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PGA Tour: An official look at the final Top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings heading to Memphis

Let playoff season begin for the PGA Tour! Up first is the FedEx St. Jude Championship, so here is the Top 70 who will compete.

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Share All sharing options for: PGA Tour: An official look at the final Top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings heading to Memphis

The PGA Tour’s regular season is over, and there are three events left to decide the FedEx Cup winner.

Up first is the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.

Now that Matt Kuchar has finished the Wyndham Championship , the Top 70 for this first playoff tournament is official.

Who made it, and who missed out on the postseason?

Let’s look at the official Top 70 on the FedEx Cup rankings.

The Final Top 70 in FedEx Cup Standings

70. Victor Perez 69. Emiliano Grillo 68. Jhonattan Vegas 67. Nick Dunlap 66. Seamus Power 65. Brendon Todd 64. Mark Hubbard 63. Jordan Spieth 62. Min Woo Lee 61. Peter Malnati 60. Taylor Moore 59. Maverick McNealy 58. Erik van Rooyen 57. Viktor Hovland 56. Ben Griffin 55. Justin Rose 54. Eric Cole 53. Patrick Rodgers 52. Nick Taylor 51. Harris English 50. Jake Knapp 49. Will Zalatoris 48. Mackenzie Hughes 47. Max Greyserman 46. Adam Scott 45. Denny McCarthy 44. Cam Davis 43. Tom Kim 42. Alex Noren 41. Austin Eckroat 40. Matt Fitzpatrick 39. Keegan Bradley 38. Si Woo Kim 37. Adam Hadwin 36. J.T. Poston 35. Max Homa 34. Thomas Detry 33. Stephan Jaeger 32. Tommy Fleetwood 31. Cameron Young 30. Corey Conners 29. Sam Burns 28. Chris Kirk 27. Taylor Pendrith 26. Jason Day 25. Aaron Rai 24. Davis Thompson 23. Billy Horschel 22. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 21. Tom Hoge 20. Brian Harman 19. Justin Thomas 18. Sepp Straka 17. Robert MacIntyre 16. Matthieu Pavon 15. Akshay Bhatia 14. Tony Finau 13. Russell Henley 12. Byeong Hun An 11. Patrick Cantlay 10. Shane Lowry 9. Sungjae Im 8. Hideki Matsuyama 7. Sahith Theegala 6. Ludvig Åberg 5. Wyndham Clark 4. Collin Morikawa 3. Rory McIlroy 2. Xander Schauffele

• Scottie Scheffler

The Top 10 are known as the Comcast Business Tour Top 10. These players received bonuses for finishing inside the Top 10 on the Fed Ex Cup points.

Scottie Scheffler finished No. 1 with six wins and 14 top 10s. He received a bonus of $8 million. That moves his season-long earnings to $36,148,691.

The former Texas Longhorn continues to set the record for most money won in a single season.

Xander Schauffele came in at No. 2 with two victories and 12 Top 10s. He earns a $6 million bonus and is now up to $21,867,160 on the season.

Rory McIlroy is third with two wins and six Top 10s. He takes home a $4.8 million bonus. That check moves his season-long total to $15,153,190.

Collin Morikawa is No. 4 with no wins but seven Top 10 finishes. He gets a $4.4 million check, which will bring his total to $12,430,477 in 2024.

Wyndham Clark is coming in at No. 5 with one win and six Top 10s. He gets a $4 million bonus.

Ludvig Åberg is No. 6 with seven Top 10s and earned a $3.4 million bonus. Sahith Theegale is No. 7 with seven Top 10s and will take home an extra $2.8 million.

Hideki Matsuyama is No. 8 and received a $2.4 million bonus; Sungjae Im is No. 9, and his bonus is $2.2 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 is Shane Lowry . He has one win and six top 10s. His bonus is $2 million.

These bonuses do not account for the PIP (Player Impact Program) or how much money they could win in the FedEx Cup playoffs. The first two tournaments have a $20 million purse, while the Tour Championship winner will receive $25 million alone.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.

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The top 100 players on the PGA Tour, ranked

By The Editors How did the PGA Tour’s best players spend their “winter breaks?” Relaxing? Working on their games? A little of both? These are the questions we’ll be asking beginning at this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, as the tour resumes the 2021-22 season in Maui. Ahead of that, our Golf Digest staff spent its winter break coming up with our second annual ranking of the top 100 players on tour. To gather our list, we looked through the prism of what we expect from players in 2022 while acknowledging their form and feats from the recent past. Below is our collective answer.

For clarification, this list is specific to those who play on the PGA Tour. This is why you won’t see players like Victor Perez or Min Woo Lee, both fine talents who spend most of their time on the DP World Tour (ex European Tour). Obviously, a handful of players compete on multiple circuits; we judged these jump balls as best we could.

Here then are the top 100 players on the PGA Tour, from No. 100 to the top spot.

100. Andrew Landry

Age: 34 / OWGR: 194 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 40

Landry came out on the business end of the 2020-21 “super season,” missing the cut in half of his starts and turning in a lone top-25 finish. Four MCs in six fall starts doesn’t look much better. But top-10s in those two made cuts this past autumn (T-4 at Sanderson Farms, T-7 at Mayakoba) give hope that a turnaround is ‘round the corner. —Joel Beall

99. Taylor Pendrith

Age: 30 / OWGR: 226 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 47

Canadian rookie has one of the most impressive moves you’ll see anywhere—think Matthew Wolff meets Jim Furyk, with 190-mph ball speed. There’s a good chance he finishes top five in driving distance when the dust settles. —Dan Rapaport

98. Jason Day

Age: 34 / OWGR: 123 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 196

It seems like eons since the talented but injury-prone Aussie was one of the most dominant players in golf. Coming off his worst season since 2012, when he hadn’t yet fully rounded into the form that made him a force in 2015-16, Day appears at a crossroads at age 34. Just four top-10s dotted an unremarkable season that saw him fail to reach the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time. He has fallen out of the top 100 in the world, and most of his struggles appear to be with his usually reliable putting, where he dropped to 95th in strokes gained. His tee-to-green game (37th SG) still shines, so there is something to build on. Or rebuild on. —Dave Shedloski.

97. Denny McCarthy

Age: 28 / OWGR: 179 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 30

If one man could ever disprove the old adage, “You drive for show and you putt for dough,” it’s this guy. McCarthy has twice led the PGA Tour in strokes gained/putting, yet he’s still searching for his maiden victory. That being said, he’s made some decent dough with $4.3 million in earnings in four seasons, and he’s started this campaign by making more with four consecutive made cuts. —Alex Myers

96. Hudson Swafford

Age: 34 / OWGR: 162 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 118

It’s extremely difficult to bring up Swafford without noting his eerie physical similarity to college teammate Harris English, and we’ll be the latest to fail. To his credit, he takes it in stride, and plods steadily along in a career that reads as “journeyman” on the surface, but does include two tour wins, including his latest in September 2020 in the Dominican Republic. It’s a fact of life that Swafford is going to miss cuts, but as he proved last season, he can miss a bunch (17) and still post a high FedEx Cup finishing position (36th). —Shane Ryan

Jared C. Tilton

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95. Adam Schenk

Age: 29 / OWGR: 154 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 37

The man with the most unfortunate name in golf hit anything but a shank over the last eight months. Since the RBC Heritage, Schenk has finished T-18 or better five times, including three inside the top four. Should he keep it rolling into 2022, there are ample low-key, early-season events for the former Purdue Boilermaker to pick off a maiden win. —Christopher Powers

94. Adam Hadwin

Age: 34 / OWGR: 149 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 126

The streaky Canadian—he missed three straight cuts during three stretches in 2021—can put it all together at times. Hadwin had three top-eights last season but the short hitter rarely produces a charge on the weekend. He averaged 70.38 on both Saturday and Sunday—91st for both days on tour. —Tod Leonard

93. Luke List

Age: 36 / OWGR: 151 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 28

List is the only player from the last decade to have led the tour in driving distance for the year and never won on tour. Most other to lead in distance, like Bubba, Bryson, DJ, and Rory, also have majors. List can hammer the ball, and his tee-to-green numbers will always be elite with that asset. But his putting has been historically poor—if you look at one of those Data Golf charts measuring five skills, the shape List delivers is more of the rare triangle than some form of pentagon. But hey, you just need one hot week with the putter and you can pull the Cameron Champ and pick off a win or two. —Brendan Porath

92. Henrik Norlander

Age: 34 / OWGR: 161 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 49

The Swede finished fourth at Sanderson Farms in the fall, spurred by a final-round 64. Though he turned pro in 2011 after helping lead Augusta State to back-to-back NCAA team titles, this is just Norlander’s fifth season on the PGA Tour, alternating between the Korn Ferry and Challenge Tours in between. His strength is his iron play: Norlander ranked 27th last season on tour in strokes gained/approach. —Stephen Hennessey

91. Robert Streb

Age: 34 / OWGR: 125 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 45

After winning the 2020 RSM Classic, Streb played 23 events the rest of the 2020-21 season and missed more cuts than he made (12 to 11) with just three top-20 finishes. The fall was better, though, with two top-10s, and having a card through 2023 means he doesn’t have to sweat things out this season. That has to be somewhat liberating after finishing outside the top 125 in 2018, 2019 and 2020. —Ryan Herrington

90. Troy Merritt

Age: 36 / OWGR: 105 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 52

When you hear discussions about how the tour is looking out for its rank-and-file members, Merritt is the player they’re talking about. He’s proven he can win (he’s done it twice), made more than $11 million and has played well enough to keep his card for nine straight seasons. Yet for as consistent a career as that is, he’s never gotten to the Tour Championship. Can 2022 be different? Perhaps … he finished the fall ranked 14th in SG/approach the green and 34th total, which rank as career bests if extended through an entire season. —R.H.

89. Aaron Rai

Age: 26 / OWGR: 101 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 59

Perhaps known best by American golf fans for his iron headcovers, Rai made a name for himself in the U.S. in 2021, nearly winning on the Korn Ferry Tour in his first start. It was a painful runner-up finish—needing just an up-and-down to secure victory he instead took four strokes, missing a playoff—but the KFT result in Boise secured his PGA Tour card for this season. The Englishman missed his first three cuts on the PGA Tour but finished the year with three consecutive top-20s. —S.H.

Steve Dykes

88. Brendan Steele

Age: 38 / OWGR: 102 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 20

The Sultan of the Safeway Open had a “down” 2021, if you consider it purely on FEC finish, which was 105th. But he still made almost $1.4 million, so he was making cuts and cashing checks, which he’s done all his career. Steele has the length to hang on the modern tour, and he’ll pick and choose his venues where he knows he can pop after several years on the circuit. —B.P.

87. Davis Riley

Age: 25 / OWGR: 359 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 111

Cruelly, the former Alabama star was third on the Korn Ferry points list in 2020, but didn’t get promoted when the season was extended due to the pandemic. Riley forged on with seven top-10s, including two wins, that got eventually got him onto the PGA Tour for 2021-22. The new season has been a rollercoaster—four missed cuts, countered by a T-7 in Bermuda. The flat stick in a hinderance: Riley is 131st in SG/putting. —T.L.

86. Chris Kirk

Age: 36 / OWGR: 95 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 97

Between 2011 and 2015, Kirk ripped off four wins and earned a spot on the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team. The six years that followed were tough both on and off the course for Kirk, who opened up about his battle with alcoholism in 2019. Since then he’s found his golf game again, winning a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2020 and collecting eight top-16 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2021. Perhaps 2022 is the year he ends what is now a six-plus-year victory drought. —C.P.

85. Lanto Griffin

Age: 33 / OWGR: 107 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 42

We haven’t fully checked the record books, but it seems likely that Griffin is the one-and-only PGA Tour winner to be named by his hippie parents after a spiritual master (in this case, “Lord Lanto, a Chohan of the Second Ray of Illumination”). It took him years to reach the PGA Tour, but a win at the 2019 Houston Open gave him serious traction, and after holding on to the top 100 last season, he’s off to a big start with two top-10s in the fall. And fun fact: Thanks to those hippie parents, Griffin has never eaten red meat. —S.R.

84. Matt Kuchar

Age: 43 / OWGR: 114 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 91

One of the game’s top earners for more than a decade, Kuchar has cooled down with only one top-10 in each of the past two seasons. The nine-time tour winner was always able to get around a lack of distance, but that’s getting harder to do these days—especially with an eroding iron game. Kuchar ranked 108th and 98th in SG/approach the past two seasons, and is currently 184th. —A.M.

Alex Goodlett

83. Bubba Watson

Age: 43 / OWGR: 82 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

Because he remains one of the longest hitters, and because he can create shots, and because he puts himself out there with genuine emotion, Watson still is a compelling and competitive presence on the PGA Tour. To return to legitimate threat, the lithe left-hander needs to shake off that middle-aged putting stroke, because being 149th in SG/putting (minus-.210) last season nullified an encouraging 36th position in SG/tee to green (plus-.751)—which explains his paltry 3.59 birdie average. And though he had just five top-10 finishes in 22 events, he only missed four cuts (plus one WD), and he qualified for the playoffs for the 15th time, one of just six players with perfect attendance in the FedEx Cup era. Watson and longtime caddie Ted Scott have split amicably, but maybe a new voice will get him to a 13th career win. —D.S.

82. Adam Long

Age: 29 / OWGR: 132 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 36

Started this wrap-around season with four straight top-25 finishes to set himself up nicely in the FedEx Cup race. Don’t let the name fool you—he ranked only 88th in driving distance last season. —D.R.

81. Jhonattan Vegas

Age: 37 / OWGR: 84 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 56

Vegas enjoyed a career revival in 2020-21 thanks to three runner-up finishes, a performance he carried over into the fall (fifth in SG/off-the-tee, 17th in SG/tee-to-green). That this is a Presidents Cup year should provide extra incentive for Vegas. The International team has depth for the first time in, well, forever, yet most of those names are young and unproven. Vegas—who won his singles match at the 2017 Presidents Cup—will be 38 when the biennial match kicks off at Quail Hollow, and would give captain Trevor Immelman a steady, likeable veteran presence on the squad. —J.B.

Mike Ehrmann

80. Pat Perez

Age: 45 / OWGR: 277 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 192

Perez has historically used the fall to jumpstart his seasons, but this autumn was none too kind (five starts, three missed cuts, a WD and a T-44). Turning 46 in March, it’s fair to wonder how much gas Perez has left in the tank. Yet the man has been a model of consistency, missing the playoffs just once in its 15-year existence … and that once was due to an injury that sidelined him for seven months in 2016. The 2021 super season was another solid campaign for Perez, making the cut in 21 of 32 starts and finishing 53rd in strokes gained. He’ll need the West Coast Swing to right his wrongs, but it’s a safe bet to see Perez once again come playoff time. —J.B.

