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The top 100 players on the PGA Tour, ranked

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 the 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 (as of jan. 3, 2022): 187 / ’22 fedex cup (entering sentry toc): 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: 229 / ’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: 126 / ’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

MORE: How Jason Day is rediscovering his game with an assist from a 9-year-old

97. Denny McCarthy

Age: 28 / owgr: 180 / ’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: 163 / ’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

95. Adam Schenk

Age: 29 / owgr: 156 / ’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: 150 / ’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

MORE: Complete top 25 of Golf Digest’s Newsmakers of 2021

93. Luke List

Age: 36 / owgr: 152 / ’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: 162 / ’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: 120 / ’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: 106 / ’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: 100 / ’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

MORE: This pro’s reason for using iron headcovers will make you feel pretty bad about making fun of him

88. Brendan Steele

Age: 38 / owgr: 101 / ’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: 362 / ’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: 96 / ’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: 111 / '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.

MORE: Lanto Griffin—from broke to the PGA Tour in five months

84. Matt Kuchar

Age: 43 / owgr: 116 / ’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

MORE: Even Matt Kuchar is chasing speed with his swing

83. Bubba Watson

Age: 43 / owgr: 85 / ’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.

MORE: In new book, Bubba opens up about the struggles he kept to himself

82. Adam Long

Age: 29 / owgr: 143 / ’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: 82 / ’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: 280 / ’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: 92 / ’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: 93 / ’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

MORE: How Joel Dahmen got his mind right before his first PGA Tour win

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: 135 / ’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.

MORE: 7 unsung heroes of the PGA Tour fall season

75. Sahith Theegala

Age: 24 / owgr: 382 / ’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: 78 / ’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: 80 / ’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: 57 / ’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: 95 / ’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.

MORE: The most absurdly funny screenshots from an absurdly funny year in golf

69. Charley Hoffman

Age: 45 / owgr: 76 / ’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: 83 / ’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: 86 / ’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: 61 / ’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: 70 / ’ 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: 77 / ’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.

MORE: Kevin Streelman was the other underdog at the 2021 PGA

61. Aaron Wise

Age: 25 / owgr: 64 / ’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: 87 / ’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: 59 / ’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: 73 / ’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.

MORE: You won’t believe how many tour pros have made $10M without winning

54. Stewart Cink

Age: 48 / owgr: 52 / ’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: 138 / ’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.

MORE: 101 things that happened to Phil Mickelson in 2021

51. Russell Henley

Age: 32 / owgr: 55 / ’ 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: 42 / ’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: 98 / ’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: 43 / ’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: 68 / ’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: 66 / ’ 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: 41 / ’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: 60 / ’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: 53 / ’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.

MORE: The 31 biggest rules issues of 2021

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: 27 / ’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: 28 / ’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: 30 / ’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.

MORE: Matthew Wolff details depths of his mental health struggles

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: 54 / ’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

MORE: Talor Gooch finishes excellent fall with breakthrough win

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: 11 / ’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.

MORE: Louis Oothuizen is not wondering ‘what if’ about major misses

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.

MORE: Patrick Reed confronts his image and his critics

​​ 22. Will Zalatoris

Age: 25 / owgr: 34 / ’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.

MORE: Sungjae Im (aka the Birdie Machine) was the perfect fit to win in Las Vegas

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: 21 / ’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: 12 / ’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.

MORE: Brooks Koepka doesn’t hold back in our poolside interview

11. Scottie Scheffler

Age: 25 / owgr: 13 / ’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: 10 / ’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 and Arnold Palmer boast 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.

MORE: Bryson vs Brooks feud dominated golf chatter but was it good for the game?

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: 7 / ’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: 8 / ’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

Matsuyama nears goal of most prolific Asian-born PGA golfer

HONOLULU (AP) — Not long after Hideki Matsuyama delivered the best shot he never saw to cap off his improbable comeback in the Sony Open, his phone buzzed with a text from Shigeki Maruyama to remind him of a conversation long ago.

Maruyama, a three-time PGA Tour winner who once went 5-0 in the Presidents Cup, always talked to his protégé about becoming the most prolific PGA Tour winner of all Asian players.

“That was always the goal,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter, the winner's lei still draped around his neck.

His playoff victory Sunday afternoon over Russell Henley was the eighth of his career, tying him with K.J. Choi of South Korea.

One more to go. Matsuyama smiled when he heard that, no translation necessary.

The 29-year-old Japanese star has put together an impressive collection of titles in his eight years on the PGA Tour. That starts with his Masters green jacket he won in April. Add a pair of World Golf Championships and victories against strong fields in the Phoenix Open (twice), the Memorial and the Zozo Championship outside of Tokyo.

What made the record-tying win at Waialae so impressive was how he rallied from a five-shot deficit with nine holes to play on a course that's suited to low scoring.

Henley looked like a winner all the way. He capped off the front nine by making a 10-foot par putt to stay one shot ahead, three straight birdies and then a 4-iron to 3 feet for eagle. His lead suddenly was five shots after Matsuyama failed to birdie the par-5 ninth with a three-putt.

“Russell was playing so beautifully the front nine. But at the turn I was thinking, ‘He can’t keep this up, can he?'" Matsuyama said. “I was five back, but I just put my head down.”

