There was a point this season — not too long ago, in fact — where many believed Rory McIlroy had usurped Scottie Scheffler as the game’s best despite what the Official World Golf Rankings and many metrics may have stated. That point is now in the distant past as Scheffler’s surge across the month of May zoomed him well past any contemporaries as the long summer of professional golf begins.
The 16-time PGA Tour winner has added three more trophies to his mantle — all in the last four weeks since we last took stock of The Power 18, ranking the best-performing players in golf. Scheffler stood at No. 1 then, and he stands at No. 1 now because, well, there is nowhere higher to put him.
Scheffler tied the PGA Tour scoring record at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, won by five strokes at the PGA Championship (for his third major championship) and clipped the field by four at Jack’s Place for his second straight Memorial title, making him only the second successful tournament defender at Muirfield Village in history (Tiger Woods, 1999-2001).
As golf has been for the last three years, it is Scheffler and then everyone else. But what about everyone else? How does that shake out ahead of the U.S. Open where those on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will reconvene for the third time this season?
The top player in the game has never been clearer — Scheffler is a 5/2 favorite for the year’s third major ahead of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau (15/2), per FanDuel Sportsbook — but that same thing can be said about the top four given it is an even split between the competing leagues. Those in the latter organization have fared well in the first two majors of the season, and with a league event this week ahead of the trip to Oakmont, they seek their first entrance into the winner’s circle on the major stage.
The Power 18 provides insight as to how golfers are currently performing with benefit given to their play over recent events. It is a wider lens than simply what happened at the last tournament to be played but more narrow than the Official World Golf Rankings, which take into account how more than 2,000 golfers perform across an entire season.