Aaron Rai vaulted 29 spots to a career-high No. 15 in the latest edition of the Official World Golf Rankings thanks to his first major championship
Rai won the PGA Championship on Sunday at Aronimink Golf Club, the first Englishman to do so since 1919. Rai previously had never finished better than tied for 19th at a major.
Rai, who previously had one PGA Tour win to go with three on the DP World Tour, passed the likes of Justin Thomas, who shot 65 Sunday to tie for fourth and remained No. 16 in the world; Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, now No. 19; and Viktor Hovland of Norway, whose missed cut cost him three ranking spots and pushed him down to No. 30.
It was a banner day for Europeans, as Englishman Justin Rose climbed into the top five while Jon Rahm of Spain moved up eight spots to No. 12 in the world.
Rose, who spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in 2018, has enjoyed a career resurgence during his 40s as he leapt to No. 3 in the rankings as recently as February for winning the Farmers Insurance Open. He tied for 10th at the PGA Championship, his second straight top-10 at majors this year after tying for third at the Masters.
Rose passed Collin Morikawa and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, the latter of whom missed the cut at the PGA.
As for Rahm, he has experienced one of the largest rises in the OWGR this year because of his status on LIV Golf. Players are receiving world ranking points from LIV events for the first time, but only for finishing top-10 in an event. Rahm has placed top-10 in all seven events so far, with two wins and three runner-up finishes.
Rahm began the season No. 84 in the world rankings. By tying for second at the PGA Championship — his best showing at a major in three years — he ascended to his highest world ranking since he was No. 10 in the summer of 2024.
Before the PGA Championship, he said he felt he was playing better than his ranking would suggest, but he didn’t pay it much mind.
“When it comes to the rankings, obviously it’s a little trickier nowadays, even though we’re getting some points in LIV,” Rahm said. “Still, I think as players, we know we usually have a fairly good assessment of where we stand. I don’t really necessarily need a ranking to tell me where I’m at or where I feel like I’m at.”
The top four in the OWGR remained Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick of England. Four Englishmen occupy the top 15: Fitzpatrick, Rose, Fleetwood and Rai.