Indeed, Henley didn't keep up his pace. He didn't make a birdie the rest of the day, and there was a pivotal two-shot swing on the par-3 11th, when Matsuyama holed a 12-foot birdie putt and Henley went left into a bunker and made bogey.

His lead was down to two shots, and Matsuyama inched closer with another 20-foot birdie putt on the 15th that led to the big finish.

Matsuyama figured he would need eagle on the par-5 18th hole, so he teed up his ball all the way to the right and a few feet behind the marker for the best angle to launch what turned out to be the longest drive of the day.

He swung with such force it looked like he nearly came out of his shoes. Matsuyama laughed when asked if he had to tie his shoes extra tight beforehand.

“That's probably the first swing of its type that I've had on the PGA Tour, until now,” he said.

He had to settle for birdie and a 7-under 63 — his 13th consecutive round in the 60s — and that was enough to force a playoff when Henley's 10-foot birdie putt for the win grazed the right side of the cup.

“I’m really still scratching my head on how I missed that,” Henley said. “It was really close to going in. I was close to getting a win. So tough to swallow, but Hideki played great all day and happy for him.”

Matsuyama saved his best for the end.

Henley went first on the 18th and hit into the fairway bunker for the second time, leaving him no chance of reaching the green in two. Matsuyama switched to a 3-wood off the tee and had 276 yards to the flag, a perfect number for a high, cut 3-wood.

He made contact and looked directly into the setting sun, holding up his hand to block the light and then turning away.

“To be honest, I didn't even see it,” Matsuyama said. “But everybody started cheering, and I knew it was good.”

The big roar came from one of the largest galleries for the Sony Open, and it was clear whom they came to see. “Sugoi!” they they kept cheering — Japanese for great — as Matsuyama made each of his seven birdies, and especially the eagle in the playoff.

His last win also ended with an eagle at the Zozo Championship, which he won by five shots. That win was special because Japanese fans finally were able to celebrate their biggest golf star. Matsuyama had to quarantine for 14 days when he returned home from winning the Masters in April because of the pandemic. When he came back for the Tokyo Olympics, no fans were allowed on the golf course.

He got another dose of celebrity in Honolulu when the fans spilled onto the 18th fairway and surrounded the green in regulation. It was similar, though not nearly as many people, as the scene at the Tour Championship in 2018 when Tiger Woods won.

And then came the shot everyone at Waialae will remember. That included Keita Nakajima, the No. 1 amateur in the world, a junior in college in Japan who now has made the cut in both his PGA Tour starts.

Nakajima stayed behind to watch his golf hero, and he was so wide-eyed when he saw it the ball land near the hole that he rubbed his arm as if he had goosebumps. That's why Nakajima referred to Matsuyama earlier in the week as “a superstar in Japan.”

Now, he's at the top of the list of Asian-born players winning on the PGA Tour, looking as though many more trophies will follow.

For more AP golf coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Meet the pga professionals competing at the pga championship: part 1.

2023 PGA Professional Champion Braden Shattuck.

Braden Shattuck, PGA

Alex Beach, PGA

Michael Block, PGA

Matt Cahill, PGA

Anthony Cordes, PGA

Jesse Droemer, PGA

Chris French, PGA

Russell Grove, PGA

Steve Holmes, PGA

Colin Inglis, PGA

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Michael Block and the making of a fever dream

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Let’s recall how this began. A week ago, Michael Block was a guy. A very good golfer, sure, but a guy. Really, no different than any of the other 19 club pros competing in the PGA Championship.

Block didn’t win the PGA Professional Championship earlier this year. That would be Braden Shattuck, the director of instruction of Rolling Green Golf Club in Philadelphia, who you likely never have heard of. Block finished T2.

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And Block wasn’t the most experienced club pro to compete in the PGA Championship. That’d be Alex Beach, an assistant pro from Westchester (NY) Country Club, who was competing in his sixth PGA , one more than Block’s five, despite being 13 years younger than the 46-year-old Block.

Yet, it was Block who appeared on Good Morning America earlier this week. And it’s Block who will tee it up as a sponsor’s exemption Thursday in the Charles Schwab Invitational, probably in a featured group on PGA Tour Live, no less. And it’s Block who will reappear in the second week of June at the RBC Canadian Open. And it’s Block who people are talking about in bars and barbershops, in airports and Ubers, and on courses and in grill rooms across the country, not the man who won, whose fifth major championship completed his own comeback story.

As Block prepares for Colonial this week, it’s worth pausing for a moment to remember just how totally, completely inconceivable this all is. The fact that he is where he is — it might, at this point, still be somehow under-appreciated.

A hero’s welcome. Michael Block receives high praise from TOUR players @CSChallengeFW . pic.twitter.com/Rg74VSUK61 — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 23, 2023

Each year, the PGA of America does everything in its power to draw attention to the 20 club pros playing in the PGA Championship. They broadcast the PGA Professional Championship on Golf Channel. They produce mini-bios on each player. They pitch stories to media. They brand the 20 as a team, like some hell-raising band of studs and sidekicks ready to take on those tour pros. This year they were the Corebridge Financial PGA Team and they rolled deep with annuities.

But really, fair or not, no one cares. Every year, by the end of Friday, the pros are gone, scattered on outbound Southwest and Delta flights.