79. Emiliano Grillo

Age: 29 / OWGR: 91 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 114

Sometimes, the PGA Tour rookie of the year award is a harbinger of greatness. For Grillo, the 2016 winner, it hasn’t quite turned out that way, though he remains a terrific ball-striker who’s seen success in weaker-field events. —D.R.

78. Joel Dahmen

Age: 34 / OWGR: 90 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 46

A season with three top-10s doesn’t sound all that great, except that when one of them is your first PGA Tour win in your 12th year as a professional, it’s everything. So Dahmen, winner in the Dominican Republic, has that going for him, which is … well, you know … nice. One of the shorter drivers of the ball, Dahmen has to do other things well. Hitting fairways is one where he did fine (ranked 22nd). Getting to the greens and then operating on them, not so much, and on that last item, the 34-year-old Washington native gave up way too much ground at 164th SG/putting (minus-.344). —D.S.

Kevin C. Cox

77. Lee Westwood

Age: 48 / OWGR: 37 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

Oh, what could have been in 2021 as Westwood played his way into the final pairing in back-to-back events (Bay Hill and the Players) before finishing runner-up in both. Sadly, reminiscent of his long list of close calls in majors throughout his career. Westy’s OWGR remains rather lofty based on those two finishes as well as winning the 2020 Race to Dubai title on the European Tour, but a T-21 as his best performance since March indicates he’s headed on a different trajectory now as he closes in on his 49th birthday in April. —A.M.

76. Cameron Young

Age: 24 / OWGR: 134 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 26

Search for Cameron Young on Wikipedia, and the first hit is a G-League NBA player; check the World Ranking, and Young is the fifth-most famous Cameron, after Smith, Tringale, Davis and Champ. And yet the Wake Forest grad is brimming with raw potential, and even more importantly, he’s a winner: He earned his card on the strength of back-to-back wins on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, and though he ran hot-and-cold the rest of the season, he nearly won his second PGA Tour event at Sanderson Farms. The son of the head pro at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Young is still untested, but he has a nose for trophies. —S.R.

75. Sahith Theegala

Age: 24 / OWGR: 381 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 85

Theegala is not yet on the level of some of the other studs in his age group, but his appearance in this ranking is a prediction that he will be soon. He didn’t rewrite the Korn Ferry Tour history books in the 2020-21 season, but his consecutive top-six finishes in the final two KFT Finals events saw him earn his PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. There will be growing pains, no doubt, but we’re betting on the crazy-talented 24-year-old from Pepperdine to introduce himself to the casual golf fan in a big way in 2022. —C.P.

Sam Greenwood

74. Cameron Davis

Age: 26 / OWGR: 79 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 151

The Aussie has been trying to live up to the promise he showed in capturing the 2017 Australian Open, beating the likes of Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. Davis finally delivered on the Fourth of July by outlasting Troy Merritt in a five-hole playoff to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He also had a third in The American Express, but posted only one other top-10. Davis is a big hitter (19th in driving distance), but not strong with the irons (120th in GIR). —T.L.

73. Tom Hoge

Age: 32 / OWGR: 110 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 27

An established regular on tour, Hoge has moved beyond “No, what is it?” status. That’s the reply Tiger Woods gave in 2015 when he was asked if he would recognize Tom Hoge, who would be his playing partner the next day at the Wyndham (presumably Tiger thought the inquisitor was referring to a sandwich of some sort). Hoge will likely make some 30 starts and make around as many cuts as he misses, relying on hot stretches with his below-average putter that occasionally bump him into contention. —B.P.

72. Matt Wallace

Age: 31 / OWGR: 78 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 48

Wallace had five top-10 finishes across the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in 2021, including a T-4 at the Zozo Championship in the fall. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the Valero Texas Open, falling short to Jordan Spieth despite Wallace putting on a ball-striking clinic, gaining 15.3 strokes to the field tee-to-green. —S.H.

71. Ian Poulter

Age: 45 / OWGR: 54 / ’22 FedEx Cup: T-141

The Brit turns 46 on Jan. 10 and with no Ryder Cup to aim for in 2022, the question is what kind of motivation does he have. To wit, he missed three cuts in four tour starts after Whistling Straits last fall. The most cuts he’s missed in any season on tour since 2005 is four. That said, he has posted 39 top-10s in 92 tour starts from 2017-21. —R.H.

70. Harold Varner III

Age: 31 / OWGR: 93 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 64

There might not be any player on tour who more of his peers are pulling for to get that first win than Varner, the North Carolina native is that well liked. But the journey to win No. 1 continues to have its rocky moments as Varner struggles to sustain momentum after posting solid first rounds. The good news? In 2021, he had a career-best 10 top-25s, along with his first top-three finish (T-2 at Harbour Town). And as a new dad to baby Liam, there’s some new incentive to succeed in 2022. —R.H.

69. Charley Hoffman

Age: 45 / OWGR: 75 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 92

Entering his 17th year on tour, Hoffman has been a model of consistency—keeping his card every year since 2006. The San Diego native had five top-10s last season, including a runner-up at the Valero Texas Open (where he closed with rounds of 66-65-66) and a third-place finish at Colonial, adding to an impressive résumé in the Lone Star State: 14 career top-10 finishes and 30 top-25s. —S.H.

68. Alex Noren

Age: 39 / OWGR: 71 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 126

After getting hot in the playoffs and nearly making it to Atlanta, 2021 was a rebound season of sorts for Noren, who once ascended into the top 10 in the world and made a Ryder Cup team. Noren’s majors record is rather underwhelming after 30 career starts, and his tee-to-green deficiencies relative to the modern elite players will continue to make breakthroughs at many of those setups a challenge. — B.P.

67. Cameron Champ

Age: 26 / OWGR: 86 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

We don’t yet know what Champ’s season is going to look like because a wrist injury forced him to shut things down after just one start in October. He must be hugely disappointed, considering Champ—who was third on the tour in driving distance (317 yards)—won for the third straight year in July at the 3M Open. It’s the putter that holds Champ back from contending more; he was 188th in SG/putting in 2020-21.—T.L.

66. Keith Mitchell

Age: 29 / OWGR: 89 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 31

Mitchell owns one of the more impressive non-major wins in recent memory, defeating both Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler by one stroke at the 2019 Honda Classic. He hasn’t followed it with another trophy, but a trio of recent top-five finishes (Wells Fargo, 3M Open, CJ Cup) would lead one to believe that the former Georgia Bulldog isn’t likely to be just a one-win wonder. —C.P.

65. Keegan Bradley

Age: 35 / OWGR: 87 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 84

The peak of Bradley’s career so far came in 2012, when he came into the Ryder Cup as a major champion and teamed with Phil Mickelson to electrify the Chicago crowds for the first two days. He’s only 35, but the fall from those heights was definitive, and he’s only managed a single win since. Still, he hasn’t gone away, and on the strength of four top-10s last season, he put himself in position to make the Tour Championship and prove that even though that initial surge to stardom was part mirage, he’s still a very good professional golfer. —S.R.

64. Garrick Higgo

Age: 22 / OWGR: 60 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 160

The talented South African has been piling up wins at an impressive rate, no matter what tour he plays on. After winning on the European Tour in back-to-back months, Higgo captured his first PGA Tour title at Congaree in June, just weeks after turning 22. He enters 2022 outside the top 50 in the OWGR, but it doesn’t appear like he’ll stay there for long. —A.M.

63. Branden Grace

Age: 33 / OWGR: 65 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 105

There is a reason that Grace’s best SG stat is around the greens: He doesn’t hit many of them, averaging just 64.47 percent last season (144th on tour). But when he does have a week like he did at the Puerto Rico Open, where he was T-3 in the field after finding 57 of 72 (79.2 percent), the South African veteran does OK. In fact, he won his second tour title there and first anywhere in five years. Hey, that was one more win than countryman Louis Oosthuizen, the hard-luck loser of 2021 majors. Grace posted three other top-seven finishes, including runner-up at the Wyndham. He tends to make the most of his opportunities. —D.S.

62. Kevin Streelman

Age: 43 / OWGR: 73 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 128

Not someone you’d stop to watch on the driving range, but he’s kept his tour card for 15 years and has made more than $23 million. Picked up his first major top-10 in 26 tries at the PGA Championship at Kiawah. —D.R.

61. Aaron Wise

Age: 25 / OWGR: 66 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 22

The rookie of the year in 2018 went sideways in his second and third years on tour but bounced back in a big way during 2020-21, racking up nine top-25 finishes on his way to reaching the second stage of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Wise carried that fine display to the fall with three top-15s in five starts thanks to a stout tee-to-green game. If he can tighten up his short game (no better than 132nd in SG/putting the past three seasons) the former NCAA champ could be on the precipice of a breakout campaign. —J.B.

60. Rickie Fowler

Age: 33 / OWGR: 85 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 43

The 2021 super season was a super nightmare for Fowler. He had just one top-10 against nine missed cuts in 24 starts, failed to qualify for the Masters and U.S. Open, and he did not make the postseason for the first time in his career. But Fowler did contend in the fall at the CJ Cup in Vegas, ultimately coming in T-3 (his first top-three finish since the 2019 Honda Classic) to show the obituaries are premature. To keep the momentum going into 2022, Fowler will need to shore up his short game. Historically one of the better putters on tour (even ranking first in SG/putting in 2017), Fowler fell to 126th in the category last season. —J.B.

Gregory Shamus

59. Brian Harman

Age: 26 / OWGR: 57 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 189

Somewhat limited due to his lack of length but Harman makes a boatload of cuts. Manages his game extremely well and ranked inside the top 30 in both SG/putting and around the green in 2020-21. —D.R.

58. Ryan Palmer

Age: 45 / OWGR: 47 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 108

In the long history of great Texas golfers, Palmer wouldn’t garner much attention, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a very good player for a very long time. The four-time tour winner is sinewy strong, averaging 304.6 yards off the tee last season (38th) while ranking 49th in SG/off the tee. That will keep you relevant. He remains a decent putter (89th SG), also helpful. The only category where he lost strokes was around the greens. —D.S.

57. K.H. Lee

Age: 30 / OWGR: 63 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 66

We’ll be rooting for the former “husky boy” to achieve his stated goal of becoming the “sexiest golfer in the world” in 2022, unless he already claimed that title in your view. In 2021, Lee captured his first tour win, triggering another run of firsts in the coming year, where he’ll start inside the top 100 for the first time in his career, play his rookie Masters and, potentially, earn a Presidents Cup bid. The next step is making his first cut at a major championship, where his record is markedly inexperienced and thin (four starts, four missed cuts). —B.P.

56. Seamus Power

Age: 34 / OWGR: 72 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 25

It sounds unbelievable, but prior to Power’s win at the Barbasol in July, only four players from the Republic of Ireland had won a PGA Tour event. That was the cherry on top of an incredible summer for Power, whose World Ranking skyrocketed from the 400s to top 70 on the strength of that win and six other top-20 finishes. At the RSM Classic, the final event of the fall, he posted a T-4, giving warning that his meteoric rise in the summer was a beginning, not an end. —S.R.

55. Cameron Tringale

Age: 34 / OWGR: 51 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 13

Even if you’re a casual golf-watcher, chances are you’ve seen Tringale’s name at the top of the leader board upwards of a million times over the last handful of seasons (he has 15 top-25s since November 2020). That has yet to translate into a win on the PGA Tour, but chances are if he continues to put himself in position to win he’ll get there sooner or later. —C.P.

54. Stewart Cink

Age: 48 / OWGR: 53 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 199

Yes, Phil Mickelson rightfully grabbed the headlines by being the oldest major winner, but Cink notching two wins in a seven-month span, at 48, was arguably just as impressive. Remember, he won the Safeway Open by going 65-65 on the weekend and opened his title week in the Heritage with back-to-back 63s. For anybody, that’s playing your behind off. The iron play was fabulous, ranking Cink at 34th in SG/approach. He’s going to have to drive it better to be factor this year; in four events, he’s 104th in distance and 176th in accuracy. —T.L.

Patrick Smith

53. Harry Higgs

Age: 30 / OWGR: 129 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 69

A social-media darling, and for good reason, as Higgs brings character, humor and flavor to a tour with one too many mayo sandwiches. At 30, his career progression has been steady and stable, what we used to see as the norm in a prior era. He’s worked his way up with success, and wins, at each level, and 2021 came with a top-five finish in his first (and still only) major championship. —B.P.

52. Phil Mickelson

Age: 51 / OWGR: 33 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 174

What a glorious year for Lefty, who become the oldest major champion in golf history by outdueling major slayer Brooks Koepka at Kiawah Island. He also added four victories in six starts on the PGA Tour Champions in his first season, becoming just the second player to accomplish the feat, joining Jack Nicklaus. The question is whether the senior success and that major magic will translate into more consistency in regular PGA Tour starts, where he had just one other top-20 showing outside the PGA win in the 2020-21 season. —S.H.

51. Russell Henley

Age: 32 / OWGR: 57 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 38

You think of Henley as older than 32 given the fact he’s already playing his 10th season. He’s been a consistent performer during that time, finishing inside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup ranking every year. Yet he’s only qualified for the Tour Championship twice (2014 and 2017) and hasn’t won since April 2017. So is Henley’s biological clock ticking? Perhaps. He’s learned to live with the fact he isn’t the longest player out there, but that means he needs to figure out a way to shore up his short game if he hopes to have more than a solid career. —R.H.

50. Sergio Garcia

Age: 41 / OWGR: 45 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 73

What’s left for Sergio, who has his major and his stellar Ryder Cup record and turns 42 on Jan. 9? In 2018 and 2020, he was outside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list, only to bounce back with solid seasons in 2019 and 2021. Interestingly, the Spaniard hasn’t shot a round over par on the PGA Tour since the first round of The Northern Trust in August. Ended the fall with a T-7 finish in Mexico, which certainly provides a positive vibe heading into the new year. —R.H.

49. Shane Lowry

Age: 34 / OWGR: 44 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 203

The 2019 Open champion had six worldwide top-10s in 2021, plus a T-12 in defending his title at The Open. The Irishman had several career-best finishes last year: at the PGA Championship (T-4), the Memorial (T-6), The Players (eighth) and the Masters (T-21). —S.H.

