Scheffler Reclaims World #1 Ranking with Late Push at PGA Championship

Scottie Scheffler Golf

Despite his strong push at Oak Hill Country Club, Scottie Scheffler fell just short of victory on Sunday. While he didn’t lift the Wanamaker Trophy, he did manage to reclaim the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, surpassing Jon Rahm once again. However, Scheffler didn’t show much excitement about regaining the No. 1 ranking.

“That’s great,” he said. “I mean, it’s just an algorithm. It’s nice, but I really don’t care.”

The Battle For #1 Continues

Throughout the year, Scheffler and Rahm have been engaged in a battle for the top spot. Scheffler held the position at the end of the previous season but lost it in October at The CJ Cup. Although he regained it with a win at the WM Phoenix Open in February, the top ranking changed hands again the following week. Scheffler briefly reclaimed it after his victory at The Players Championship, only to see Rahm surpass him once more with a win at the Masters.

Starting the final round of the tournament four shots behind Brooks Koepka, Scheffler made a strong comeback with a final-Scheffler Reclaims World #1 Ranking with Late Push at PGA Championshipround 65, tying Viktor Hovland for second place. He felt like he could have gained a couple more strokes, as he narrowly missed birdie opportunities and a par save. Despite returning to the top of the world rankings, Scheffler is fully aware that his reign may not last long, with Rahm likely to challenge for the position by the time the U.S. Open approaches next month.

“I played solid golf most of the week,” Scheffler said. “In order to win these tournaments, the putts have to fall in to win the tournaments. I hit a lot of good putts this week. They didn’t fall, but I put up a good fight. I played great today. I gave the guys on top of the leaderboard something to think about, and I kind of made a little bit of a move, but Brooks just played some fantastic golf this week. He played too good this weekend for me to catch up to him.”

All That Matters is Wins

For Scheffler, the most important thing now is the fact that he came up short in securing the victory. All he really cares about is going out and getting wins, especially majors. Something he didn’t have quite enough firepower to pull off this week.

“I don’t play for world ranking. I play to come out here and compete,” Scheffler said. “Right now I’m a little sad that I wasn’t able to get the tournament done, but I’m proud of how I fought, I’m proud of how I played the back nine today to give myself a chance.

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