: T2 at Wentworth, one shot behind Fox.

Tyrrell Hatton - Up 3 Spots

Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

This Week: 12

Last Week: 15

Skinny: Tied for second alongside Rai at Wentworth. Full speed ahead to Rome.

3 Fallers in the SI World Golf Rankings

Robert MacIntyre - Down 6 Spots

Robert MacIntyre of Scotland plays his second shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the 2023 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club. — David Cannon/Getty Images

This Week: 103

Last Week: 97

Skinny: T45 in Wentworth, and also lost his win at the 2022 Italian Open from his SIWGR calculation, as we use a player’s most recent 12 months of results in our math. The Italian Open was one year ago this week, and it dropped from MacIntyre’s calculation.

Peter Uihlein - Down 11 Spots

Peter Uihlein is pictured at the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Chicago. — Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo

This Week: 74

Last Week: 63

Skinny: LIV Golf didn’t play last weekend, so no opportunity to earn SIWGR points. LIV plays this week in suburban Chicago.

Dustin Johnson - Down 4 Spots

Dustin Johnson watches a shot in the second round of the U.S. Open. — George Walker IV/AP

This Week: 37

Last Week: 33

Skinny: Set to play in this week’s LIV event.

Published Sep 18, 2023

JEFF RITTER

Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business's growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.