SI World Golf Rankings: Wyndham Clark Cashes In

Clark won his first career PGA Tour event, and he picked a good time to do it: he earned $3.6 million and enough SI World Golf Rankings points to reach a new high on our list.

Jeff Ritter | May 8, 2023

SI World Golf Rankings: Wyndham Clark Cashes In /

Last weekend Wyndham Clark bagged his first PGA Tour title, banked $3.6 million in prize money and soared to new heights in the SI World Golf Rankings.

The latest edition of the SIWGR, our proprietary, data-driven list of the top men’s players in the world, has Clark up 34 spots to No. 19. (Here’s how we run the calculations.)

As attention drifts toward next week’s PGA Championship, the Official Golf World Rankings are placed under a microscope as they’re used to set fields at major championships. The SI World Golf Rankings assigns points for all men’s professional tours, but LIV Golf remains outside the OWGR, after it submitted an application last summer. Bob Harig described the latest in his new Weekly Read:

LIV’s argument is that the OWGR is not accurately reflecting the best golfers in the world if LIV players are not getting points. The best example is Dustin Johnson, who nobody believes should be considered the 78th-ranked player in the world. (He's 38th in the SIWGR.) But he’s slid that far as he’s not been getting points for competing in LIV tournaments.

Officials from LIV Golf have not commented on the OWGR bid. They have said previously that their communication with the OWGR has been infrequent but that they’ve received feedback, including in January and again recently.

Look for rankings to remain a hot topic this summer. On to the risers and fallers this week.

3 Risers in the Latest SI World Golf Rankings

1

Wyndham Clark

This Week: 19

Last Week: 53

Skinny: Won his first career PGA Tour title and picked a good event to do it—the Wells Fargo is one of the Tour’s new designated events, which produced an elevated field for extra rankings points, and a $3.6 million winner's check.

2

Harris English

This Week: 30

Last Week: 47

Skinny: A solid T3 at Wells Fargo. Playing better lately and perhaps a sneaky pick at Oak Hill in two weeks.

3

Adam Scott

This Week: 51

Last Week: 69

Skinny: Contended deep into the weekend before tying for fifth at Quail Hollow.

3 Fallers in Latest SI World Golf Rankings

1

Rory McIlroy

This Week: 5

Last Week: 3

Skinny: Yes, he only fell two spots, but McIlroy’s drop is notable in that he’s been a top-3 player in the SIWGR all year. He was a nonfactor while tying for 47th at Quail Hollow last weekend, and he also lost last year’s fifth-place finish at this event from his calculations, as the SIWGR only uses the most recent 12 months of player results.

2

Mackenzie Hughes

This Week: 79

Last Week: 64

Skinny: MC at Quail Hollow last week replaces last year’s T9 finish in this event in the SI calculations.

3

Ryan Fox

This Week: 98

Last Week: 89

Skinny: DNP at Wells Fargo.

Published May 8, 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.