2021 World Golf Rankings: No. 1, Top 50 at End of Year
No. 1 at the end of 2021? That was Jon Rahm. The Spaniard earned his first major championship win in the 2021 U.S. Open, and he finished eighth or better at all four majors. That U.S. Open trophy was his only victory of the year, but he was named PGA Player of the Year for 2020-21, and was the low scorer for the 2020-21 PGA Tour season. He led the PGA Tour in Top 10 finishes by a wide margin and was the tour's leading money winner.
Men's World Golf Rankings, End of 2021
These were the Top 50 golfers in the final Official World Golf Ranking of the calendar year 2021 (released on Dec. 26, 2021; the number is the player's average ranking points earned per tournament):
1. Jon Rahm, Spain, 9.5335
2. Collin Morikawa, United States, 8.7575
3. Dustin Johnson, United States, 7.1201
4. Patrick Cantlay, United States, 6.4620
5. Bryson DeChambeau, United States, 6.4311
6. Xander Schauffele, United States, 6.3888
7. Justin Thomas, United States, 6.3741
8. Viktor Hovland, Norway, 6.3341
9. Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, 6.2845
10. Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa, 5.3015
11. Sam Burns, United States, 5.1916
12. Scottie Scheffler, United States, 5.0790
13. Harris English, United States, 5.0252
14. Jordan Spieth, United States, 4.8995
15. Tony Finau, United States, 4.8854
16. Brooks Koepka, United States, 4.8763
17. Abraham Ancer, Mexico, 4.8537
18. Hideki Matsuyama, Japan, 4.7944
19. Daniel Berger, United States, 4.6578
20. Jason Kokrak, United States, 4.4118
21. Cameron Smith, Australia, 4.4076
22. Tyrrell Hatton, England, 4.2815
23. Billy Horschel, United States, 4.2354
24. Matt Fitzpatrick, England, 4.1046
25. Patrick Reed, United States, 4.0539
26. Sungjae Im, South Korea, 3.9842
27. Webb Simpson, United States, 3.8974
28. Paul Casey, England, 3.8296
29. Kevin Na, United States, 3.7649
30. Matthew Wolff, United States, 3.0920
31. Joaquin Niemann, Chile, 3.0632
32. Talor Gooch, United States, 2.8994
33. Phil Mickelson, United States, 2.8549
34. Will Zalatoris, United States, 2.8493
35. Max Homa, United States, 2.8279
36. Marc Leishman, Australia, 2.8067
37. Lee Westwood, England, 2.6673
38. Corey Conners, Canada, 2.6428
39. Mackenzie Hughes, Canada, 2.5563
40. Tommy Fleetwood, England, 2.5273
41. Lucas Herbert, Australia, 2.5022
42. Kevin Kisner, United States, 2.4558
43. Justin Rose, England, 2.4450
44. Shane Lowry, Ireland, 2.4386
45. Sergio Garcia, Spain, 2.4385
46. Adam Scott, Australia, 2.4033
47. Ryan Palmer, United States, 2.3782
48. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Africa, 2.3383
49. Min Woo Lee, Australia, 2.2494
50. Takumi Kanaya,Japan, 2.2379
Comparing the above end-of-2021 rankings with the end-of-2020 rankings, the biggest jump from outside the Top 50 into the Top 50 from 2020 to 2021 was by Sam Burns, who went from No. 154 at the end of 2020 to No. 11 at the end of 2021. The biggest year-to-year drop within the Top 50 was by Tommy Fleetwood, who was No. 17 at the end of 2020 but No. 40 at the end of 2021. The full OWGR at the end of 2021 can be viewed in the OWGR Archives.
Related article: Women's world rankings at the end of 2021
