SI World Golf Rankings: Zurich Winners, Talor Gooch on the Rise

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley weren't among the favorites entering the Zurich, but their win propelled each of them into the top 100 in our world rankings.

Jeff Ritter | Apr 24, 2023

SI World Golf Rankings: Zurich Winners, Talor Gooch on the Rise /

It was a big week on the tours last week. Talor Gooch banked $4 million for winning LIV’s inaugural event in Australia, and there was a surprise winning team at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic. While LIV Golf doesn’t boast the overall field strength of the PGA Tour, last week's event did surpass the field at the Zurich event, thanks to a greater number of top-100 players entered. Because the SIWGR treats all tours equally, Gooch made a big jump this week—up 41 spots to No. 38 on our list.

The Official World Golf Ranking does not give points for LIV Golf results, and it also ignored the two-man-team Zurich Classic. But the SIWGR did give points for the Zurich, and winners Nick Hardy (No. 73) and Davis Riley (40) made sizable moves on our list, along with other high finishers.

Want to learn more about our weekly calculations? It’s all here. On to this week’s movers.

3 Risers in the SI World Golf Rankings

1

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley

This week: 77 and 40

Last week: 150 and 68

Skinny: The surprise winners at the Zurich Classic, where the more-heralded defending champs Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay finished T4.

2

Talor Gooch

This week: 38

Last week: 79

Skinny: Won the LIV Golf event in Australia after opening 62-62 in the first two rounds.

3

Anirban Lahiri

This week: 69

Last week: 106

Skinny: Runner-up to Gooch in LIV Golf’s Australian event.

3 Fallers in the SI World Golf Rankings

1

Sebastian Munoz

This week: 45

Last week: 38

Skinny: T21 at the LIV event not enough to sustain a top-40 ranking.

2

Brendan Steele

This week: 76

Last week: 65

Skinny: T26 at last week’s LIV event, but those points didn’t offset the points he lost from a T4 at the Zurich last year, as that result fell off his calculations.

3

Christiaan Bezhuidenhout

This week: 97

Last Week: 84

Skinny: Did not play at the Zurich and lost last year’s T32 finish from his calculation, as the SIWGR only uses 12 months of player results.

Published Apr 24, 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.