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Jon Rahm is currently on top of the OWGR leaderboard, but at any point this year, Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy might be. McIlroy began the year at number one, which he ascended to late last year. Scheffler took the spot and then Rahm immediately took it from him.
Scheffler isn't as concerned with winning or losing as some golfers, but he still doesn't want to lose. He also, naturally, wants to stay on top of the leaderboard.
The 26-year-old opened up about it to the Associated Press:
“I don’t like losing to people and any time you don’t win an event you’re always motivated. Any time you get some really good competition it’s very motivating. I got the one in Phoenix and then Jon went out the next week and beat me by a bunch of shots. So it’s fun to have guys playing at the top of their games.”
Rory McIlroy, who's probably going to get back to number one at some point soon, also chimed in on the conversation. He thinks the key success mantra is to remain consistent for longer durations.
"If I was purely a fan of the game and I see what’s going on, especially at the top, I think it’s a pretty cool thing. But like everyone knows, there’s so much parity in our game right now that any given week, any given tournament, someone can pop up and sort of put their hand up and claim to be one of the best players in the world."
“If it’s not a win, they’re contending. Very rarely have you seen these guys in the past 12 or 18 months outside of the top 10, top 15, top 20. So just that relentless consistency week after week, month after month, building a really great body of work.”
McIlroy was referring to Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, but he's also referring to himself, too. No three golfers are as hot right now as those three. If it weren't for the other two, one of them would be running away with the top spot on the world rankings with ease.
How the OWGR top spot shifts from Rory McIlroy to Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm
McIlroy took the top spot from Scottie Scheffler in the latter months of last year. Scheffler started off 2023 by taking the top spot from him, and then Rahm took the top spot from him.
They're going to continue shuffling about as they each hold a nice lead over the fourth-place holder Patrick Cantlay. Sometimes, golfers hold the top spot for months or even years (Tiger Woods held it for an insane amount of time).
This year, someone will be lucky to hold it from event to event at the rate this is going. What's even more shocking is that Rahm, the number one at the time of writing, isn't even playing his best.
Rahm doesn't believe he's firing on all cylinders, and that's probably true for the other two as well. It's nearly impossible to do that in golf, but this may be the closest anyone has really gotten.