For fans shelling out hundreds of dollars to attend the PGA Championship, the club pros are nameless faces. Spectators look at them, glance at a tee sheet, read these unfamiliar names, and then ask, where’s Rory?

For golf media, the club pros are an odd ornament. Maybe there’s a story in there somewhere. Probably not. For local newspapers or TV affiliates, maybe someone with a homegrown angle provides an easy story. Those reporters ask, “How big of a dream is this?” To which the pro responds, “It’s a big dream.” That, packaged with some B roll of friends, family and drinking buddies, and you have yourself a hit on the 6 p.m. broadcast. No one outside of Tulsa or Rochester or Louisville may see it, but it makes for a nice story.

For players competing in the PGA, meanwhile, the 20 club pros, whether anyone says it out loud or not, are usually clutter more than anything else. While every major has players who will absolutely not win — amateurs or past champions or whoever — occasionally someone makes you think, what if? Tom Watson at Turnberry in 2009. Chris Wood at Royal Birkdale in 2008. Sam Bennett at Augusta last month. The long list of recent low-ams at the U.S. Open who was worth remembering includes Victor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay.

But club pros at the PGA? They simply fill out early and late tee times.

In 2022, no club pro came within two shots of making the cut. (Block went 78-73 and missed it by seven shots.) In 2021, PGA pro Ben Cook made the cut and finished 44th, while Brad Marek finished 78th out of 81 that weekend.

Before this year, no club pro this century had finished inside the top 30 on the PGA Championship leaderboard.

Since 1990, none had finished inside the top 20.

This is why, during Block’s back-nine last Friday, his wife, Val, along with a small group of friends and members from his home course, Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif., were living and dying with every swing. They weren’t operating with grandeurs of delusion. They weren’t thinking about him competing atop the leaderboard, or playing alongside Rory McIlroy on Sunday, or making $300K. They just wanted to see him play the weekend.

Making the cut, that’s the aspiration of a club pro at the PGA Championship. You’re not thinking about captivating the country and scoring sponsor exemptions for PGA Tour events. Before last week, Block’s highlight in five previous PGA Championship appearances was probably 2018. Having grown up a mile from Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, he was placed in that Thursday’s opening group. He was introduced and hit the opening tee shot in the 100th PGA Championship. All of it, very cool. After shooting a 5-over 75, Block told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the tee show was “something I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.” He missed the cut the next day.

On Friday, Val Block said that tee shot in 2018 still ranked among Michael’s career highlights. Her husband, she said, never got caught up chasing the fantasy of pursuing PGA Tour life . He was content with who he was. Nowadays, he focuses far more attention on his two teenage sons, both of whom show loads of promise. His own game is secondary.

This is how older guys think.

Which is perhaps the greatest absurdity in Block’s overnight catapult from man to myth. The guy is 46. This is a fact somewhat lost amid the hubbub of his club pro status. But it shouldn’t be overlooked that he not only randomly played the greatest week of golf in his life during a major, but did so as the eighth-oldest player in the field, the second-oldest of the 20 club pros.

The average age of all players at the PGA Championship was about 32. The average age among the pros was 36. Block? He turned pro in 1998, a year after Hovland was born. Age-wise, his contemporaries last week were the likes of Matt Kuchar (44), Luke Donald (45) and Zach Johnson (47). You didn’t see any of those tour stalwarts contending on Sunday, did you? Only Johnson made the cut.

This week in Fort Worth, the only players in the Colonial field older than Block will be Johnson and Rory Sabbatini (47).

None of that seems to matter in whatever this moment is.

As he did at Oak Hill, Block will say this week that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He’ll say the pressure is on the other guys, not him. He’ll say that, the way he’s playing right now, the cup looks like the mouth of a volcano.

He’ll mean it, too, because that’s what it feels like to play unthinkably good golf. Last week, the average score from Block’s fellow club pro was 77.6. The best single round was a second-round 71 by Colin Inglis.

Block? He posted four rounds of 70, 70, 70, 71.

He might be better than his fellow pros, but he’s not that much better.

Then, for the hell of it, the guy made a hole-in-one in front of McIlroy, and a packed gallery, and millions watching, and, you know what, even atheists had to question the existence of golf gods.

Improbable is a big word, but it fits.

This is why this whole fever dream — from shooting even-par Thursday, to making the cut Friday, to grinding out another 70 on Saturday, to an unforgettable Sunday — is all so beautifully and brilliantly unique to golf. For a sport that in the greater sense is so tied to exclusion of access, when it comes to competing, even at the highest level, all that matters is your score. That’s how you get Michael Block. He qualified for this tournament, went on an out-of-body heater, and now we’re here. It all worked — his play, his story, his embrace of the moment, his tight-rope walk of taking it seriously, but not too seriously, and his I-don’t-know-what’s-happening face.

Now come some spoils. A lot of money, plus a few starts on the PGA Tour. Block’s dabbled in the latter over the years. He qualified for events here and there, been invited to a few others. He’s played in more than 20 PGA Tour events and made four cuts. But the most recent was the 2015 Barbasol Championship, when he finished 71st.

But why doubt anything at this point? Block has already proven the randomness of life. Maybe he’ll miss the cut. Maybe the guy will win the damn tournament, take a few steps, and lift off in human flight. Considering what we’ve seen, anything is possible.

Really, the best part of Michael Block’s story is that it happened.

