While he was denied another trophy, Justin Thomas still climbed another rung in the Official World Golf Ranking for the second straight week.
Thomas reached world No. 3 following his Honda Classic victory, then followed it up with a playoff loss to Phil Mickelson Sunday at the WGC-Mexico Championship. That result was enough to push Thomas past Jon Rahm to world No. 2, a new career best that leaves him behind only Dustin Johnson in the latest rankings.
Rahm fell a spot after a T-20 finish in Mexico City, while Brooks Koepka rose one spot to world No. 8 despite not playing last week as he nurses a wrist injury. Tommy Fleetwood finished T-14 at Chapultepec and jumped past Sergio Garcia as a result, up to No. 10 and inside the top 10 for the first time in his career.
Mickelson was in danger of dropping out of the world top 50 a few weeks ago, but after his fourth straight top-6 finish and first victory since 2013 he is up to No. 18 in the latest rankings, a jump of 16 spots. England’s Tyrrell Hatton went from 16th to 13th with his T-3 finish, while Kiradech Aphibarnrat went from 40th to 36th after a T-5 finish.
Other notable moves after the year’s first WGC event included Adam Hadwin (T-9) going from 49th to 44th and Bubba Watson (T-9) going from 41st to 38th. Shubankhar Sharma, who held the 36- and 54-hole leads before fading to a tie for ninth, jumped from No. 75 to No. 66.
The rankings following this week’s tournaments will be used to decide the 64-man field for the WGC-Dell Technologies Championship later this month. Ian Poulter and Charles Howell III currently sit at Nos. 63 and 64, respectively, followed by Kevin Na, Sharma, Joost Luiten and Ryan Moore.
With Johnson holding on to the top spot for another week, he’s now followed in the top five by Thomas, Rahm, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose. Hideki Matsuyama remains at No. 6, with Rickie Fowler, Koepka, Jason Day and Fleetwood rounding out the new top 10.
Source: Internet