Warren Little

48. Justin Rose

Age: 41 / OWGR: 43 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 103

It’s been a disappointing past two-plus seasons for this former World No. 1. In 33 starts, Rose racked up just five top-10s with a T-3 at the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge being his best result. Still in tremendous physical shape (just check his Instagram feed), a final-round 65 at the RSM Classic in the last official round of 2021 to finish T-12 indicates he has more good golf left in him—even if it happens less frequently. —A.M.

47. Mito Pereira

Age: 26 / OWGR: 95 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 21

Still a mystery to most American fans, the Chilean could make a big splash in ’22 if his trajectory continues. The Texas Tech alum earned a battlefield promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour with three wins in 2021, including back-to-back victories in June. Since then, Pereira has three top-10s on the PGA Tour and finished just off the podium in the Olympics. The stellar iron player has already competed seven times for 2021-22 and has four top-30s and only one missed cut. —T.L.

46. Kevin Kisner

Age: 37 / OWGR: 42 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 203

“This ain’t no hobby” and “they give away a lot [of $$] for 20th,” two of Kisner’s famous quotes, seem to be opposing ideas, but they actually sum up his PGA Tour existence perfectly. Golf is not a hobby for Kisner (he’s among the 50 best in the world at it), but he knows his skills are limited to shorter, shot-maker’s golf courses. He pops at those spots, like Harbour Town, Sedgefield and Detroit Golf Club, then happily takes his T-23s in the events where distance matters greatly. He knows who he is and makes no apologies for it, making him a fan favorite. —C.P.

45. Maverick McNealy

Age: 26 / OWGR: 69 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 12

It’s easy to fly under the radar when you’re still looking for your first professional win, but McNealy was one of the more quietly impressive players on tour last year, rising from 166th in the World Ranking at the start of 2021 to 69th at the end. Second-place finishes at Pebble Beach and Napa are the highlights, and he became more consistent as the season went along, making seven straight cuts to reach the BMW Championship. At 26, it’s clear that McNealy is beginning to enter his prime. —S.R.

44. Tommy Fleetwood

Age: 30 / OWGR: 40 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 95

Now in his 30s, Fleetwood doesn’t quite fit the “Young Gunz” category anymore, but he still has a lot of golf in front of him. That being said—and not to sound too much like Paul Azinger—it has to be disheartening that this five-time European Tour winner has yet to break through in the U.S. More alarming is the only time he came close last year ended with a Sunday 77 at Bay Hill. Already with a T-7 in Vegas and still one of the game’s best ball-strikers, we expect to see his name on more leader boards in 2022—even if it’s not all the way on top. —A.M.

43. Erik van Rooyen

Age: 31 / OWGR: 59 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 138

The South African enjoyed a rookie season that included a victory and a spot in the Tour Championship, thanks to consecutive top-five finishes in the Playoffs, so it stands to reason that expectations will be much higher in the coming year. He certainly has room for improvement, with a stat sheet that shows his best category was SG/putting (64th). Van Rooyen missed the cut in all three majors in which he competed and fell short of the weekend in 11 of 27 starts, so more consistency should be a stated goal in 2022. —D.S.

​​ 42. Lucas Herbert

Age: 26 / OWGR: 45 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 9

Secured his card through the Korn Ferry finals and promptly earned some job security by winning his third starts as a PGA Tour member in October at the Bermuda Championship. The Aussie has a great chance to make this year’s Presidents Cup team. —D.R.

41. Sebastian Munoz

Age: 28 / OWGR: 59 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 19

Munoz doesn’t do anything that particularly jumps out. In that same breath, the man possesses view weaknesses. See ball, hit ball, keep ball in play. It’s an equation that’s paid dividends: Thanks to a T-4 at the Zozo and a third at the RSM, Munoz begins 2022 inside the FedEx Cup top 20. Should he stay in the discussion for a trip to East Lake, it may be enough to snag a spot on the Presidents Cup team. To solidify his spot on the International squad, as well as make the jump into the next echelon of tour players, Munoz needs to keep the bigger numbers at bay: He ranked 131st in bogey avoidance last season. Improving his putting from inside 10 feet (111th in the category last year) will go ways towards that goal. —J.B.

Tom Pennington

40. Adam Scott

Age: 41 / OWGR: 46 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 62

Scott has advanced to the Tour Championship just twice in the last seven seasons. Part of that stems from his penchant for playing a light schedule (he’s only played more than 20 events once in his career), yet his performance in those limited appearances, while good, has trended the wrong direction with age. Nevertheless, Scott did post a T-5 at the CJ Cup in the fall, and a golfer’s 40s are no longer the purgatory they once were on tour. With the Presidents Cup on tap this year, don’t be surprised if we see a revival from the former Masters champ. —J.B.

39. Si Woo Kim

Age: 26 / OWGR: 52 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 44

Hard to believe he’s still three-plus years from 30. Hasn’t quite delivered on the top-10 potential he flashed in winning the 2018 Players at 21, but he’s got three wins and is coming off his most consistent season yet. —D.R.

38. Mackenzie Hughes

Age: 31 / OWGR: 39 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 11

A strong fall campaign, highlighted by a T-4 at the Zozo and second at the RSM, augers well for the Canadian veteran. Hughes did just enough during the 2020-21 campaign to make it to the BMW Championship despite losing more than half a stroke to the field in SG/total. Four top-10s, including T-6 at The Open, and adding a T-15 finish at the U.S. Open sure helped. His relative lack of power always will make things challenging, but the last few years Hughes has gotten the putting-for-dough thing nailed down (including 15th in SG, ninth in total putting last season). —D.S.

37. Matt Fitzpatrick

Age: 27 / OWGR: 24 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 154

The Brit has made a steady climb up the OWGR despite not winning yet on the PGA Tour. Already a seven-time champ in Europe, however, he clearly has what it takes to close out golf tournaments—especially those played in difficult scoring conditions. “I’d love to tick that off,” Fitzpatrick told Today’s Golfer in October. “But I’m not a rookie anymore. I’m 27. In my own mind, I know I’ve got to start competing in the big events so my name is up at the top of the leader board more often.” We couldn’t agree more, Matt. —A.M.

Quality Sport Images

36. Paul Casey

Age: 44 / OWGR: 28 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 152

The veteran Brit must have discovered the fountain of youth, and we’re not saying that just because of his boyish face. Firmly in his mid-40s, he made 18 of 20 cuts on tour last season, posted seven top-10s, made yet another Ryder Cup, and is the oldest man inside the world top 30. His consistency is a marvel, and so is his approach game—in 2020-21, only Morikawa was better on SG/approach. —S.R.

35. Webb Simpson

Age: 36 / OWGR: 27 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 54

In comparison to 2018, 2019 and 2020, when Simpson enjoyed a career resurgence after going five-plus years without a win, 2021 was a down season for the former U.S. Open champ. And yet, he still had five finishes of T-9 or better in 21 starts, three of them coming at three of his favorite tour courses—Harbour Town (RBC Heritage), Sedgefield (Wyndham) and Sea Island (RSM Classic). You can pencil him in for top-10s at those stops again in 2022, and we should expect much more from this prolific winner who still has plenty of good golf left in him. —C.P.

34. Matthew Wolff

Age: 22 / OWGR: 31 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 7

He’s so young, but this still seems like a critical season for Wolff. Will he better handle the pressure that came with his early success and then sidelined him for a mental-health break in ’21? The early returns are positive, with Wolff finishing second, T-5 and T-11 among his first four starts of the 2021-22 season. The putter has been a huge strength (12th thus far in SG), and he’s fourth in SG overall. That’s impressive for a guy who was fourth in driving distance last year (315.9), though he needs to keep it more on the short stuff; Wolff was 189th in accuracy. —T.L.

33. Corey Conners

Age: 29 / OWGR: 38 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 87

Your favorite flusher’s favorite flusher became the trendy description of Conners in 2021, a breakout year for him with multiple appearances on major championship leader boards and a trip to Atlanta for the Tour Championship. If we’re judging just based on tee to green, he could have been argued as a top-10 player in the world. What happens around and on the green makes it a bit more adventurous, but he’s too skilled in all-too-important areas of the game to not expect a bucket of more top 10s and a likely Presidents Cup spot representing Canada in 2022. —B.P.

32. Carlos Ortiz

Age: 30 / OWGR: 56 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 16

Ortiz edged a crowded leader board to earn his first PGA Tour title at the 2020 Houston Open, becoming the first winner from Mexico since 1978 (Victor Regalado). He contended for a third straight year at Mayakoba in his home country but finished four strokes behind winner Viktor Hovland. —S.H.

31. Tyrrell Hatton

Age: 30 / OWGR: 22 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 125

The Englishman would likely place higher on this list if European Tour results weighed heavier: He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and finished runner-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links in 2021. But Hatton had just one individual top-10 on the PGA Tour last year, a runner-up at Congaree. —S.H.

30. Billy Horschel

Age: 35 / OWGR: 23 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 167

Has some ground to make up in the FedEx Cup standings after playing just one PGA Tour event in the fall (T-33 at Mayakoba) while moonlighting on the European Tour. Still, he’s finished outside the top 50 only one since 2012 so there’s not much reasons to sweat it. A victory in the BMW Championship at Wentworth in September after a win at the WGC-Dell Match Play in March suggests Horschel has the game to win big events. But that record in majors—one top-15 finish and just two top-20s in 31 starts as a pro—is something that he would like to remedy. —R.H.

29. Talor Gooch

Age: 30 / OWGR: 32 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 1

There was no hotter player on the tour this fall than the former Oklahoma State golfer. He carded five top-11 finishes in six starts including an “at last” breakout win at the RSM Classic to jump top the FedEx Cup ranking entering 2022. And this all happened despite ranking 149th in SG/off the tee (-.124). That’s been typical of Gooch in his four years on tour; he has never ranked better than 107th and always finished with a negative number. If he could shore up his driving, he has an iron game that will get him to the Tour Championship for the first time in his career. —R.H.

Cliff Hawkins

28. Marc Leishman

Age: 38 / OWGR: 36 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 18

Leishman bats it around as well as anyone on tour, and while he may have been inconsistent week-to-week last year, the year-over-year results speak for themselves. He’s got five wins in the last five years and finished inside the top 30 of the OWGR in five of the last six. He’s a reliable, professional golfer with a couple top five finishes already in the fall portion of the season. —B.P.

27. Louis Oosthuizen

Age: 39 / OWGR: 10 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 117

The South African is coming off a tremendous campaign, but there’s the nagging feeling that he missed out on something truly special. Oosthuizen tied for second in the PGA Championship and then held the Sunday back-nine lead in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines before succumbing to Jon Rahm’s charge. He also had a T-3 in The Open. Oosthuizen is the consummate “putt for dough” player—ranking No. 1 in SG/putting in ’21 while being 101st off the tee. —T.L.

26. Max Homa

Age: 31 / OWGR: 35 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 6

Homa, once a Korn Ferry Tour grinder who struggled his first few seasons on the PGA Tour, has come into his own in his late 20s and early 30s. He’s now a certified winner, with three victories between 2019 and 2021, two of them in big-time events (Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow, Genesis at Riviera). No longer just the funny golfer on Twitter, Homa now lets his clubs do the talking, though he’s still pretty hilarious when he logs on to the bird app. —C.P.

25. Joaquin Niemann

Age: 23 / OWGR: 31 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 55

Plainly put, it’s time for Niemann to win again. In the last calendar year, he’s had six top-10s on tour, another in the Olympics, and came agonizingly close to winning his second career title at both the Sentry TOC and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He lost in a playoff each time, but his World Ranking steadily improved throughout the year. Before a rocky finish to the fall, he had missed exactly one cut in 13 months, and even though he’s still very, very young, he’s ready to move from the upper echelons of the tour to the upper, upper echelons. —S.R.

24. Kevin Na

Age: 38 / OWGR: 29 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 199

Incredibly, this guy already has two decades of being a pro in the books. More amazing, though, is the fact he’s coming off the best season of his career. After winning just once in his first decade on tour, Na enters this year on a four-season winning streak. And after entering his name into the Ryder Cup conversation, perhaps he’ll finally get to wear the red, white and blue at this year’s Presidents Cup. —A.M.

23. Patrick Reed

Age: 31 / OWGR: 25 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 29

After winning his ninth tour title in January at the Farmers Insurance Open and occupying the top 10 in the World Ranking for the first half of 2021, Reed was hardly a factor the rest of the season. The falloff, and an untimely illness that landed him in the hospital, cost the so-called “Captain America” a spot on the record-setting U.S. Ryder Cup team. The guy’s short game and putting (seventh in SG/around the green, fourth in SG/putting) still prove to be lethal, but it’s right to wonder how long the former Masters winner can stay among the top Americans while his greens in regulation figures continue to deteriorate. —D.S.

​​22. Will Zalatoris

Age: 25 / OWGR: 33 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 67

Fell one shot short of becoming the first since 1979 to win his first Masters appearance and holds the rare distinction of winning rookie of the year despite not being a full member of the PGA Tour. Now in his first FedEx Cup-eligible season, he’ll be keen to back up his breakout season with a first tour victory. —D.R.

21. Sungjae Im

Age: 23 / OWGR: 26 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 3

It’s frankly amazing that Im has logged more than 100 starts on tour … and he doesn’t turn 24 until March. A strong start in the fall (highlighted by a win at the Shriners followed by a T-9 at the CJ Cup) has Im poised for another stellar season. Despite his youth there’s little to nitpick with his game; the next step for Im would be for a bit more consistency at the big events—following a runner-up at the 2020 Masters, he failed to crack the top 15 at the majors or Players in 2021—but, again, he’s just 23. He seems odd to earmark Im as a potential breakout candidate given his success, yet with the Presidents Cup on tap along with some major venues that fit his game (cough, cough Southern Hills), the fledgling star is not far from gaining full-blown leading-man status in the sport. —J.B.

20. Abraham Ancer

Age: 30 / OWGR: 17 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 63

He has a lone win to his name. Don’t let that fool you; this cat can ball. Ancer is coming off a career year, finishing the regular season sixth in the FedEx Cup and ranking 12th in scoring and 15th in strokes gained. The output is especially impressive considering Ancer is one of the shortest hitters on tour (157th in distance), although he more than compensates by hitting more fairways than a John Deere (fifth in accuracy). It is fair to wonder if the lack of pop has held him back at majors, with just one top-10 finish in 11 starts; conversely, it could also just be a matter of reps, and his second-shot prowess (23rd in approach), ability to rack up red figures (20th in birdies) while keeping the big numbers off the card (fifth in bogey avoidance) should make him a formidable figure at one of golf’s big four … and soon. —J.B.