(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

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Brendan Quinn is an senior enterprise writer for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic in 2017 from MLive Media Group, where he covered Michigan and Michigan State basketball. Prior to that, he covered Tennessee basketball for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Follow Brendan on Twitter @ BFQuinn

Why former Husky Joel Dahmen and caddie Geno Bonnalie have become golf’s most interesting duo

PGA Tour player Joel Dahmen, a former UW Husky from Clarkston, and his caddie, Geno Bonnalie, are best friends, but they are even more than that.

“I’m basically married to Geno,” Dahmen said of Bonnalie, who grew up in Lewiston, Idaho, across the Snake River from Clarkston. “I spend as much time in the golf season with him as I do with my wife. We bicker like a married couple.”

They like to needle each other, but it’s almost always in good fun. Perhaps no player-caddie combination on the PGA Tour has a better time than Dahmen and Bonnalie.

Like all caddies, Bonnalie carries Dahmen’s bag of clubs, knows the yardage to each hole and helps read putts.

But it’s the other roles of a caddie — cheerleader, psychologist and motivator — where Bonnalie particularly excels.

“As much as I do have fun, I can still be pretty fiery out there,” Dahmen said. “Sometimes I get a little negative, and he understands what to say to me and when to say it — sometimes to go have fun and kind of let me go, and sometimes to rein me in.”

But mostly it’s fun — and golf fans have caught on to it.

Dahmen and Bonnalie were featured in one of eight segments in Netflix’s documentary series “Full Swing.”

The episode chronicled the fun-loving duo through 36 holes at a U.S. Open qualifier last year — when Dahmen made a remarkable comeback to earn a berth after drinking a couple of White Claws between rounds — and then in the U.S. Open, when Dahmen was tied for the lead through two rounds before finishing 10th.

That 10th-place finish qualified Dahmen for this year’s U.S. Open, which begins Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club.

Dahmen and Bonnalie will certainly have a big gallery watching. That’s part of becoming fan favorites. Bonnalie gets more autograph requests than some players.

Their popularity is not something Dahmen, who has more than 172,000 Twitter followers, would have predicted when he earned his PGA Tour card in 2016.

“I don’t really get it, myself,” Dahmen said. “We’re not robots. We’re just two kids who grew up in Lewiston and Clarkston, and we both kind of had a dream to be on Tour.

“We’re just typical guys. The only thing I do differently than others is I happen to hit a golf ball better, and I make sure to have fun doing it. It’s not lost on me how lucky and blessed I am to be on the PGA Tour.”

Joel Dahmen Age: 35 Hometown: Clarkston College: Washington Did you know? Wears a bucket hat for protection against the sun, and is active in helping raise money for cancer research.

Journey to the PGA Tour

When Dahmen, 35, was approached about being in Netflix’s documentary series, his first inclination was to say no, thinking, “We don’t need our life on camera.”

But after learning many of the world’s top players would be participating, Dahmen changed his mind.

“If they’re doing it, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be doing it,” Dahmen said.

The episode is titled “Impostor Syndrome.” It plays up Dahmen’s self-deprecating style — seen at a workout and while out shopping for baby accessories — and his attitude about his place on the PGA Tour.

“I’ll never be a top-10 player in the world, and I’ll never win majors,” Dahmen says in the show. “Someone’s gotta be the 70th-best golfer in the world. Might as well be me.”

Dahmen, who has been as high as 58th in the world rankings and is now 124th, said he was happy with the episode.

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“I think they leaned into my self-deprecation a little much, but that’s the story line they chose,” Dahmen said. “But I wouldn’t be on the PGA Tour if I didn’t believe in myself. I wouldn’t have seven years out here — with some decent success — if I didn’t believe I was any good.”

Bonnalie’s faith in his friend and boss comes through clearly in the episode.

Their story together began when Bonnalie was about 15 and he wanted Dahmen, about 3 1/2 years younger but a budding star, to be his partner in a two-player, best-ball tournament.

Bonnalie’s mother called Dahmen’s mother to arrange it, and the boys became fast friends.

A few years later, after Bonnalie went off to the University of Idaho, Dahmen’s mother died from cancer when he was a junior in high school.

Dahmen has said he was lost for a couple of years after that, and his stay as a student-athlete at UW was short because he didn’t take care of the school part. But he continued to room with Husky golfers, including Nick Taylor, who won the Canadian Open last week .

It was during this period that Bonnalie, who graduated from Idaho with a business degree, and Dahmen became particularly close.

Bonnalie was working at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish in pursuit of becoming a teaching pro and lived a short drive from Dahmen.

“We would just hang out and play Mario Kart, like little kids,” Bonnalie said.

Dahmen turned pro in 2010, but his career was temporarily derailed the next year when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

He returned to playing the next season, but it took a few years before his career started to take off.

In 2014, Dahmen led the Canadian Tour standings, earning him a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour, one step below the PGA Tour.

That’s when Bonnalie sent Dahmen a long note, saying how much he believed in Dahmen and that he wanted to be his caddie.

Dahmen, who said yes, was moved to tears talking about that note on the Netflix episode.

It certainly wasn’t lucrative at the beginning for Dahmen or Bonnalie, who left a good job with a staffing and recruiting company after having given up on the golf gig.

