It is unhappy to say goodbye to the faculty soccer and NFL seasons, however that simply means golf season is beginning to warmth up. The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are off and running, so it’s the perfect time to debut our first golf power rankings of the season.
Here’s our ranking of the top-10 men’s professional golfers in the world in inverse order. LIV Golf and PGA Tour players are included.
Thomas had an up-and-down 2024 season that featured seven top-12 finishes and four missed cuts, but he’s starting to play consistently (four top-six finishes in his past six starts). The American can’t be ranked higher because he hasn’t won since the 2022 PGA Championship and has just one top-30 finish in his past 10 major starts.
9. Ludvig Aberg | PGA Tour
We want to put Aberg higher on this list, but his game is in a questionable spot coming off his withdrawal at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Assuming he’s back to full health, the 25-year-old star is a threat to win his first major this season.
8. Hideki Matsuyama | PGA Tour
Matsuyama has three impressive wins (Genesis Invitational, FedEx St. Jude Championship and The Sentry) over the past 12 months. When he’s flushing his irons and the putter heats up, Matsuyama is better than almost every player in the world.
7. Tyrrell Hatton | LIV Golf
If you don’t pay close attention to professional golf, you probably have no idea how well Hatton is playing. The Englishman won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October and Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January and finished T6 in LIV’s season opener.
6. Collin Morikawa | PGA Tour
Morikawa is in a similar boat as Thomas, as he’s playing great but hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since the 2023 Zozo Championship. With eight top-five finishes since the start of last season, Morikawa is quickly closing in on a drought-breaking victory.
5. Bryson DeChambeau | LIV Golf
DeChambeau spent more time making YouTube videos and trying to make a hole-in-one over his mansion than playing competitive golf this offseason. Still, he deserves respect for winning the U.S. Open, finishing runner-up at the PGA Championship and finishing T6 at the Masters last year.
4. Xander Schauffele | PGA Tour
This was the toughest player of the bunch to rank. Schauffele probably deserves the No. 2 slot after winning two major championships in 2024, but it’s impossible to judge where his game is because he hasn’t played in more than a month because of a rib injury.
3. Jon Rahm | LIV Golf
Rahm has played in 12 tournaments since returning from his foot injury last year. He won two of them and finished T10 or better in 11 of the 12. Coming off a runner-up finish at LIV Golf Riyadh, Rahm looks ready to win another major.
2. Rory McIlroy | PGA Tour
Is this the season McIlroy finally ends his 11-year major championship slump? After winning his 2025 PGA Tour debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, that needs to be the bare minimum expectation.
1. Scottie Scheffler | PGA Tour
Scheffler finished off his brilliant 2024 campaign with nine wins in his last 16 worldwide starts. The world No. 1 is still knocking off the rust after undergoing hand surgery in December, but once he finds his groove again, he’ll be the heavy favorite to win every tournament he plays.