19. Cameron Smith

Age: 28 / OWGR: 20 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 33

The Aussie flashes one of best short games on tour, even if he’s still prone to a foul ball off the tee, like the one that sealed a playoff loss to Tony Finau at The Northern Trust. Cruised into the Tour Championship on the strength of perhaps his best year as a professional. —D.R.

Stacy Revere

18. Harris English

Age: 32 / OWGR: 13 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

Dismissing his dismal fall performance (two missed cuts and a WD), English enjoyed his best year in 2021 with a pair of wins and a fourth-place finish in the FedEx Cup regular-season standings. He rose to a career-best 10th in the World Ranking. At 32, he’s in the prime of his career, and the Georgia native has shown he knows how to score—and win—despite stats that don’t necessarily impress. He’ll go as far as his putter (12th SG/putting) takes him. —D.S.

17. Daniel Berger

Age: 28 / OWGR: 19 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

The man who won the first event of the COVID restart in 2020 added another victory at Pebble Beach in 2021 to make that four in his PGA Tour career. Berger also had a pair of top-10s in majors and played (well) in his first Ryder Cup after being one of Steve Stricker’s captain’s picks. Interesting didn’t make a start in the fall season. It’s unlikely he’ll ever reach the level or status of fellow Class of 2011 stars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, but being the third wheel among that group isn’t too shabby. —A.M.

16. Jason Kokrak

Age: 36 / OWGR: 20 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 8

A victory at the Houston Open in the fall gave the big-hitting, 6-foot-4 Ohio native his third title in a 13-month span, adding to wins at Colonial (2021) and Shadow Creek (2020)—after going winless in his first 232 starts on the PGA Tour. The biggest difference-maker for the 36-year-old? His putting. Kokrak ranked sixth last season in strokes gained/putting. Compare that to his ranks in the previous five seasons: 151st; 103rd; 110th; 175th; 154th. —S.H.

15. Hideki Matsuyama

Age: 29 / OWGR: 18 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 4

As the game of golf gets increasingly global, there are fewer barriers to break, but Matsuyama shattered two huge ones when he became the first Asian-born golfer to win the Masters, and the first Japanese man to win a major. The rest of his season was decidedly average, which is understandable, but with a fall win at home at the Zozo Championship, he’s riding into 2022 with major momentum. We could be looking at another career year. —S.R.

Atsushi Tomura

14. Jordan Spieth

Age: 28 / OWGR: 14 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 141

The former World No. 1 finally ended his post 2017 Open Championship “slump” in April, winning the Valero Texas Open just one week before the Masters. A T-7 at Augusta, plus a solo second later in the summer at The Open, served as definitive proof he was all the way back. A fourth major title will effectively silence any doubters left, and the 2022 majors schedule, which includes two of his favorite haunts (Augusta, St. Andrews), sets up quite nicely for him to check off that box. —C.P.

13. Tony Finau

Age: 32 / OWGR: 15 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 169

Finau shook off the King Kong-sized gorilla on his back when he gutted out a playoff win in August’s Northern Trust to win for the first time in 142 starts. He had eight runners-up in that span, and at least we don’t have to hear the laments that he can’t close. A slow starter, Finau ranked 116th in first-round scoring average (70.92) in ’21, but he was a Friday monster, averaging 68.60 (second). —T.L.

12. Brooks Koepka

Age: 31 / OWGR: 16 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 172

He remains golf’s best big-game hunter on the men’s side, with three more finishes T6 or better at the majors in 2021. An MC at the first, The Masters, came largely due to a knee injury he probably should not have been playing on yet. Given he admitted early last year that there were dark times rehabbing and his knee may never be 100 percent, injuries will continue to be a concern in 2022. But set aside the season-long numbers or holistic rankings, he’s the best at performing when it matters most and we’d need to see a year of total flops for that title to change. —B.P.

11. Scottie Scheffler

Age: 25 / OWGR: 12 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 14

An impressive Sunday singles victory over Jon Rahm at the Ryder Cup built Scheffler more equity as he tries to grab what feels inevitable—a first win on the PGA Tour. But the longer it takes, the trickier it will be fending off questions of why it hasn’t happened yet. Let’s just remember, the guy is only 25 and he’s already had 17 top-10 finishes in just 57 starts. He had two top-five finishes in the fall despite not ranking in the top 50 in any major strokes-gained category. When his game gets in gear at some point this spring, it’s hard not to think the inevitable comes to pass. —R.H.

10. Sam Burns

Age: 25 / OWGR: 11 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 2

The former college POY at LSU in 2017 had a breakout year in 2021, winning his first two career titles and holding the lead after the most rounds of any player on tour. After starting the year 154th in the World Ranking, he finished 11th, the biggest jump of any player in the top 50. Burns leads the tour at the winter break in SG/tee-to-green after being ninth in SG/putting in 2020-21, showcasing the versatility within his game. Just missed making the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but we have to think he’s a likely candidate for Davis Love III’s Presidents Cup squad. —R.H.

9. Dustin Johnson

Age: 37 / OWGR: 3 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 194

Spring 2021 was not kind to the 2020 Masters champ—DJ had just one top-10 finish from February through June. But the 24-time PGA Tour winner had top-10s in four of his final six starts of the season and then punctuated his 2021 with a flawless 5-0 performance at the Ryder Cup. If DJ wins this season (which we’d expect to happen), he’d have a victory in his first 15 seasons on tour. Only Jack Nicklaus boosts a higher total (17). —S.H.

8. Bryson DeChambeau

Age: 28 / OWGR: 5 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

PIP metrics and trophies aside, he is arguably the tour’s top superstar (non-Tiger category) thanks to a swarm of curiosity and tumult that extends to a larger audience outside the golf corner of the world. He once again led the tour in driving distance and drama in 2021. His all-gas, no-brake focus on the tee ball has yielded resounding results in its first couple years. He led the tour in SG/off-the-tee again in 2021, and the difference between his average and second place was the same as second all the way to 18th. Given the offseason social-media videos replete with speed training, expect the same in 2022. —B.P.

7. Xander Schauffele

Age: 28 / OWGR: 5 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 112

The Olympic gold medal and a stellar first appearance in the Ryder Cup certainly defined a memorable season for Schauffle, but there’s more work to be done. Namely, to get that first major win to salve the sting of six top-fives in the Big Four. For the second straight appearance, Schauffele contended deep into Masters Sunday, but was beaten by a hotter player. In trying to win for the first time since early 2019, he had seconds in the CJ Cup, Farmers and Phoenix, and he contended (T-7) in his home major, the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, despite a short-lived switch to an arm-lock putting grip. Few players on tour can match Schauffele’s consistent all-around attack. In 2020-21, he was 41st in SG/off-tee, 14th in approach and 16th in putting. —T.L.

6. Viktor Hovland

Age: 24 / OWGR: 8 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 5

With three wins—plus an OWGR-counting victory at the Hero World Challenge—before age 25, the young Norwegian has seemingly already delivered on all the promise he displayed in winning the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach. The one area that continues to hold him back, though, is chipping, which he once claimed he “sucked” at. Should he continue to make slight improvements around the greens, his ceiling is second only to Collin Morikawa among the tour’s rising stars. Oddsmakers tend to agree, as Hovland is +550 to win a major in 2022 on the DraftKings Sportsbook. —C.P.

5. Rory McIlroy

Age: 32 / OWGR: 9 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 9

Since 2014, the dominant strain of discourse around McIlroy has been when or if he’ll win another major, and it will continue to be so forever, if necessary. The story is the same—his putting just isn’t good enough, and to win majors as a below-average putter, you need to be an approach genius like Collin Morikawa, which Rory is not. Still, he’s now won twice on tour in the last year, including his October win at the CJ Cup, his putting is improving, and maybe—maybe—he’s ready to take the leap again. —S.R.

4. Justin Thomas

Age: 28 / OWGR: 6 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 32

It was a strange 2021 for the American star, who found himself mired in controversy and in the first prolonged slump of his career. After losing his Ralph Lauren deal in January and winning the Players Championship in March, Thomas didn’t record another top 10 until the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But two top fives in those three events followed by another two at the Mayakoba and Hero indicate he’s got his game in better shape. And as we saw with his five-win campaign in 2016-2017, few are capable of going on bigger heaters. —A.M.

3. Patrick Cantlay

Age: 29 / OWGR: 4 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

After seeing his career derailed by a back injury for more than two years, Cantlay finally has assumed what many thought should be his rightful place among the elite of his age group by winning four times in the 2020-21 season, capturing the FedEx Cup and winning Player of the Year honors. He showed no real weaknesses in his game, ranking no worse than 30th in the key SG metrics and finishing third in SG/total. The only things left for the laconic California native is to add his name to the column of major winners and to rise to World No. 1, and who thinks he won’t eventually achieve those goals? —D.S.

2. Collin Morikawa

Age: 24 / OWGR: 2 / ’22 FedEx Cup: 15

In the past year, he’s taken “The Leap” from great young player to perhaps the finest player on Earth. His record through 60 professional starts—six wins, two majors, 24 top 10s—has drawn some (unfair) Tiger comparisons; so has his habit of closing out tournaments with relentless, bogey-free rounds. Among a historically great group of 30 and younger Americans, he currently stands alone at the top. —D.R.

1. Jon Rahm

Age: 27 / OWGR: 1 / ’22 FedEx Cup: NR

The numbers are staggering. Fifteen top-10s versus one missed cut in 22 starts last season. Second in SG/off-the-tee, eighth in approach and first in SG/overall. First in birdie average AND bogey avoidance. Yet those numbers fail to illustrate the most impressive figure of all: the “1” that replaced “0” in Rahm’s major total, shedding the label of backdoor finisher by closing out the 2021 U.S. Open with vigor. Though Rahm technically had just one win to his name—if “just” can describe his breakthrough at Torrey Pines—he tied for the lowest score over four days at East Lake during the Tour Championship and held a six-stroke lead through 54 holes at the Memorial before a positive COVID-19 test knocked him out of the event, in the process solidifying his claim as the sport’s top dog. —J.B.

Donald Miralle

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50 PGA Tour players who advanced in FedEx Cup Playoffs after St. Jude

T he first leg of the PGA Tour’s “silly” season , the FedEx Cup Playoffs, was completed this past weekend, as Hideki Matsuyama claimed the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis with a pinch-hit caddie .

The top 7o in the season-long FedEx Cup points standings qualified for the St. Jude. The top 50 after Memphis will tee it up this weekend in Castle Springs, Colorado, for the BMW Championship. The top 30 from there go on to the Tour Championship, beginning Aug. 29 at East Lake.

A top 50 FedEx Cup placement also cements entry into next year’s eight Signature Events.

A few notable PGA Tour stars were sent packing after rough experiences at TPC Southwind. Jordan Spieth — facing offseason wrist surgery — entered Memphis 62nd in the standings, and finished +9, tied for second-to-last (with Rory McIlroy). Tom Kim crashed out with bogey-double-double to finished T50 … dropping him to 51st in the points race.

“I told myself before the day that if I didn’t play well, I really felt like I was going to finish 51,” Kim said afterward. “I’ve done everything I could to be inside that top 50 and hopefully give myself a chance at Tour Championship. But I couldn’t, and I’m going to look forward to a really good off-season because I’m pretty tired.

“This year has been really tough for me personally … When things aren’t going your way, things aren’t going your way. It shows you in a decent year, this could have been like a 30th instead of a 51st.”

Other notable golfers who finished outside the top 50: Justin Rose (55), Jake Knapp (59), Nick Taylor (58), Min Loo Wee (60), 

Here’s who did progress to the BMW.

2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs, top 50 after St. Jude Championship

Ordered by updated points standings :

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• Scottie Scheffler
• Xander Schauffele
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Collin Morikawa
• Rory McIlroy
• Wyndham Clark
• Ludvig Åberg
• Sahith Theegala
• Patrick Cantlay
• Shane Lowry
• Robert MacIntyre
• Akshay Bhatia
• Byeong Hun An
• Viktor Hovland
• Russell Henley
• Billy Horschel
• Matthieu Pavon
• Justin Thomas
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• Sepp Straka
• Davis Thompson
• Taylor Pendrith
• Brian Harman
• Denny McCarthy
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Corey Conners
• J.T. Poston
• Stephan Jaeger
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Will Zalatoris
• Austin Eckroat
• Cameron Young
• Thomas Detry
• Adam Hadwin
• Max Greyserman
• Nick Dunlap
• Keegan Bradley

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U.S. Open 2021: The top 100 golfers competing at Torrey Pines, ranked

Last month’s PGA Championship reinforced two valuable life lessons. First, age is just a number. Second, trying to forecast golf tournaments is a fool’s errand.

Phil Mickelson’s history-making triumph at Kiawah Island was as unlikely as it was remarkable—Lefty didn’t have a top-20 on the PGA Tour in 10 months and had fallen outside the top 100 in the World Ranking. Apart from the man himself and perhaps his immediately family, no one saw that one coming.

That, of course, is part of what makes this wildly unpredictable game so much fun. We can comb through the numbers, look at current form and course history, and still be wildly off-base.

That doesn’t mean we won’t keep trying to help you profit from your wagers, win your office pool or simply be a more informed viewer during this week’s U.S. Open. Here is your ranking of the top 100 players teeing it up at Torrey Pines.

RELATED: U.S. Open 2021: Our Golf Digest betting panel hit Garrick Higgo last week—see who our experts are picking at Torrey Pines

100. Jimmy Walker Age: 42 World ranking: 332 U.S. Open appearances: 9 Best U.S. Open finish: T-9, 2014 He’s in the last year of his five-year exemption into all the majors from winning the 2016 PGA Championship, and he’s going to need to turn things around if he’s to play any besides the PGA next year. Had a wonderful ball-striking week out of nowhere his last time out, finishing T-6 at the Memorial. That marked his first top-10 on the PGA Tour since May 2018.

99. Zach Johnson Age: 45 World ranking: 123 U.S. Open appearances: 17 Best U.S. Open finish: T-8, 2015 He’s fighting an uphill battle distance-wise on long, thick U.S Open courses—which makes his T-8 last year at Winged Foot that much more impressive. An assistant captain on this year’s Ryder Cup team, he's not far off a captaincy of his own. Has missed the cut in both majors in 2021.