That changed when in 2016, Dahmen earned his PGA Tour card; he’s kept it ever since. Dahmen has one win, two second-place finishes and has made more than $10.5 million.

“When we first got on Tour and we would go out to a restaurant, I would find the cheapest thing on the menu and order it,” Bonnalie said. “Now I get what I want. That’s about the only difference.”

Becoming a celebrity caddie

Bonnalie, 39, made news years before becoming Dahmen’s caddie.

In 2011, he played 2,000 holes in one week at Lewiston Country Club, setting a Guinness World Record while raising money to fight cystinosis, a rare metabolic disease that afflicts one of wife Holly’s cousins.

The 2,000 mark lasted about 10 years; his 493 birdies in a week remains a world record.

“It was very, very difficult,” said Bonnalie, who took advantage of nearly every moment of light until he hit 2,000. “The second day I woke up and my forearms were swollen and cramped, and the pad of my left thumb was basically gone. I was like, ‘I can’t play golf today.’ “

With Holly’s encouragement, he persevered.

Bonnalie’s popularity as a caddie can be partially attributed to giving people a peek into his life on the Tour through social media. He has more than 71,000 Twitter followers.

He has shared the balance sheet from his first year of earnings working for Dahmen, videos of less-than-luxurious accommodations and recently the new golf simulator in his Lewiston home.

I have an important announcement… @aboutgolfsims @pxg pic.twitter.com/bAigJtV0tp — Geno Bonnalie (@GenoBonnalie) February 23, 2023

Perhaps the most entertaining antic Bonnalie has shared came at The Players Championship in Florida last year when he heard traffic was so bad getting to the course that he might not get there in time.

So Bonnalie improvised, finding a small girls bike with a flat tire where he was staying, and riding it seven miles into 30-mph winds to meet Dahmen, who was staying next to the course.

When an exhausted Bonnalie reached Dahmen, he learned the tee time had been postponed until the next day because of bad weather.

“That’s the most Geno thing ever,” Dahmen said. “It shows his desire to be a great caddie, to make sure he’s on time, and the lengths he is willing to go for that. It’s hilarious, because I feel like any other caddie who would be willing to do that would make sure the tee time was going (to happen).

“Then all of a sudden Geno shows up after pedaling for however many miles on a crappy bicycle with a flat tire and the winds, just to turn around and do it back the other way.”

I need a helicopter pic.twitter.com/nUKEdSHcBq — Geno Bonnalie (@GenoBonnalie) March 12, 2022

Still, Bonnalie said, “My job is the best.”

“Somebody asked me how many hours a week do I feel like I actually work, and I was like, ‘Zero,’ ” he said. “This is living the dream.”

But there are sacrifices. He and Holly have two sons, ages 10 and 2, and being away is hard.

Bonnalie said Dahmen told him recently that he was adding a tournament to his schedule, making it several consecutive weeks of playing.

“He said I don’t have to come to one of them, but I don’t want to take a week off and have him get somebody else,” Bonnalie said. “I want to be there with Joel, but being away from the family for five or six straight weeks, it makes me want to cry thinking about it.”

Happiness at home and the course

Dahmen also treasures time at home. He and his wife, Lona, had their first child, a boy named Riggs, in January, and they recently moved into a new home in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“A lot of people might think I’m selling myself short or maybe not giving it my all, but I’m giving it the right amount for me, for my family, for my mental health and my work-life balance,” Dahmen said.

Dahmen hopes to play several more years on the PGA Tour but said he doesn’t believe he drives the ball far enough (he ranks 157th in driving distance) to be among the world’s top 10 or 20 players.

But he said he is good enough to win — even a major — at courses where being accurate off the tee, his strength, is as important as length.

As far as his profile, that is still on the rise.

During a practice round at the PGA Championship last month, Dahmen’s drive hit a spectator on his calf.

Dahmen made sure the man was OK and gave him a $100 bill, and the gesture went viral.

“I wanted to buy him a beer because I felt bad, but it turned out beer was really expensive,” Dahmen said. “So I had to make sure he had enough to get a couple extra.”

The fun continued this past week when Bonnalie reportedly spent $500 for wrestling legend Ric Flair to give Dahmen a pep talk in a Cameo video.

Hey, @Joel_Dahmen . Your fans have spoken pic.twitter.com/DWBxBDGqMe — Geno Bonnalie (@GenoBonnalie) June 9, 2023

That’s so Geno.

When Joel and Lona got married in 2018, it was Bonnalie who performed the ceremony.

“He was the only person for us,” Dahmen said. “He’s been through it all with us. When we were discussing wedding plans, it took like three seconds. We looked at each other and we both said, ‘Geno.’ ”

The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

Who Is Mark Hubbard? Personal Life, Career, & More About 'Nick Faldo's Favorite PGA Golfer' Explored

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These Are The 21 PGA Professionals Playing In The 2024 PGA Championship

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - The 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club will feature the Corebridge Financial Team, composed of 21 PGA of America Golf Professionals who dedicate their careers as expert coaches, administrators and business leaders within the game.

Ben Polland, PGA, the 33-year-old Director of Golf at Shooting Star in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, won the 2024 PGA Professional Championship, which took place April 29 - May 1 at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco. He will lead the remainder of the team of top-20 finishers at the 2024 PGA Professional Championship and Michael Block, PGA, who qualified through his T-15 finish in the 2023 PGA Championship.

