The old phrase “what a difference a year” makes certainly applies to a good number of pro golfers.
When it comes to the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings for men’s professional golf, there some good and some not so good in terms of where players ranked a year ago as compared to now.
For Will Zalatoris, he was one of the big sliders the wrong direction. Not his fault, really, as he underwent back surgery and missed a lot of action.
Meanwhile, rising star Ludvig Aberg is more like a shooting star, as he has rocketed into the top 10 of the December 2023 rankings.
Here’s a closer look at some of the biggest movers in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings from a year ago. How they work:
Jeff Sagarin’s rating system is based on a mathematical formula that uses a player’s won-lost-tied record against other players when they play on the same course on the same day, and the stroke differential between those players, then links all players to one another based on common opponents. The ratings give an indication of who is playing well over the past 52 weeks.
Also, players must have played in at least 10 events to be ranked.
Editor’s note: We’ve included the Official World Golf Ranking for the sake of comparison.
The top 5 year over year
December 2022
- Rory McIlroy
- Jon Rahm
- Patrick Cantlay
- Scottie Scheffler
- Xander Schauffele
December 2023
- Scottie Scheffler
- Xander Schauffele
- Viktor Hovland
- Rory McIlroy
- Jon Rahm
The top five was mostly a re-order, with Scheffler and McIlroy trading the Nos. 1 and 4 spots and Rahm and Schauffele swapping the Nos. 2 and 5 slots. Hovland has jumped into the top 5 (from No. 10) a year ago, with Cantlay sliding back just one spot to No. 6.
UP: Ludvig Aberg
End of 2022: Unranked.
End of 2023: No. 7.
Aberg was playing college golf at Texas Tech a year ago this time and was not ranked in the Sags, having not played in at least 10 events. There were a total of 961 golfers who were qualified at that time.
One Ryder Cup and two wins – one on the DP World Tour, one on the PGA Tour – later, to go along with a finish no worse than 13th in five Fall series event, and Aberg is quickly confirming his credentials.
OWGR: No. 32.
UP: Rickie Fowler
End of 2022: 121.
End of 2023: No. 8.
Fowler enjoyed a resurgence in 2023, with 24 cuts made in 26 starts, eight top10s, a win, a near-miss at the U.S. Open and a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team. In September, Golfweek‘s Adam Schupak asked Fowler to rank his season: “Right near the top. I’ve only had one season where I’ve won multiple times. 2015 was great with the Players win, and then 2014 with the top-5s at all the majors. This one means a lot given that the last few years I hadn’t done really anything.”
OWGR: 23.
UP: Wyndham Clark
End of 2022: 66.
End of 2023: No. 11.
Winning two events, with one of them a major, is a great way to shoot up the rankings, and Wyndham Clark did just that. The 2023 U.S. Open champ also made his first appearance in the red, white and blue at the Ryder Cup, becoming the second player to automatically qualify for the squad.
OWGR: No. 10.
UP: Eric Cole
End of 2022: No. 228.
End of 2023: No. 20.
Cole, a leading contender for the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year award, nearly won the then-Honda Classic in March.
DOWN: Justin Thomas
End of 2022: No. 7.
End of 2023: No. 40.
It was a rough go for JT in ’23, who fell short of most his stated goals, which are always high.
After missing consecutive cuts at the Open Championship and the 3M Open, Thomas was the odd man out at No. 71 for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
But he closed strong, with a fifth-place finish at the Fortinet Championship and solo third in the unofficial Hero World Challenge.
OWGR: No. 26.
DOWN: Billy Horschel
End of 2022: No. 26.
End of 2023: No. 138.
The 2014 FedEx Cup champion, Horschel missed out on the playoffs in 2023 for the first time in a decade. A few months prior, he posted an 84 at the Memorial and called that “the lowest it’s been in my entire career.” His post-round news conference that day was lauded for the raw emotion and introspection he displayed. He rebounded with a solo fourth at the Wyndham Championship. He missed the cut at the RSM Classic in the lone Fall series event he entered.
OWGR: 61.
DOWN: Alexander Noren
End of 2022: No. 16.
End of 2023: No. 97.
Noren did have two top-5s in the Fall series but overall, he missed 10 cuts in 29 events and posted just four top-10s. He missed the cut in the first three majors and then missed out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
OWGR: 55.
DOWN: Seamus Power
End of 2022: No. 51.
End of 2023: No. 143.
Power did have a win last season (back in October of 2022) and he qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but he managed just two other top-10s while missing seven cuts in 26 events played. Three of those cuts came in the majors. Putting remains the strength of his came but he was outside the top 100 in most of the others Shots Gained statistics.
OWGR: 78.