98. Bo Hoag Age: 32 World ranking: 233 U.S. Open appearances: First Missed seven of his last eight cuts before heading back to his home state of Ohio, and it made all the difference. Finished T-13 at the Memorial then cruised over to U.S. Open Final Qualifying in Springfield, where he earned a spot in his first major. There truly is no place like home.

97. Rikuya Hoshino Age: 25 World ranking: 78 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2018 With two wins already this year, the young Japanese player leads the Japan Tour’s Order of Merit and played his way into the field through the Southern California qualifying site. Missed cut last month at PGA Championship.

96. Henrik Stenson Age: 45 World ranking: 149 U.S. Open appearances: 14 Best U.S. Open finish: T-4, 2014 Simply not much good news to report here. Had missed eight of his last 11 cuts heading into last week’s Scandinavian Mixed event, which he hosted with Annika Sorenstam, and his last top-10 on the PGA Tour came at the 2019 U.S. Open. His low World Ranking, already a shock to see, would be even lower if not for his win at the 18-man Hero World Challenge in December 2019. Missed the cut at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines and has never played the Farmers Insurance Open.

95. Sung Kang Age: 34 World ranking: 196 U.S. Open appearances: 3 Best U.S. Open finish: T-18. 2016 Does not have a top-10 on the PGA Tour since the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational but played well when he needed to, getting through Final Qualifying in Columbus. Does have some solid history at really tough courses—finished T-18 at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont and solo seventh at the 2019 PGA at Bethpage.

94. Greyson Sigg Age: 26 World ranking: 168 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2020 Poised to become the next in a long line of former Georgia Bulldogs on the PGA Tour. Sits third in the Korn Ferry points standings and won the Knoxville Open last month, then cruised through Final Qualifying in Atlanta.

93. Cameron Champ Age: 25 World ranking: 112 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-32, 2017 First flashed his jaw-dropping length and potential at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, where he led the field in driving distance as an amateur and finished T-32. There have been plenty of good moments—he’s won two PGA Tour events—but it’s hard to believe a player of his natural gifts is currently outside the top 100 in the world and moving in the wrong direction. His last three starts: 15 over at Kiawah, a missed cut at Colonial and an opening-round 82 before withdrawing from the Memorial. He’s too talented to be playing like this, so you wonder how he’s doing physically. And mentally.

92. Cole Hammer (a) Age: 21 World ranking: N/A U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2015, 2020 If you’re wondering “how is this guy still an amateur?” it’s because when you first heard about him more than a half-decade ago when he qualified for the 2015 U.S. Open he was only 15. Went on to become No. 1 amateur in the world and has played on two winning U.S. Walker Cup teams. Finished as the first alternate in Columbus qualifier but quickly got into the field when Mikko Korhonen pulled out due to COVID-19 travel concerns.

Sam Greenwood/R&A

91. Brian Stuard Age: 38 World ranking: 232 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-65, 2019 If this golf thing ever dries up, he should seriously consider running for mayor of Springfield, Ohio. Got through the Final Qualifying site there for the sixth time. Now, if he could only channel some of that success at the actual U.S. Open, we’d really be on to something. Has five MCs and a T-65 in his five appearances.

MORE: The 13 best bets to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines

90. Sahith Theegala Age: 24 World ranking: 702 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2019 Swept the Nicklaus, Hogan and Haskins award as college golf’s top player during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Got a sponsor’s invite into the Memorial, finished T-32 then got in to the U.S. Open through the Springfield site. Grew up in Orange County, roughly an hour away from Torrey Pines.

89. Russell Henley Age: 32 World ranking: 63 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: T-16, 2010 Finished third on PGA Tour in strokes gained/approach last year and ranks sixth this year. It’s a hugely important part of the game, and he’s great at it, but he simply hasn’t been able to convert it into top-level play. His last four starts have yielded two missed cuts and two finishes outside the top 70, and he’s yet to post a top-10 in 26 career major starts. His best showing in a U.S. Open came in his first start in 2010, when he finished T-16 and took low amateur honors at Pebble Beach.

88. Marcus Armitage Age: 33 World ranking: 122 U.S. Open appearances: First The video of him, tearful, after winning last month’s Porsche European Open went viral. “Bullet,” as he’s affectionately known, was broke and had to camp out as he chased the dream—a dream that was finally realized with that maiden Euro Tour victory, which got him into his first U.S. Open and first major outside his native U.K.

87. Chan Kim Age: 31 World ranking: 83 U.S. Open appearances: 3 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2017, 2019, 2020 He’s earned quite a few opportunities in big events via his strong play on the Japan Tour. Lives in Arizona, played at Arizona State and wants desperately to secure PGA Tour status. Missed the cut in four straight majors before a solid T-23 at Kiawah, and he took medalist honors at the Southern California qualifying site.

86. Akshay Bhatia Age: 19 World ranking: 879 U.S. Open appearances: First Turned pro as a 17-year-old after the 2019 Walker Cup and a legendary junior career, eschewing college golf in an era where virtually every top American spends at least some time on a campus. Hasn’t quite shot to stardom like he’d hoped but there have been some solid signs. The lanky lefty gets his first crack at a major championship after advancing through a 3-for-1 playoff at Final Qualifying in South Carolina

Mike Lawrie

85. Martin Kaymer Age: 36 World ranking: 104 U.S. Open appearances: 13 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2014 Eight-shot romp at Pinehurst in 2014 feel like a lifetime ago given the former World No. 1’s journey since. Lost his PGA Tour card after 2019 and while he’s had some success in Europe, he’s failed to elbow his way back into relevance. Has missed the cut in his last three major starts and his last three starts period, two of which came against weaker fields on the European Tour. It’s been a strange career arc to say the least.

84. Chez Reavie Age: 39 World ranking: 136 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-3, 2019 Crept as high as No. 26 in the world in 2019 after his win at the Travelers. He’s been on the struggle bus in 2021, though, having missed six straight cuts before he caught a heater at the Columbus qualifying site—made 13 birdies and two eagles over 36 holes to pace a field full of PGA Tour players. Torrey will but just a little bit more resistant to scoring, but he’ll take some confidence with him nonetheless.

83. Martin Laird Age: 38 World ranking: 99 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: T-21, 2013 Everything came together for the Scot last fall in Vegas—he got a sponsor’s exemption into the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and parlayed it into a career-boosting victory, his fourth on the PGA Tour. Still had to go through qualifying to get to Torrey Pines, for professional golf is a cold world.

82. Justin Suh Age: 23 World ranking: 441 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2016 Former World No. 1 amateur sat alongside Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Matt Wolff for a press conference the week after turning pro. Hasn’t been able to mirror the success of his fellow Class of ’19ers, but he’s made the cut in six of his eight starts on the PGA Tour this year and thus sits on the precipice of joining those three on the PGA Tour.

MORE: U.S. Open 101—Everything you need to know about this year at Torrey

81. Matt Kuchar Age: 42 World ranking: 59 U.S. Open appearances: 18 Best U.S. Open finish: T-6, 2010 Free-falling down the World Ranking as he’s having his worst season in more than a decade (zero top-10s in 18 stroke-play starts). No one area of the game to point to as the culprit, either. You’d expect a player as steady as Kuchar to have a better U.S. Open record than a lone top-10 finish in 18 career starts. Missed the cut at both the Masters and PGA, and withdrew from his last start at the Memorial with a forearm injury.

80. Brendon Todd Age: 35 World ranking: 62 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-17, 2014 The bunter that could—he’s the shortest full-time PGA Tour player at less than 275 yards per drive. In an age where distance dominates, he ranks 160th on tour in strokes gained/off the tee despite leading the tour in driving accuracy. He’s also second in strokes gained/putting, but his physical limitations ensure he’s fighting an uphill battle most weeks—especially in the majors. He’ll have to play pretty much perfect to have a semblance of a chance.

79. J.T. Poston Age: 28 World ranking: 98 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2017, 2020 Been missing quite a few cuts this season, include at Congaree, where he’s an ambassador. Ball-striking—141st in SG/off the tee, 181st in approach—has been so poor that even his world-class putting (eighth in SG/on the greens) has often been unable to bail himself out. Missed the cut in both his U.S. Open appearances and four of his six major starts overall.

78. Francesco Molinari Age: 38 World ranking: 173 U.S. Open appearances: 10 Best U.S. Open finish: T-16, 2019 Teased us with three top-10s during the West Coast swing, which gave the impression he was on the comeback trail and would creep back into the Ryder Cup picture. He’s missed three of four cuts since and thus continues his World Ranking slide. Will be joined in the field by older brother Edoardo, who got in through the European Tour’s U.S. Open-series list. Has not played an event since the Wells Fargo in the beginning of May.

77. Troy Merritt Age: 35 World ranking: 132 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: 58, 2020 Failed to qualify for either of the year’s first two majors but did post back-to-back seventh-place finishes at the AT&T Byron Nelson and the Charles Schwab Challenge. Not the best ball striker out there, he’s missed the cut in five of his eight major appearances and five of his last six starts at Torrey Pines.

76. Adam Hadwin Age: 33 World ranking: 100 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-39, 2011 Shorter-hitting Canadian has made a nice living for himself (more than $12.5 million in career PGA Tour earnings) feasting on the right layouts for his game, but it hasn’t translated to the majors—best finish in 16 starts is a T-24, and he’s had virtually no success at U.S. Opens. Got through qualifying in Columbus after missing the cut at the Memorial.

75. Kevin Na Age: 37 World ranking: 38 U.S. Open appearances: 9 Best U.S. Open finish: 7, 2016 Has a knack for winning when he’s in contention, which can’t be said for too many tour players these days. Picked off fourth title since July 2018 at the Sony Open. He’s not a long hitter, and he fares best on manageable-length tracks that are angly and scorable. The majors, however, don’t tend to be played on such layouts, and he has just two top-10 finishes in them in 40 career starts—and none since the 2016 U.S. Open. Ranks 165th on tour in SG/off the tee and 142nd in SG/approach, and Torrey will not react kindly to any loose ball-striking.

74. Lanto Griffin Age: 32 World ranking: 70 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-43, 2020 Enjoyed a strong start to the season that brought him to the top 50 in the world, but a lot of that was due to some incredible putting weeks, which are hard to replicate. In related news, he’s hit a roadblock since, with four missed cuts in his last five starts. Missed the weekend in the Masters and the PGA but did make the cut last year at Winged Foot.

73. Jhonattan Vegas Age: 36 World ranking: 138 U.S. Open appearances: 3 Best U.S. Open finish: T-41, 2018 His short game continues to hold back the three-time tour winner who has dropped a level over the last five years. Got through a 5-for-4 playoff at the Columbus qualifier and kept the momentum going with a nice T-2 at Congaree, his second runner-up on tour in 2021.

MORE: Why Torrey Pines marks the end of a design era in majors

72. Matthew Wolff Age: 22 World ranking: 32 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: 2, 2020 His five-under 65 at Winged Foot gave him a three-shot lead heading into Sunday at last year’s U.S. Open. Bryson DeChambeau leapfrogged him for the victory, but Wolff had finished T-4/solo second in his first two major championship starts. In his next start, he lost in a playoff in Las Vegas and rose to No. 12 in the world. Ever since, however, his game has forsaken him and there are clearly some non-physical issues he’s working through. Was DQ’d from the Masters (he was going to miss the cut by quite a bit anyway) and withdrew from both the Players and the PGA Championship for unspecified reasons. Was photographed watching his Oklahoma State Cowboys play during NCAA Regionals—he’s a kid who, it seems, misses being a kid. Returns home to Southern California this week, and he deserves a ton of credit for taking time away to get himself right. With his physical gifts, he’s got decades ahead of him.

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71. Thomas Detry Age: 28 World ranking: 92 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: T-49, 2020 Former Big Ten player of the year at Illinois is slowly emerging as one of the better players on the European Tour. The Belgian tied for second in his last start at the European Open and made the cut last September at Winged Foot.

70. Guido Migliozzi Age: 24 World ranking: 103 U.S. Open appearances: First It’s the most fun name to say in the field, and the Young Italian also comes in with some serious form, with back-to-back solo seconds in his last two starts on the European Tour. Marks his first appearance in a major, but the unknown here is intriguing.

69. K.H. Lee Age: 29 World ranking: 64 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2014, 2019 If you need further proof how fleeting form is in this game—and how different hard courses play compared with easy ones—consider Lee’s last three starts. At the AT&T Byron Nelson, he shot 25 under to win by three. He followed it up with an 11-over MC at the PGA Championship and 79-74 on the weekend at the Memorial. The next cut he makes in a major will be his first.

68. Kevin Kisner Age: 37 World ranking: 51 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: T-12, 2015 Took five weeks off after the Hawaii two-step for the birth of his second child and hasn’t kicked it into gear since. This, from his presser before the Palmetto Championship, was telling. He was asked whether he gave fellow Georgia Bulldog Davis Thompson any advice upon turning pro: “I had breakfast with him yesterday, and I was asking him for advice. He’s playing better than I am right now, so I was hoping he could help me.” Proceeded to miss the cut at Congaree, his sixth MC in seven starts. He’d be the first to tell you it’d be difficult to draw up a worse fit course-wise for his modest distance than the long and juicy Torrey Pines.

Kevin C. Cox

67. Patrick Rodgers Age: 28 World ranking: 236 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-41, 2018 Reached No. 1 in the world amateur rankings during a stellar career at Stanford and profiled as a future star. It hasn’t quite materialized—he’s hung around on tour for a while but doesn’t have a win and needed to qualify to get into the field at Torrey. Heading into Congaree, he’d missed the cut in 10 of his 17 starts this year but found his way near the top of the leader board through 36 holes.

66. Matt Jones Age: 41 World ranking: 60 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: MC all five times Broke a seven-year winless drought at the Honda Classic in February, which was enough to keep him in the top 60 of the World Ranking and gain an exemption into Torrey despite back-to-back missed cuts in his last two starts. Speaking of missed cuts—he has failed to make the weekend in five U.S. Open appearances.

65. Wyndham Clark Age: 27 World ranking: 147 U.S. Open appearances: First One of the longest hitters on tour, he ranks fourth in driving distance at 315.6 yards but near dead-last in accuracy at just over 47 percent. If Torrey’s fairways are anywhere near as hard to hit as Winged Foot’s—which were the hardest fairways to hit on record on the PGA Tour—that would actually play into his hands; if everyone’s missing them, length is critical.

64. Rafa Cabrera Bello Age: 37 World ranking: 139 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: T-23, 2020 Spent the better part of five years inside the top 50 in the World Ranking but the bottom has fell out a bit, and he’s now in a fight to keep his PGA Tour card heading into next season. Been better of late: he’s made three straight cuts and got through the loaded Columbus qualifying site.