Polland will compete in his fourth PGA Championship following appearances in 2015, 2016 and 2021. After a number of close calls at the PGA Professional Championship, including finishing runner-up in 2015 to Matt Dobyns, PGA, his mentor, and former boss at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, New York, Polland heads to Valhalla with a long-sought-after victory under his belt. Dobyns will also compete in this year’s PGA Championship after a T-16 finish at Fields Ranch.

Corebridge Financial has broadened its partnership with the PGA of America to include the title sponsorship of the PGA of America Member teams, formerly known as the Team of 20 (PGA Championship); Team of 35 (KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship); and Team of 9 (KPMG Women’s PGA Championship). Each group will now be recognized as the Corebridge Financial Team.

“One of the most treasured opportunities for our more than 30,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals is the chance to compete with the world's best in the PGA Championship,” said PGA of America President John Lindert, PGA Director of Golf of the Country Club of Lansing (Michigan). “Our Corebridge Financial Team not only can play at a high-level, but they do it amidst full-time careers within the golf industry, enabling individuals all over the country to experience our great game.”

Tracy Phillips, PGA, Director of Instruction at Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, will make his PGA Championship debut at age 61. A Member of the PGA of America since 1992, Phillips stopped playing competitive golf for 20 years (1988-2008) following a collegiate golf career at Oklahoma State University. This year, he’ll compete at Valhalla Golf Club as well as at the 2024 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores as a member of its respective Corebridge Financial Team.

Larkin Gross, PGA, Assistant Golf Professional at Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Virginia, is the youngest to earn a spot in the field via the Corebridge Financial Team. The 26-year-old is making his second start in the PGA Championship after competing in 2021 on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. His wife, Paige, is also a PGA of America Golf Professional and caddied for Larkin during the 2024 PGA Professional Championship. She will be on the bag at Valhalla as well. Paige is the Assistant Professional at The Club at Creighton Farms in Aldie, Virginia.

Preston Cole, PGA, Lead Assistant Professional at Quail Hollow Club, site of the 2025 PGA Championship, will head into his first PGA Championship at Valhalla after host responsibilities at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, days prior to PGA Championship week. Saturday morning he was helping Matt Fitzpatrick find a replacement shaft for his driver. Today, he’s on the grounds at Valhalla preparing to compete amongst Major champions. He earned a berth in the PGA Championship and a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team with a T-8 finish at the PGA Professional Championship.

Tyler Collett, PGA, Assistant Professional at John's Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida, will play in his third PGA Championship (2022, ‘21) after a T-6 finish in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship. He will be in familiar territory at Valhalla as a 2017 graduate from the PGA Golf Management program at Eastern Kentucky University. Collet played in the PGA TOUR's 2024 Cognizant Classic and made the cut in the 2024 Puerto Rico Open.

2024 PGA Championship Corebridge Financial Team

Josh Bevell, PGA (Nashville, Tenn.) - Profectus Golf - Tennessee Section

Michael Block, PGA (Mission Viejo, Calif.) - Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club - Southern California Section

Evan Bowser, PGA (Naples, Fla.) - LaPlaya Golf Club, South Florida Section

Preston Cole, PGA (Charlotte, N.C.) - Quail Hollow Club, Carolinas Section

Tyler Collet, PGA (Vero Beach, Fla.) - John’s Island Club, South Florida Section

Matt Dobyns, PGA (Jericho, N.Y.) - Meadow Brook Club - Metropolitan Section

Larkin Gross, PGA (Fairfax, Va.) - Westwood Country Club, Middle Atlantic Section

Jared Jones, PGA (Houston, Texas) - River Oaks Country Club, Southern Texas Section

Jeff Kellen, PGA (Glenview, Ill.) - North Shore Country Club, Illinois Section

Brad Marek, PGA (Berkeley, Calif.) - Corica Park, Northern California Section

Kyle Mendoza, PGA (Oceanside, Calif.) - Hacienda Golf Club - Southern California Section

​​Jesse Mueller, PGA (Phoenix, Ariz.) - Grand Canyon University Golf Course, Southwest Section

Zac Oakley, PGA (King of Prussia, Pa.) - Bidermann Golf Club - Philadelphia Section

Ben Polland, PGA (Jackson Hole, Wyo.) - Shooting Star of Jackson Hole, Rocky Mountain Section

Tracy Phillips, PGA (Tulsa, Okla.) - Cedar Ridge Country Club, South Central Section

Braden Shattuck, PGA (Aston, Pa.) - Rolling Green Golf Club - Philadelphia Section

John Somers, PGA (Trinity, Fla.) - Southern Hills Plantation Club, North Florida Section

Josh Speight, PGA (Locust Hill, Va.) - The Club at Viniterra, Middle Atlantic Section

Andy Svoboda, PGA (Oak Brook, Ill.) - Butler National Golf Club, Illinois Section

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Bryce Miller: PGA Championship gets its turn in spicy tussle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf

Majors become a proving ground in the battle between the history and names on Tour and pot-stirring LIV

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The spiciest of the mud-slinging, back-stabbing, greed-soaked reality shows hits overdrive this week. It’s not the Real Housewives of Poway. Forget the 177th season of “Survivor.”

It’s golf, the supposedly refined, civilized and well-mannered game.

