Another edition of The Masters is in the history books, and, for the second year running at Augusta National, LIV golfers competed at the Major.
It was another respectable showing for the big-money League, too, with eight of the 13 who qualified for the tournament making the cut.
Of those, Brooks Koepka’s world ranking didn’t change after his T45, so he stays 33rd for another week. The defending champion, Jon Rahm, couldn’t repeat the brilliance of the year before and had to settle for the same position on the leaderboard as Koepka. As a result, he dropped a place in the rankings to fourth.
For the other six, though, there were gains in the world rankings, with some of them sizeable and potentially significant.
Bryson DeChambeau
- From 210th to 110th
Bryson DeChambeau set the early pace at the tournament and held a one-shot lead after the opening round. That largely set the tone for a mature performance from the American, with the undoubted highlight being a hole-out birdie on the 18th in the third round to keep his Masters dream alive.
In the end, it wasn’t to be, and DeChambeau had to settle for a T6. While the 2020 US Open champion has to wait to claim a second Major title, his world ranking received a huge boost.
The 19 world ranking points DeChambeau gained for his efforts saw him leap 100 places to World No.110. DeChambeau has locked in his appearances at all four Majors through 2025, so his world ranking is perhaps not as important as for others for the time being, but it’s still the highest he’s been for eight months.
Cameron Smith
- From 68th to 52nd
While world ranking is probably not the most pressing issue on DeChambeau’s mind, for Australian Smith it very much is. The 2022 Open champion, who was second in the world when he joined LIV in August that year, needs to grab as many points as he can between now and the end of the US Open to have a chance of making the Olympics, something he has admitted he “desperately” hopes to achieve.
Currently, Jason Day, who ranks 21st, and Min Woo Lee, who is 11 places beneath Day, are in the prime positions to make the team, but that could change if Smith takes the form that saw him finish T6 at Augusta National into May’s PGA Championship and the US Open a month later.
Smith began The Masters down in 68th in the rankings, but that performance saw him move 16 places to 52nd, just 20 lower than Lee.
Tyrrell Hatton
- From 19th to 16th
Hatton was 16th in the world rankings when he joined LIV Golf, and he’s back to that position after moving up three places following his T9 at The Masters. While that’s not a big move numerically, it could be significant in the long run because Hatton will need to maintain a high enough world ranking to qualify for three of next year’s Majors.
The one he doesn’t have to worry about is The Masters. Anyone finishing in the top 12 and ties at the Major secures a place for the following year, meaning he’ll have at least one appearance in the big four tournaments to look forward to in 2025.
Patrick Reed
- From 112th to 85th
It was a big Masters week for Patrick Reed because, even though he has a place at the tournament for life thanks to his 2018 win, the exemptions to the other three Majors the victory gave him are no longer in place.
Therefore, if he couldn’t win the Major for a second time, the next best thing was a strong finish to boost his world ranking, and he achieved that with a T12.
Reed has moved up 27 places, from 112th to 85th, and that might just be enough to get him a place at the PGA Championship because, even though it’s not an official route, generally, the top 100 players in the world rankings the week before the event receive an invite.
He still has some way to go to reach the other two via that route, though. A top 60 place is needed by no later than the week before June’s US Open, and a place in the top 50 is required a week ahead of The Open, but it’s a start. He’ll now be focused on more solid performances in ranking events to ensure he qualifies.
Joaquin Niemann
- From 93rd to 82nd
Niemann received a special invite to The Masters, and he took advantage of the opportunity with a solid T22, which moved him 11 places up the world rankings. Niemann already has an invite to the PGA Championship, while he qualified for The Open thanks to his win at the Australian Open on the DP World Tour.
Because of that, his world ranking boost is significant, as it has brought him some way to the top 60 needed to qualify for the one other Major of the year, the US Open.
Phil Mickelson
- From 66th to 151st
Like DeChambeau, Mickelson has no issues over Major qualification for a while thanks to his PGA Championship win in 2021. Even then, it’s only the US Open that might become tricky in 2026, when his current exemption has expired. That’s because the 53-year-old has places at The Masters and the PGA Championship for life, with a slot at The Open guaranteed until he turns 60.
Therefore, Mickelson’s ranking boost of 15 places to World No.151 for his T43 is not that significant, but at least it’s more respectable than the position of 425th he held before his T2 at the 2023 Masters.