MORE: Can new USGA boss Mike Whan solve golf’s biggest challenges?

63. Cameron Smith Age: 27 World ranking: 28 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-4, 2015 Won the Zurich Classic alongside Marc Leishman but hit a bit of a wall since, with a T-59 at the PGA Championship and a missed cut at Memorial. He’s a shot-maker with a breathtaking short game but his ball-striking can get a bit squirrely—over his last 24 rounds, he ranks sixth on tour in SG/around the green and 24th in SF/putting but 87th in approach and 99th in off-the-tee. Benefits from width off the tees, which is why he’s fared so well at Augusta (three top-10s in five starts) but has struggled in recent U.S. Opens, which leave little room for loose shots. Missed the cut at the Farmers this year after shooting 79 on the South on Friday.

62. Victor Perez Age: 28 World ranking: 35 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: CUT, 2020 Big Frenchman—and University of New Mexico grad, for a nice piece of trivia—finished T-9 in the Players and fourth at the WGC-Match Play, which built some momentum heading into the Masters. So, golf being golf, he missed the cut at Augusta, then at Kiawah and at the Memorial, too. Still, has a good chance to get his PGA Tour card through non-member points and remains in the Ryder Cup picture, so there’s everything to play for.

61. Sebastian Munoz Age: 28 World ranking: 65 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-59, 2020 Doesn’t rank better than 78th in any of the six main strokes-gained statistics but does have three top-10s on the year, including a T-3 at last month’s Charles Schwab Challenge. Been a somewhat disappointing season for the Colombian after his 2019-20 campaign lasted all the way to the Tour Championship. Made the cut at Winged Foot last year but did not come close to factoring on the weekend.

Tom Pennington

60. Brendan Steele Age: 38 World ranking: 79 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-13, 2017 Tour veteran from California has made the cut in all 12 starts in 2021, including a T-4 to begin the year in Hawaii and a T-3 at the Honda Classic. Has a pair of top-15 finishes in U.S. Opens but has not played in once since 2018.

59. Sungjae Im Age: 23 World ranking: 26 U.S. Open appearances: 3 Best U.S. Open finish: 22, 2020 After making 11 straight cuts from last December through March, he missed four of his next seven and had to sweat it out at Congaree. In typical Sungjae fashion, he seems intent on playing his way out of it, as the U.S. Open will mark his fifth straight week of competition. Finished T-17 at Kiawah after missing the cut at Augusta, where he finished T-2 to Dustin Johnson last November. For as beautiful as his swing and rhythm are, he’s been a very average iron player in his time on tour—he’s never finished better than 88th in SG/approach and currently ranks 93rd in that stat. His short game is a weakness, so it’s hard to love his chances on a course that’ll force everyone to scramble from the rough.

58. Wilco Nienaber Age: 21 World ranking: 141 U.S. Open appearances: First A tantalizing prospect from of South Africa— 6’2” with extra-long arms and a highly efficient move —he’s able to produce Bryson DeChambeau-level ball speeds with a silky tempo. Gets a spot in his first career major by way of leading the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit. Acclimated himself with the U.S. by playing at Congaree and was hanging around the lead after 36 holes. With he and Garrick Higgo, the future of South African golf looks bright.

57. Bernd Wiesberger Age: 35 World ranking: 52 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: T-16,. 2017 Successfully defended his Made in Denmark title over Memorial Day weekend, which was his eighth European Tour victory. All those wins have pushed him up the World Ranking, but he has not been able to find anywhere near that level of success in the U.S. The Austrian has zero top-10s and just four top-25s in 26 career major starts.

56. Matt Wallace Age: 31 World ranking: 55 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-12, 2019 Ultra-fiery Brit has made the cut in eight straight major starts, although the last six have all been between T-34 and T-77. Swings it beautifully but sometimes struggles with his putter, which might be the shortest on tour. (Seriously, it’s very cute.) Wants desperately to get into the Ryder Cup picture, but he’s going to have to make some magic happen if that’s to become a reality.

55. Gary Woodland Age: 37 World ranking: 57 U.S. Open appearances: 10 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2019 Career peaked (at least thus far) up the coast at Pebble Beach two years ago, where he put forth a macho back-nine display to win his first major. Has not played to the same standard since while dealing with injuries, and it’s a bit jarring to see him so low in the World Ranking after a half-decade hanging around the top 25. There have been some positive signs recently, however, with a top-five at Quail Hollow and a T-14 at Colonial.

54. Kevin Streelman Age: 42 World ranking: 54 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: T-13, 2016 His T-8 at Kiawah was the 42-year-old’s first top-10 in a major, and golf remains the best sport there is. Built on that momentum with top 20s in each of his two starts since, and all the sudden he’s creeping up on getting back inside the top 50 in the world rankings—and he’s doing it despite putting only decently, which is rather impressive for a player who hits it as relatively short as he does. Has played the Farmers every year since 2016 and made the cut in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey.

MORE: Kevin Streelman—The underdog who no one was pulling for at Kiawah

53. Bubba Watson Age: 42 World ranking: 61 U.S. Open appearances: 14 Best U.S. Open finish: T-5, 2007 Finished 80th at the PGA and withdrew from the Memorial after an opening-round 77, so hardly an ideal run-up. He’s struggled big time in U.S. Opens, which call for a disciplined approach that stifles his creativity—he’s missed the cut in eight of his 14 tries, including five of the last seven. That said, he’s won times at Riviera, another Southern California course with kikuyu fairways and poa annua greens.

52. Carlos Ortiz Age: 30 World ranking: 53 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-52, 2019 Gravitated between the Big Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour for a few years but has turned a corner, winning his first PGA Tour event last November and hanging around the top 50 in the World Ranking. Shared the 54-hole lead at Torrey earlier this year but an ugly Sunday 78 saw him stumble to a T-29 finish. His younger brother, Alvaro, played his way into the field, too, through Final Qualifying. Mr. and Mrs. Ortiz must be proud.

51. Sergio Garcia Age: 41 World ranking: 50 U.S. Open appearances: 21 Best U.S. Open finish: T-3, 2005 His continued struggles in the majors baffle the mind. Dating to the 2017 PGA Championship, a few months after he removed the best-to-never-win-a-major monkey from his back at the Masters, he’s missed the cut in 11 of his last 13 major starts. Entered Sunday at Colonial with a chance to win but shot six over to finish T-20. That was actually a positive step, as he’d missed four straight cuts leading into that event. The putting has always been an issue, but it’s particularly bad right now—he’s lost strokes to the field with the flatstick in 10 straight events.

50. Ian Poulter Age: 45 World ranking: 56 U.S. Open appearances: 15 Best U.S. Open finish: T-12, 2006 Finished T-3 at Colonial to get back inside the top 60 in the world just in time to get one of the last exemptions into the field. Closer to 50 than 40, he’s relying heavily on his short game, which remains world class—but he ranks 146th in SG/off the tee and 164th in SG/off the tee. He’s as scrappy as they come, but scrappy doesn’t usually cut it on demanding U.S. Open setups. Explains why he does not have a top-10 in his 15 career starts in golf’s toughest test. Has some extra motivation this summer to get onto the European Ryder Cup team, as he knows this might be his last realistic chance to play in his favorite competition.

49. Erik van Rooyen Age: 31 World ranking: 86 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-23, 2020 The casual fan will know him for two things, neither of which have anything to do with actual golf shots: first, his popularizing of joggers on the PGA Tour. Second, his violent temper outburst at the PGA Championship, where he took out anger from a string of bad results on a poor old tee marker. Perhaps, in some odd way, it’s served as motivation—he shared medalist honors at the Columbus qualifying site and was in contention after 36 holes at Congaree. Has made the cut in both U.S. Open appearances.

48. Cameron Young Age: 24 World ranking: 172 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2019 He’s giving us some Will Zalatoris vibes, and we can explain. Last year, Zalatoris was the hotshot Korn Ferry player who used the U.S. Open as a coming-out party. This year, Young is the prime suspect to do the same. The fellow Wake Forest graduate won back-to-back Korn Ferry events last month then blitzed the field at his Final Qualifying spot back in his native New York. “I expected to get through,” he said after the 36-hole day. “Knowing the places like I do, and feeling like my game is in a pretty good spot, it’s pretty hard not to get through.” If he could ever get over his lack of confidence, he may have a future in this game.

47. Robert MacIntyre Age: 24 World ranking: 48 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: T-56, 2020 Starting to become a familiar presence in big events as he’s been hanging inside the World top 50 for most of 2021. Took T-12 in his debut Masters to ensure a return trip and also made the cut at Kiawah—in fact, he’s made the weekend in all five of his major championship starts to date, highlighted by a T-6 in his first one at the ’19 Open Championship. Very much in the Ryder Cup picture but needs a strong finish to book his ticket to Whistling Straits; a strong week at Torrey would go a long way toward that goal.

46. Si Woo Kim Age: 25 World ranking: 49 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-13, 2017 Feels like he’s been around forever but he’s still just 25. Won The American Express in January for his third PGA Tour victory and comes in off a solid T-9 at Memorial. Has made the cut in just one of his four U.S. Open starts, though, as he can be a bit wide off the tee, and missed the weekend at Farmers this year. He runs extremely hot and doesn’t profile as the type to take U.S. Open bumps-and-bruises in stride.

MORE: Drone footage of every hole at Torrey Pines (South)

45. Billy Horschel Age: 34 World ranking: 23 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-4, 2013 His World Ranking is inflated by his WGC-Match Play victory, where he played solidly but unspectacularly. Otherwise, he has just two top-10 finishes in 12 stroke-play starts in 2021. Seems to be living in the T-20 to T-50 range recently, and the same can be said for his history at the majors: he’s made the cut in 20 of his 30 starts in the big four but has just one top-10 to show for it, a T-4 at the 2013 U.S. Open. Made the cut on a U.S. Open-esque course at the Memorial but made nine bogeys and three doubles over the weekend in shooting 82-73.

44. Charley Hoffman Age: 44 World ranking: 58 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: 8, 2017 Snuck into the field thanks to a strong run of play that saw him crack the World top 60 at the deadline. Which is awesome—he was born and raised in San Diego, making this absolutely a home game. Took solo second to Jordan Spieth at the Valero Texas Open the week before the Masters, then finished T-18/T-18/T-17 in his next three events before a T-3 when the tour returned to Texas at Colonial. He’s played the Farmers a remarkable 24 times and has three top-10s to show for it, including a T-9 in 2020. He’ll be highly motivated, and he’s playing great golf, but U.S. Open setups do not care for such romanticism.

43. Garrick Higgo Age: 22 World ranking: 39 U.S. Open appearances: First Talented young South African lefty left UNLV in 2019 after one-plus year to turn pro. A good choice, in hindsight—he has two wins in Europe this year by a combined nine shots. Then made an even bigger splash on Sunday when he charged from six shots back to take the title at the Palmetto Championship in just his second career PGA Tour start. The first was at last month's PGA, where he made the cut on the number and played a roller-coaster round on Sunday: eight birdies, three bogeys and a double for a closing 69. The bad happens, but the good shows what he’s capable of. Don’t be surprised if he makes the Presidents Cup team next year. A rising star.

42. Charl Schwartzel Age: 36 World ranking: 110 U.S. Open appearances: 12 Best U.S. Open finish: 7, 2015 Former Masters champion has been in a mid-30s purgatory over the past couple years, but he’s flashed some promising signs with a T-26 at the Masters, a runner-up alongside Louis Oosthuizen at the Zurich Classic, a T-14 at the Wells Fargo and a T-3 at the Byron Nelson. Making his first U.S. Open appearance since missing the cut at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.

41. Stewart Cink Age: 48 World ranking: 44 U.S. Open appearances: 20 Best U.S. Open finish: 3, 2001 One of the best, and most surprising, stories of the season. Has two wins since putting son Reagan on the bag, and he’s one of just five men with multiple wins in the 2020-21 season—and the only one who’s closing in on PGA Tour Champions age. A huge reason behind the resurgence: he’s 26th on tour in driving distance at 306.4 yards, which is nearly 11 yards more than what he averaged last year in ranking 113th. The fountain of youth? He’s found it. Has played the tour stop at Torrey 18 times (although just two top-10s) and finished T-14 at the 2008 U.S. Open, so you won’t find someone who knows this course better than he.

40. Sam Burns Age: 24 World ranking: 37 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-41, 2018 He’s held the lead after more rounds than anyone on tour this year, a testament to his top-level gear that is good enough to win anywhere. Played in the final group at this year’s Farmers only to fall out of it with a closing 75. Finally broke through with his first win at the Valspar Championship, then finished runner-up to K.H. Lee the next week at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He rode that wave right into Kiawah, where he entered the PGA Championship as something of a sleeper pick … only to re-aggravate a back injury and withdraw during the first round. A brutal momentum-killer for a player who looked destined to challenge for a Ryder Cup spot.

39. Lee Westwood Age: 48 World ranking: 27 U.S. Open appearances: 19 Best U.S. Open finish: 3, 2008 Captured the imagination of mid-40s men everywhere when he held back-to-back 54-hole leads at Bay Hill and the Players. He finished solo second in both then just kept on playing, and he’s admitted that he probably bit off a bit more than he could chew schedule-wise. No top-10s and three missed cuts in his seven starts since, but he’ll be energized by a return to Torrey, where he missed a putt on the 72nd hole in 2008 to join Tiger and Rocco in a playoff. Seeing as this has been the year of the older guys (shoutout Phil and Stewey Cink), it’d be only fitting for Westy to finally fill the major championship void in his trophy cabinet.

Sam Greenwood

38. Ryan Palmer Age: 44 World ranking: 34 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-21, 2011 Another 40-pluser having a really solid season, although it’s been a bit of a slog in recent months. His runner-up at Torrey Pines in this year’s Farmers was his third top-four finish in four starts, which pushed him all the way to World No. 24 and got him thinking Ryder Cup. Doesn’t have a top-10 since, though, and his best finish in eight career U.S. Open starts is a T-21. That said, he loves Torrey—in addition to the T-2 this year, he also finished runner-up in 2018, T-13 in 2019 and T-21 in 2020.

MORE: The 9 most intriguing stories from U.S. Open Final Qualifying

37. Christiaan Bezuidenhout Age: 27 World ranking: 46 U.S. Open appearances: 1 Best U.S. Open finish: 55, 2020 The young South African has a lovely game that has held its own in big-time events in the U.S. With three wins on the European Tour, the next step in his progression is to earn a PGA Tour card through non-member points—he’s got a good chance to do it, but needs a few more solid finishes. Made the cut in the first two majors 2021 and has made the weekend in 16 consecutive starts around the world.