When the PGA Championship tees off at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., on Thursday, it’s not just Rory McIlroy against Brooks Koepka. It’s the PGA Tour against LIV Golf. In the minds of many, it’s the club-swinging version of good versus evil.

Right in the middle of it is San Diegan Phil Mickelson, who used the 2021 PGA Championship to pen one of the greatest feel-good stories since Old Tom Morris began chasing a ball around St. Andrews.

It was thrilling to walk alongside Mickelson, at 50, as he redefined what’s possible by becoming the oldest player to win a major at blustery Kiawah Island.

When hundreds streamed past the ropes on 18 and Mickelson and Koepka wiggled through the masses like the ghost players who suddenly appeared from the cornfield in “Field of Dreams,” he was beloved for turning back the clock.

A year later, Mickelson enraged and disappointed many of those same people by leaving the Tour for the shadowy Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the disturbing human rights record that came along for the ride.

The sense of it: Mickelson was delivering a blow to a tour that had provided him a platform and riches for three decades, while offering more legitimacy to the invading horde that could threaten the sport.

Mickelson claimed he was hunting for leverage over the rigid limitations of the Tour, which eventually forced the front offices to share more of the money pie with the people making it possible. That’s not a bad thing, but it also has pumped mountainous uncertainty into the game.

In one moment, megastar Jon Rahm was defending the traditions and history of the Tour. Then, after succumbing to a blizzard of bucks , he feigned amnesia and changed teams.

McIlroy, who became the staunchest defender of all things PGA, got blindsided by the Tour’s awkward handshake with LIV that still is being sorted out.

Anger. Bitterness. Avarice. Hypocritical pivots.

Reality show stuff, indeed.

Fast forward to 2024. Mickelson is back and will be at the same PGA Championship as Tour-backing legend Tiger Woods for the first time since golf was tossed into a blender.

Koepka, another LIV check casher, is the defending champion. McIlroy, betrayed by his own tour, tees off as a big-time threat. Scottie Scheffler is the best player in the world and the Tour’s most convincing and visible example of still being the best collection of golfers on the planet.

Each of the majors moving forward, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and, this week, the PGA Championship becomes validation for one side or the other.

Good versus evil.

Pop the popcorn.

“It’s hard for me to not sit up here and feel somewhat like a sacrificial lamb and feeling like I’ve put myself out there and this is what happens,” McIlroy said in June 2023 after news the groups would partner in some ways moving forward.

The saltiness needed to come with a sodium warning: “I still hate LIV,” McIlroy said. “Like, I hate LIV. I hope it goes away.”

There’s also an inescapable truth that LIV has too much money to go away easily or without a fight that could further damage the Tour. The group also senses traction, especially after luring a player with the résumé of Rahm.

Backlash is coming for Rahm after his comments at Valhalla on Tuesday.

“You guys keep saying ‘the other side,’” Rahm told the assembled media. “But I’m still a PGA Tour member, whether suspended or not. I still want to support the PGA Tour, and I think that’s an important distinction to make.”

Support it? By leaving for a rival group?

Sports thrives on fiery rivalries, but when the Yankees and Red Sox face off, there is not a chance one organization will crumble in the process.

Golf remains on an uncharted path in many of the same ways major-college sports have been upended by NIL money and transfer-portal chaos. We’re seeing sports being reinvented and repositioned in seismic ways.

At the PGA Championship, much of the talk will revolve around the individual names and stories as always. It also will be about which side of the Tour and LIV fence contenders stand.

The ripples from the evolution of a game with such historic roots are in no way close to slowing. Where can LIV players play? Where can’t they play? What does it mean to individual events like the Farmers Insurance Open ?

Scabs get picked at every turn, at champions dinners where the polarized sides share cocktails and Caesar salads while muttering under their breath and at the tee boxes of majors like the PGA Championship.

It’s a pitched battle for wins and public perception.

To watch it play out has been a particular head-turner in San Diego because Mickelson has been so central in it. Toss in the city being an adopted hometown for Rahm and the plot thickens.

So, the PGA Championship becomes the latest proving ground. The Tour has results and history on its side. LIV has young-upstart momentum and untold wealth to ride out the choppy waves.

It’s still unclear where golf goes from here.

But it’s sure interesting to watch.

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‘It’s 100 percent backwards’: Major winner blasts PGA Tour board structure

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Lucas Glover at the Wells Fargo Championship last week.

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As the politicking for the future of men’s professional golf has grown fiercer and more convoluted, the game, at its highest levels, has morphed into some combination of Survivor and Succession . There are boards and committees, factions and allegiances, infighting and ousters — much of which has bubbled up in the run-up to this week’s PGA Championship .

On Monday, Jimmy Dunne, who helped secretively script the bombshell 2023 framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudia Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, announced he was stepping down from the PGA Tour’s board, of which a year ago he was arguably the kingpin, perhaps the only dealmaker who had the trust and respect not only of the Tour’s executives and most influential players but also of PIF chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan . But when the players’ trust of the Tour eroded in the days and weeks after the June 6 agreement, so, too, did Dunne’s negotiating power. He was boxed out.

