Though there has not been much action on the course between the end of the FedEx Cup Fall and the beginning of the new year, golf did not take a break in December. The rumor mill is swirling, the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund continue to negotiate a potential deal, and oh yeah, the 2024 PGA Tour season is now at our door step. With the return to a calendar season for the PGA Tour comes a preseason edition of The Power 18 golf rankings.
Before we get into the inaugural rankings for 2024, there is an elephant (or three) in the room that needs to be addressed. LIV Golf’s season does not begin until February meaning their inclusion in the first iteration of these rankings does not make a whole lot of sense. Yes, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are among the best players in the world, but for this preseason edition, we stick with PGA Tour players and then fold in LIV Golf members as they take to the course next month.
With that out of the way — and only a small corner of the internet golf community now offended — we get to The Power 18 with none other than Scottie Scheffler headlining the rankings. Coming off a historic tee-to-green season, Scheffler added a much-deserved third title of 2023 in his last start at the Hero World Challenge.
Adhering to the advice of putting guru Phil Kenyon — who works with the likes of Max Homa, Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick and Keegan Bradley — Scheffler could be on the cusp of marrying his daunted tee-to-green presence with an adequate putter setting up a potentially monstrous 2024 campaign.
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.