36. Matthew Fitzpatrick Age: 26 World ranking: 20 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: T-12, 2019 Got as high as T-4 at Kiawah before a Sunday triple bogey at the 16th saw him drop outside the top 20. That would’ve been just his second top-10 in 25 career major starts, a puzzling stat for a player who hits it so straight—and who has excelled on really difficult layouts in non-major events. He’s the only player inside the top 20 in SG/overall who ranks worse than 60th in SG/approach, and he ranks outside the top 100; he’s putting stress on the rest of his game with that loose iron play, and that was the story again last week at Congaree. Had made the cut in his first five U.S. Open starts, including back-to-back T-12s in ’18 and ’19, before missing the cut by one at Winged Foot last year

35. Branden Grace Age: 33 World ranking: 71 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-4, 2015 The South African was a Presidents Cup shoe-in throughout the 2010s and remains the only player to shoot 62 in a major championship. Dipped well outside the top 100 last year but is on the mend; won the Puerto Rico Open with an eagle-birdie finish back in February, finished solo fourth in his last start at Memorial and cruised through Final Qualifying at The Bear’s Club, his home course in South Florida.

34. Joaquin Niemann Age: 22 World ranking: 31 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-23, 2020 Had a streak of 20 consecutive made cuts broken at Memorial, his final start before heading to Torrey. Seems to gain ground with his ball-striking every week and is rolling it nicely this year—he’s 23rd in SG/putting—but his chipping/around-the-green play has prevented him from taking full flight. Began the year with back-to-back runners-up in Hawaii, which (for better or worse) re-set our expectations of the former World No. 1 amateur. Has just one top 10 since then, though, and he typically does not putt well on Poa greens. Been around for a while already despite being just 22, as this will be his 10th major start.

33. Phil Mickelson Age: 50 World ranking: 30 U.S. Open appearances: 29 Best U.S. Open finish: 2/T-2, six times Sometimes in life, you need to put your hand up and say you were wrong. We had Mickelson ranked No. 92 on this list heading into the PGA Championship, and would you believe us if we said we thought that was generous? It couldn’t have been a worst fit on paper: a punishing, windy course and a guy who hits a super-high ball and didn’t have a top 20 on the PGA Tour since the prior July. But he summoned form from nowhere, as the great ones do, and added another chapter to his all-time great legacy. He initially needed a special invitation to play this U.S. Open in his hometown, which he accepted after first suggesting he might not. That’s moot, and all of a sudden his three wins at Torrey Pines jump off the page that much more. He missed the cut in his only start since Kiawah, which he only played because he personally told Charles Schwab—the man, not the company— he’d play in his tournament. We’re getting way ahead of ourselves, but if he won the U.S. Open after all his near misses in this tournament, in his hometown, for his second straight major, to complete the career Grand Slam … the entire golf media ecosystem might spontaneously combust.

Patrick Smith

MORE: Inside Phil Mickelson’s love-hate relationship with Torrey Pines

32. Tommy Fleetwood Age: 30 World ranking: 33 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: 2, 2018 He’s been stuck in neutral this year, plain and simple. It hasn’t been awful, as he’s made the cut in eight of his 11 starts this year and has a pair of top-10s on the PGA Tour, but he’s been a no-show in the big events—MC at the Players, T-46 at the Masters and MC at the PGA Championship. Went from being an equipment free agent to a TaylorMade staffer, and while correlation does not imply causation, his ball striking statistics are dramatically worse this year than last: once considered a top-five ball striker on Tour, he’s 167th in SG/off the tee and 102nd in SG/approach on the season.

31. Harris English Age: 31 World ranking: 25 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: 4, 2020 Began the year with a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions but didn’t post a top 10 in his next 11 starts before finding himself in contention at Congaree. Struggled on Sunday's back nine but still came away with a T-2, best finish since Januray. He’s faded a bit from Ryder Cup contention and will need to start producing the goods if he’s to stay so high in the World Ranking. The culprit has been some imprecise iron play, which was a strength during his really strong second half of 2020—which included a solo fourth in last year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot, his lone top 10 in 19 career major starts. Does have a T-2 at Torrey Pines in the 2015 Farmers, so there are good vibes to draw on.

30. Brian Harman Age: 34 World ranking: 47 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-2, 2017 Few are playing better golf at the moment. Over his last 24 rounds, he ranks 11th on tour in SG/overall and has six finishes of T-18 or better in his last seven starts. The bad news, however, is that one “other” start was a missed cut at the PGA Championship. He’s not a watch-on-practice-range ball-striker but he has one of the best short games on tour, and his lone top-10 in 20 major starts did come at a U.S. Open—although it was at Erin Hills, a course that resembles Torrey Pines in the same way I resemble Liam Hemsworth.

29. Shane Lowry Age: 34 World ranking: 41 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-2, 2016 Don’t look now, but his form over the past three months has been the best since his dream week at the 2019 Open. He’s got four top-10s in in his last eight starts, including a T-4 at the PGA Championship and a T-6 at the Memorial in his last two outings. His world-class short game is firing on all cylinders, as he’s picked up a combined 7.5 shots over his last two starts with his around-the-green play. Navigates difficult courses well­—in the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, he held a four-shot lead after a third-round 65 only to shoot 11 shots worse on Sunday—and, for the first time in a few years, he’s on the right side of momentum.

28. Marc Leishman Age: 37 World ranking: 45 U.S. Open appearances: 10 Best U.S. Open finish: T-18, 2016 Won the 2020 Farmers with some lights-out putting en route to a Sunday 65. He was among the best players in the world heading into the COVID hiatus but came out of it sleepwalking and trudged through a brutal summer on the golf course. He looked firmly on the rise with a T-5 at the Masters, a win alongside Cameron Smith at the Zurich Classic and a T-21 at the Nelson. Then missed the cut in the worst possible way at the PGA Championship—bogeying the last to finish one off the pace, a recipe for a true trunk slam—and did nothing of note at the Memorial. Doesn’t hit it particularly high or straight, and as such his record in the U.S. Open is his worst of any of the four majors.

MORE: Here’s why NBC will use 88 cameras(!) on one hole at Torrey Pines

27. Corey Conners Age: 29 World ranking: 36 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2017, 2020 I’ve got a theory that watching the Canadian hit golf balls eases anxiety—his syrupy rhythm, ever-present smile and über-consistent baby draw do good things for the soul. The putting, however, is a markedly different experience. Opened the PGA with a tremendous 66 but faded as the week went on in finishing T-17. He’s the only player who ranks inside the top 10 in SG/off the tee and SG/approach, which bodes extremely well for a layout as punishing as Torrey Pines during a U.S. Open week. With him, it all comes down the chipping and the putting, and he hasn’t exactly kicked the door down when he’s had a chance­—he’s broken 70 just once in his last eight final rounds. That said, he’s made 11 straight cuts in stroke-play events, so we’re tempted to call him a solid sleeper for DFS formats, but it does seem like the world is catching word of how qualified a player Conners is.

26. Jason Kokrak Age: 36 World ranking: 22 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-17, 2020 He won’t factor in the PIP rankings, but the big Ohioan is one of five players with multiple wins this season. Went 220-plus starts without a W to start his career but now has two in his last 16, the most recent coming when held steady as Jordan Spieth floundered a few weeks back at Colonial. Been putting lovely all year—he ranks sixth on tour in strokes gained/on the greens. He’s closer to 40 than 30 and has played in 16 major championships without posting a top 10, but he’s playing the best golf of his career at the moment. Three finishes between T-20 and T-29 in his last three starts in the Farmers.

25. Max Homa Age: 30 World ranking: 40 U.S. Open appearances : 2 Best U.S. Open finish: MC, 2013, 2020 Los Angeles-area native played some really consistent golf to start the year, culminating in an emotional home-town win at the Genesis Invitational, but he’s been super hot and cold since. Like, frustratingly so. His last seven starts: MC/T-18/MC/T-6/MC/MC/T-6. Clearly, his good is good enough to contend against top-level fields, but his bad has been pretty awful recently—shot a combined 21 over par at the Wells Fargo and the PGA only to rebound with a T-6 in his last start at the Memorial. SoCal roots make him comfortable on kikuyu and Poa greens, and he finished T-21 or better in all four of his California starts on the West Coast Swing, including a T-18 at the Farmers. He’s on the precipice of stardom, but to be a star, you need to perform in the majors, and he simply has not: in seven career starts, he’s got six missed cuts and a T-64.

24. Justin Rose Age: 40 World ranking: 42 U.S. Open appearances: 15 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2013 Won the 2019 Farmers at Torrey as the sitting world No. 1; subsequently he has not won anywhere and now sits outside the top 40. It’s been quite a journey since, as he took an early out of an equipment deal and dumped then un-dumped swing coach Sean Foley, and his game has taken a hit. That being said, he’s actually been better in the majors than the non-majors over the past two years, with four top-10 finishes in his last seven major starts—including both this year’s Masters, where he led by four after Thursday, and the PGA Championship. Ball-striking numbers remain spotty but he’s 11th on tour in SG/putting, which is keeping him afloat.

23. Daniel Berger Age: 28 World ranking: 16 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: T-6, 2018 Picked up his fourth PGA Tour victory in February at Pebble Beach and has been solid if unspectacular since then, with two top-10s in eight starts. You wouldn’t teach his swing or his putting stroke to any junior, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers—he’s 16th in SG/approach and 28th in SG/putting, and he’s missed just two cuts in 16 events this wraparound season. Played in the final round of the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock en route to a T-6 finish, his best career showing in a major. Missed the cut in three of his four starts in the Farmers before skipping the event this year.

22. Abraham Ancer Age: 30 World ranking: 21 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-49, 2019 Since a missed cut at Riviera in February, he’s had 10 starts on the PGA Tour and finished T-26 or better in them all. That includes a runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship, a solo fifth at Valspar and a T-8 at the PGA at Kiawah. As such, Data Golf pegs him as the seventh best player in the world despite still not winning yet on tour. Ranks third in SG/overall over his last 50 rounds in the U.S.—skipped the Memorial to jet over to Germany and play the Porsche European Open where he missed the cut. A little strange to have that be his last start before Torrey, and hardly ideal to fly all that way and miss the weekend.

21. Adam Scott Age: 40 World ranking: 43 U.S. Open appearances: 19 Best U.S. Open finish: T-4, 2015 If Scott puts up another T-25 finish, but no one seems to notice, did it really happen? Carried awesome form into the COVID-19 break but has been able to build exactly zero momentum since. He’s made every cut except one (the PGA Championship) in his 16 events since the restart but just one top-10 to show for it, although it did come at Torrey Pines. He also finished solo second at Torrey in 2019, so definitely some good vibes there—maybe it’s the surf-town vibe of La Jolla? Or maybe it’s the kikuyu and Poa annua, which is quite common in his native Australia. Played alongside Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods in the first two rounds of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey in a predecessor for the modern “supergroup,” as they were the top three players in the world at the time. He insists the game feels close and the gut says it’s going to click soon; he’s making all these cuts despite struggling with his driver and continues to tweak equipment in search of an answer.

20. Tyrrell Hatton Age: 29 World ranking: 9 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-6, 2018 Missed the cut in all three majors in 2020—and they were the only cuts he missed in 17 starts—so a relief to see him make the weekend this year at Augusta (T-18) and Kiawah (T-38), although he was never really a factor in either. Won his first start of 2021 in Abu Dhabi, his second big European Tour win in four months, to reach a career-high No. 5 in the world. Never one to wear himself out, Congaree marked just his fourth start since April 1, and he recently got married in North Carolina. Came away with a back-door T-2 finish. There’s simply not many data points to go off of, and he’s never played in the Farmers, so he’s one of the tougher ones to peg this week. What we do know, however, is he’s shown more than a little killer instinct down the stretch when he’s had a look.

19. Scottie Scheffler Age: 24 World ranking: 17 U.S. Open appearances: 3 Best U.S. Open finish: T-27, 2017 Missed last year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot after testing positive for COVID-19, so he’ll be anxious to tee it up at Torrey. His big game translates well to majors, and he’s taken T-19 or better in each of his last four starts in them, including a T-8 at the PGA. Also briefly held the lead on Sunday en route to a solo third in his last start at the Memorial—those were two much-needed results vis a vis the Ryder Cup picture as he’d been having a pretty quiet spring. Wedge game could use some sharpening, as he ranks 187th on tour in proximity from 100-125 yards, and fights a left miss with the short clubs. Missed the cut at the Farmers the past two years, including a 79 on the South Course on Friday in January.

18. Webb Simpson Age: 35 World ranking: 12 U.S. Open appearances: 10 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2012 As steady as they come and blessed with a relentlessly positive attitude, he’s made the cut in 16 straight major championships. Had to withdraw from the Wells Fargo with a neck injury and has thus played just three times since the Players in mid-March. He’s not afraid to skip marquee events if they’re on a course he doesn’t feel suits him—he prefers shorter courses that prioritize accuracy—and thus hasn’t played at Torrey Pines in 10 years. All this to say: He enters this week as something of a question mark.

Maddie Meyer/PGA of America

17. Hideki Matsuyama Age: 29 World ranking: 15 U.S. Open appearances: 8 Best U.S. Open finish: T-2, 2017 Even if he didn’t play another event the rest of his life, he’d live forever in golf lore; that’s what happens when you become the first male major winner from a golf-mad nation. He’s played three times since his Masters triumph and made the cut in all three, including a pretty solid T-23 at Kiawah. He’d never admit it, but you wonder if all the added attention—on top of the Japanese press that for years has covered his every move relentlessly—bothers him. A ball-striker’s ball-striker, he’s missed the cut just once in his eight U.S. Open starts and has six finishes of T-21 or better. Always going to be a threat if he putts well, which he did at the Masters, but he putted dreadfully at the Memorial, losing 9.4(!) on the greens at Muirfield Village. The good news in that department is he’s historically putted Poa annua the best of any green surfaces.