Dunne’s resignation — dismissal, really — has been a hot topic this week in Louisville. Jordan Spieth called Dunne’s departure a “loss.” Tiger Woods said the move was a “bit surprising,” adding what Dunne has “been able to do for the PGA Tour has been great.” Seth Waugh, the PGA of America’s chief and a former Deutsche Bank CEO, said of Dunne: “He’s a very thoughtful guy and he’s a grownup and he obviously has his own reasons for what he did. I wish his timing had been, you know, different than the Monday of our major.” (Patrick Cantlay, a board member who has denied rumors that he has outsized board sway, did not have a pre-tournament press conference.)

Mixed reactions, which is what you might expect given the splintered state of men’s pro golf in 2024. Dunne did have at least one bold-faced name in his corner, Rory McIlroy. When McIlroy met the press Wednesday, you sensed when it came to L’Affair Dunne he was itching to get some things off his chest . McIlroy called Dunne’s resignation “a huge loss for the PGA Tour, if they are trying to get this deal done with the PIF and trying to unify the game. Jimmy was basically the relationship, the sort of conduit between the PGA Tour and PIF. It’s been really unfortunate that he has not been involved for the last few months, and I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that. It’s really, really disappointing, and you know, I think the Tour is in a worse place because of it.”

Waugh, speaking more generally of the two sides’ efforts to forge a pact, said the situation is “messy, and it has been, and it seems to get messier every week.” The messiness, at least in part, has been created by who , on the PGA Tour side, will ultimately decide the terms of a deal. When Woods was appointed to the policy board last August, the players, for the first time, assumed a 6-to-5 board majority. Cantlay has said that edge is not as significant as it sounds, because “any major vote around any of the things we’ve been talking about requires a two-thirds majority.” But at least some of the Tour’s rank and file aren’t so sure, and one of them — 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover — earlier this week was not shy about saying so.

“I’m probably gonna irritate my peers and fellow tour players by saying what I’m about to say…” Glover began, speaking on his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show; joining Glover, in role of co-host, was his agent, Mac Barnhardt.   

“For a long time the players were outnumbered on the board, five to four,” Glover continued. “And a lot of players thought that it would never be our tour if we didn’t have the majority. Well, I think we’re seeing why it was that way now. We do have the majority and we have no business having the majority. Tour players play golf. Businessmen run business. They don’t tell us how to hit 7-irons. We shouldn’t be telling them how to run a business. And we are running a business now. And we’re all on the same team because this for-profit entity that’s about to launch needs to get right. It needs to be right. And players that think they know more than Jimmy Dunne, players that think they know more than [independent director] Ed Herlihy, players that think they know more than Joe Gorder [another independent director], players that think they know more than Jay Monahan, when it comes to business, are wrong.” 

Rory McIlroy calls sudden PGA Tour governance change ‘concerning’

Fair take? Spieth, for one, would say it is not. On Tuesday, Spieth wasn’t questioned directly about Glover’s remarks, but he was asked whether he feels if he and his fellow players now have more control over the direction of the Tour.

Yes, Spieth said, players do have more of a voice and influence than they did, say, five years ago, but not so much that they’re running the joint to the ground or putting the Tour in a precarious position. Spieth contended the Tour’s “governance is in a very sound place,” adding “players on the PGA Tour can feel really good about it, as well as not having players making business decisions. If you’re in the room, it’s very obvious that players are not dictating the future of golf and the PGA Tour. Like, it needs to be, you need to have everyone’s perspective on both sides of it, and everyone that’s involved within Enterprises. You have a lot of strategic investors that know a heck of a lot more than any of us players.

“That’s a false narrative that the players are determining all these things.”

If that’s the case, Glover will need some convincing to believe otherwise. Here’s some more of what else he said on his show:

“It’s scary because we’re about to launch a huge, huge, huge enterprise and a for-profit company that all the players are gonna own a part of, and we don’t have the smartest possible people there to help us guide us in the right direction. That’s scary.  

“I’m at the point in my career now and my future and my family’s future hinges on this, these decisions that are about to be made. So that’s why I’ve decided in the last few months to start speaking up. But the board situation and the way they’re gonna reach these decisions now is backwards. It’s 100 percent backwards. … The proof’s in the pudding, we had an opportunity to get this done and it didn’t get done. And now we’re losing the people that are the most effective and already had it done to be frank.”

Glover and Spieth’s portrayals of the situation are so at odds that you’d swear they’re talking about two different organizations. They’re not, but their wildly differing perspectives are a lens into the thorniness of where the men’s pro game has found itself. Players have needs and wants. So, too, do the tours. And the TV partners. And the sponsors. And finally, the most important constituency of all: the fans. Feeding all these mouths — and keeping those bellies nourished — is not easy. But the decision-makers must find a way to get there.   

Waugh, who knows a thing or two about cutting deals, believes they will.  

“I think both sides are not only committed to trying to find a deal but really need a deal,” he said Wednesday. “And in my history of deal-making, when both sides kind of need something to happen, it generally does.”

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2024 pga championship saturday channel: how to watch round 3 at valhalla, 2024 pga championship live coverage: how to watch the pga on saturday, scottie scheffler has 4 charges against him. so what now his attorney explains, tour confidential: unpacking a bizarre friday at the pga championship, alan bastable.

As GOLF.com’s executive editor, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and highly trafficked news and service sites. He wears many hats — editing, writing, ideating, developing, daydreaming of one day breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely talented and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and foursome of kids.

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