|
Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland of Norway, Patrick Cantlay and
Scottie Scheffler are all within striking distance. Or Spaniard
Jon Rahm could retain the title for the 42nd week of his career.
When Scheffler moved into fifth in the Official World Golf
Ranking following Sunday's victory at the Arnold Palmer
Invitational, it made this the first week in the history of the
ranking system that each of the top five players are all younger
than 30 years old.
The Players champion earns 80 OWGR points, whereas standard
tournaments dole out a much smaller number of points that varies
by the strength of field. That big prize creates scenarios where
Morikawa, Hovland, Cantlay or Scheffler could overtake Rahm,
who's held onto No. 1 since the 2021 Open Championship.
Morikawa and Hovland became Tour rookies at the same time in
2019 and have not needed much time to make their mark,
particularly Morikawa, who has won two majors.
"We just truly believed in ourselves, and that's the number one
thing is that you absolutely have to trust yourself that you can
do it," Morikawa said Tuesday. "Not just make it to the PGA
Tour, not just make it to the top 100, top 50 in the world but
to be No. 1."
It would be a particularly unparalleled rise for Scheffler, who
has contended on tour and helped the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup
team last fall but finally broke through with his first two PGA
Tour wins over his past three starts.
"I wouldn't say I really pay too much close attention to stuff
like that," Scheffler said. "For me I'm just really focused on
this event and this tournament and kind of getting ready."
For his part, Rahm said he had no idea so many players were on
his tail.
"You should ask if I want to know those things or not," Rahm
joked. "No. No. Even if you're No. 1, you've still got to
perform every week. I'm chasing people myself, as well, so no, I
don't feel like I'm being chased."
--Field Level Media
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