MORE: Tiger Woods turns down chance to join NBC broadcast reliving his 2008 U.S. Open win at Torrey

16. Paul Casey Age: 43 World ranking: 19 U.S. Open appearances: 17 Best U.S. Open finish: T-10, 2007 Another 40-pluser who has not shown the slightest sign of slowing down, and he’s all but a shoe-in to make his fifth European Ryder Cup team. Took T-5 at the Players and T-4 at the PGA Championship, so he’s shown up in some massive events this year. Remains a premier ball-striker ranking sixth in SG/approach this season and second in SG/tee to green over his last 24 rounds. Has 11 top-10s in his major career but just one of those has come in a U.S. Open, although he has finished 26th or better in his last four starts. His history at Torrey is nothing to write home about, with a T-65 at the 2008 U.S. Open and no starts in the Farmers since 2017. A major championship would be the perfect exclamation point on a terrific career that includes more than 20 wins worldwide.

15. Jordan Spieth Age: 27 World ranking: 24 U.S. Open appearances: 9 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2015 Inexorably climbing the World Ranking as the slump is now firmly in the rearview mirror, and you could make the argument he’s been the best player in the world in 2021. He leads the tour in SG/overall over his last 24 and 36 starts—and, crucially, his iron play is back to hyper-elite level. It’s no longer surprising or even exhilarating to see his name on the first page of the leader board; you expect it now. If there’s a weakness in his game it’s his driving, which tends to be hugely important at Torrey Pines. In related news, his six starts at the Farmers have produced zero top-10s and three missed cuts, and it’s been kind of the same story in his last three U.S. Opens: MC/T-65/MC. In fact, his win at Chambers Bay—an entirely different type of track than Torrey—is his only finish better than T-17 in this event.

14. Rory McIlroy Age: 32 World ranking: 11 U.S. Open appearances: 12 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2011 In some ways, it’s hard to believe a decade has passed since his breakthrough win at Congressional. But then you think of all the runs he’s been on, the highs and the lows, the never-ending media chatter about his game … and, yeah, 10 years sounds about right. He’s added three majors since Congressional and a whole boatload of victories, including his first in nearly two years at last month’s Wells Fargo, but he’s been stuck on four majors for nearly seven years now. Remains hard at work with new swing coach Pete Cowen but has looked uncomfortable with his move in both majors thus far this year, a missed cut at the Masters and a never-relevant T-49 at the PGA. Torrey would seem to fit his game quite nicely, and he’s fared well there since adding it to his schedule in 2019—T-5, T-3, T-16—but he must overcome his propensity for starting extremely slow in the major if he’s to have a chance.

13. Patrick Reed Age: 30 World ranking: 8 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: 4, 2018 Won at Torrey Pines by five this January for his ninth career PGA Tour victory, but it was not without controversy—a question over an “embedded” ball that Saturday saw him at the center of yet another rules imbroglio. He hardly seems bothered , for what it’s worth, though you can bet the limited on-site fans will remind him of his transgressions this week as the afternoons wear on and the drinks flow. Possesses maybe the finest short game on the planet and it keeps him afloat on demanding setup; he’s finished T-17 or better in six straight major starts. Washed away a missed cut at Colonial with a solo fifth at the Memorial, so the game seems to be right where it needs to be.

MORE: Patrick Reed confronts his image and his critics

12. Xander Schauffele Age: 27 World ranking: 6 U.S. Open appearances: 4 Best U.S. Open finish: T-3, 2019 Something of a Koepka-light at the majors; he’s played four U.S. Opens in his young career and finished T-6 or better all four times. Gives himself chance after chance to win but has not been able to close the deal since January 2019, a frustratingly barren streak that he’s openly admitted has peeved him. Grew up in San Diego, went to San Diego State and lived in that area until recently moving to Las Vegas, so this absolutely counts as a home game . Tied for second at the Farmers earlier this year, which actually broke a pretty brutal string of results for him there, with four missed cuts in his first five tries. Posted a video showing the rough at Torrey Pines last Wednesday—spoiler alert: it was long—so it appears he’s been hanging out in SoCal for quite a while. Would be quite the place for him to check off major No. 1, which seems only a matter of time.

11. Will Zalatoris Age: 24 World ranking: 29 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-6, 2020 It all started at this event last year—on the strength of his play on the Korn Ferry Tour, and because of one-time COVID rules, he was given a spot at Winged Foot and finished T-6. That got him into the following week’s event, where he finished T-8, and he was off. Finished one shot shy of a playoff in his first Masters in April and crept up for a T-8 at the PGA, so he’s making a habit of taking top-10 at majors. Finally took off two weeks to rest after what’s been a whirlwind couple months in golf and life, as he recently proposed to his longtime girlfriend. Finished T-7 in his first start at Torrey earlier this year. He checks all the boxes statistically and relishes the big moment. A star of the future but also a star of the present, and it truly would not be a surprise to see him leave with the trophy.

Jamie Squire

10. Viktor Hovland Age: 23 World ranking: 13 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-12, 2019 With six top-three finishes in his last 15 starts, he’s firmly established himself as a top-level player and Ryder Cup shoe-in. Always been a terrific ball-striker—he led the field in SG/off the tee at the 2019 U.S. Open as an amateur, when he finished T-12 and broke Jack Nicklaus’ 72-hole amateur U.S. Open scoring record—and he’s showing serious improvement in the short game, which has held him back in his young career. Gained strokes both chipping and putting in three straight events before a sloppy showing in the Memorial. Has finished T-33 or better in all six of his major starts, and the next step of his progression is to contend in our sport’s biggest events. This week seems a great time to start—with its narrow fairways and juicy rough, Torrey will reward great driving, and he ranks fourth on tour in SG/off the tee … which helps explain why he finished T-2 at the Farmers earlier this year. His last two starts have been pretty meh (a T-30 at the PGA preceded the Memorial), which should bring his odds back to reasonable territory.

9. Justin Thomas Age: 28 World ranking: 2 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: T-8, 2020 Call us greedy, but his play in the majors—despite already winning one—has not been up to the standard of his non-major play. Turned the page on a fraught beginning to the year at the Players, where he caught fire over the weekend to edge Lee Westwood on an exhilarating Sunday. It’s been pretty disappointing since; it’s been seven straight starts without a top-10 as the putter has gone ice cold. At the Memorial, he lost more than eight shots to the field with the flatstick, so that’ll most definitely be the focus of his practice. Has not played the Farmers since 2015, so not a ton to go off there. Approach play remains elite, and he hits it high and long, so perhaps a classic U.S. Open test like Torrey—with pretty manageable putting surfaces—will be to his liking.

8. Bryson DeChambeau Age: 27 World ranking: 5 U.S. Open appearances: 6 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2020 On the surface, Torrey Pines does have some similarities with Winged Foot. They’re both long, with narrow fairways flanked by juicy rough. In years past, we might say that plays into the straight hitters hands, but surely we learned our lesson during DeChambeau’s seismic six-shot romp last September. The Big Golfer does have a win in 2021, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational—another demanding track with punishing rough, for what it’s worth—and followed it up with a T-3 at the Players, but he’s been only OK since with just one top-10 in his last six starts. He’s also dealing with an off-course distraction, as his beef with Brooks Koepka—which, to be fair, seems to be Koepka’s doing—will surely be a storyline all week. He’s tried to distance himself and keep the feud confined to social media, but fans would not stop calling him “Brooksy” at Muirfield Village, and news that some of those fans were ejected will only increase the frequency and volume of those chirps at Torrey Pines. From an X’s and O’s perspective, he continues to do the majority of his damage with the driver (he leads the tour in SG/off the tee) but has been putting and chipping just OK. And the short game, as much as his driving, keyed the victory at Winged Foot. He didn’t just bludgeon his way to the trophy there, and he won’t here. Absolutely capable of winning, but he’ll have to do the other stuff better than he has.

Darren Carroll

MORE: Bryson DeChambeau is golf’s biggest attraction. But will he be beloved?

7. Tony Finau Age: 31 World ranking: 14 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: 5, 2018 His major record looks a lot like his PGA Tour record: a boatload of top-10s, a boatload of money and a conspicuous lack of trophies. He has four top-10 finishes in his last five major starts and nine in his last 13, including last month’s PGA and last year’s U.S. Open. Also finished joint second at this year’s Farmers at Torrey Pines, albeit five shots back of winner Patrick Reed, so he’s as good a bet as anyone to live on the first page of the leader board all week. Surely the law of averages will kick into gear sometime soon here, and he’ll convert all these near-misses into victories—or at least one victory. He enters in fine if muted form, with a T-20 at Colonial and a T-32 at the Memorial in his two starts between Kiawah and Torrey.

6. Louis Oosthuizen Age: 38 World ranking: 18 U.S. Open appearances: 11 Best U.S. Open finish: T-2, 2015 Emerged as the chief challenger to Phil Mickelson on Sunday at the PGA until a double bogey at 13 torpedoed his chances. That sort of near-miss at a major has been a theme throughout his career—with that runner-up at Kiawah, he now has finished second in five major championships and still does not have a victory on U.S. soil. The first thing that comes to mind when seeing his name is that effortless swing, but he actually leads the tour in SG/putting this year. Played in the penultimate group at Winged Foot last year and finished solo third, and he’s made the cut in seven straight U.S. Opens. Seems to gravitate toward the top of leader boards on super-demanding tests, and this certainly qualifies.

5. Dustin Johnson Age: 36 World ranking: 1 U.S. Open appearances: 13 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2016 His Masters title defense never got off the mark, and his missed cut that week had to sting. Then he disappointed majorly again at the PGA, where he MC’d in his home state of South Carolina, joining Greg Norman as the only sitting World No. 1s to miss the cut in back-to-back majors. He’d gone seven straight events without a top 10 heading into the Palmetto Championship, a marked buzzkill after his late ’20-early ’21 play teased a dominant run to come. But it seems another trip to South Carolina and a weak field have played elixir, as he looked like himself through two days at Congaree. Has played the Farmers nine times but not since 2017. Interestingly, the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines was the first major championship he ever played in. He’s faded from the best-in-the-world conversation and his grasp on the No. 1 ranking is tenuous, but he’s been among the best U.S. Open player over the last seven years, with five top-10s and a victory in that stretch. Would be a surprise if he’s not lurking come Sunday afternoon—then again, we said the same thing before Augusta and Kiawah.

4. Patrick Cantlay Age: 29 World ranking: 7 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-21, 2011 and 2019 He profiles as an ideal player for this tournament, with a no-nonsense fairways-and-greens game and an unflappable demeanor, but his best finish in the U.S. Open remains the T-21 he posted as a 19-year-old amateur in 2011. He’s been a trendy pick at the majors the past few years—that includes this year’s Masters, where he looked totally out of sorts in shooting 79-73, then missed the cut in his two starts right after that. That was actually the first time in his career he’d trunk slammed three weeks in a row, but righted the ship with a T-23 at the PGA and dismissed any slump talk by winning the Memorial … or, at least, winning the non-Jon Rahm division of the Memorial. No success in three career starts at Torrey Pines and has struggled a bit on Poa greens, but he plays tough courses quite well and couldn’t have asked for a better lead-up.

3. Jon Rahm Age: 26 World ranking: 3 U.S. Open appearances: 5 Best U.S. Open finish: T-3, 2019 He’s had a whirlwind week—perhaps you heard? After switching to a new lineless putter, he blitzed a world-class field over three days at Muirfield Village to lead the Memorial by six, only to test positive for COVID-19 and be forced to withdraw before the final round. That would’ve been his 10th top-10 in his last 14 starts; while plenty of those have been of the backdoor variety, no one has been more consistent over 72 holes the last 12 months, even if he’ll be slightly disappointed to be winless since last August. There was some concern he wouldn't be able to prepare for this event much, but he tweeted on Sunday that he'd cleared protocols and was off to Torrey. Went T-5 and T-8 in the first two majors of the year but was never a threat to win either. To his credit, he’s been open about not being satisfied with simply creeping up the board on major Sundays. It’s time for him to truly content for one of these, and he enters as the Vegas favorite despite the hoopla of the last 10 days.

2. Collin Morikawa Age: 24 World ranking: 4 U.S. Open appearances: 2 Best U.S. Open finish: T-35, 2019 He is the premier iron player in the world, and the gap between him and everyone else seems to be widening. At 24, he comports himself more like he’s 34, leads the tour in SG/tee to green for the season—and get this: his lead over No. 2 in that stat (Justin Thomas) is larger than Thomas’ lead over No. 30, Hank Lebioda. Morikawa is also the tour’s leader in SG/approach over his last 50 rounds … and his last 36 rounds … and his last 24 rounds … and his last 12 rounds … and his last eight rounds. The ball-striking is so dependably machine-like that his chances in any tournament hinge almost entirely on his putting, the Achilles heel that’s kept from reaching World No. 1. He lost at least 1.3 shots in each of his three starts prior to the Memorial and still managed to finish T-7 (RBC Heritage), T-8 (PGA Championship) and T-14 (Charles Schwab Challenge); he then putted well at the Muirfield Village (plus 5.4 shots for the week) and lost in a playoff. It’s as simple as this: If he putts well, he will almost certainly a chance to win. Switched to a “saw” putting grip earlier this year and had mixed results, then switched from a mallet to a blade—a similar one to the wand he used in his win at the 2020 PGA, where he led the field in putting—and looked much more confident with that at the Memorial. Finished T-21 at the Farmers in 2020 and will feel right at home on the kikuyu/Poa combo at Torrey, which he’s familiar with from growing up in Los Angeles and playing his college golf at Cal-Berkeley.

1. Brooks Koepka Age: 31 World ranking: 10 U.S. Open appearances: 7 Best U.S. Open finish: WIN, 2017, 2018 One of these days, we’ll learn to essentially ignore his results in non-majors. That day is today, so we’re putting absolutely zero weight into his missed cut at Congaree. (He also missed the cut the week before the PGA Championship, and that went just fine.) He admitted his mind was already on Torrey by noon on Friday, as he seems to only have eyes for major championships—and they love him right back. The two-time U.S. Open winner has finished T-7 or better in 10 of his last 14 major starts, including a disappointing T-2 at last month’s PGA. Yes, disappointing, for he held the Sunday lead over Phil Mickelson after an opening birdie only to make several head-scratching decisions down the stretch. That was actually the second-straight time he’d been in major contention and put up a dud—at the 2020 PGA Championship, he shot four over on Sunday to fall out of it—and so his reputation as the game’s premier closer is taking on water. We feel obligated to at least mention his ongoing feud with Bryson DeChambeau, but Koepka seems to feed off animosity rather than be distracted by it. Let’s not overcomplicate this one: It’s Brooks, it’s a major, it’s a beefy golf course. He’s your favorite.

Stacy Revere

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BMW Championship

Castle Pines Golf Club

Castle Rock, Colorado • USA

Aug 22 - 25, 2024