Sam Burns replaces Justin Thomas in OWGR top 10; Here’s how the world golf rankings look ahead of The Masters

Justin Thomas sat out last week's WGC-Match Play and it seems to have cost him. The golfer, currently preparing for the upcoming Masters, lost his place in the Official World Golf Rankings’ top 10. The 29-year-old was replaced by Match Play winner Sam Burns.

Burns, who took down Cameron Young in the final 6&5 to win his fifth PGA Tour title, returned to the top 10 by kicking Thomas down to 11th. Thomas, who has been a prominent name in the top 10 since August 2017 has finally lost his berth.

For the unversed, he climbed into the top berth of the rankings with a stellar season in 2017. The golfer won a total of five times in 2017, including his first major at the PGA Championship staged at Quail Hollow, and has been a mainstay ever since. However, Thomas has struggled in the past few years. He has played seven times so far in 2023, with his best finish being a 4th at the WM Phoenix Open. He is yet to produce a breakout result.

With the golfer’s decision to skip the WGC-Match Play due to a lack of course form costing him a valuable world golf rankings spot, it’ll be interesting to see how he responds. It is pertinent to note that Thomas will remain unavailable for this week's Valero Texas Open. The American will now be heading straight to Augusta to practice for next week's 2023 Masters. The two-time Major champion, who is yet to win a Masters in his career, is likely to go all out this year.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has backed up to 2nd in the world by pushing Jon Rahm down to 3rd in the world golf rankings. The Irish golfer gained a place after his 3rd-place finish in the Match Play, beating World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. While the remaining top 10 stays unchanged, Match Play runner-up Cameron Young moved to a career-high 14th.

More interestingly, 5th-placed LIV golfer Cameron Smith is set to lose his spot. He will go down a place in the world golf rankings as Max Homa will rise to a career-high 5th in the world as he tees up at The Masters.

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Current Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR)

Here’s how the world golf rankings look ahead of The Masters (top 50):

• 1. Scottie Scheffler
• 2. Rory McIlroy
• 3. Jon Rahm
• 4. Patrick Cantlay
• 5. Cameron Smith
• 6. Max Homa
• 7. Xander Schauffele
• 8. Will Zalatoris
• 9. Viktor Hovland
• 10. Sam Burns
• 11. Justin Thomas
• 12. Collin Morikawa
• 13. Tony Finau
• 14. Cameron Young
• 15. Matt Fitzpatrick
• 16. Jordan Spieth
• 17. Tyrrell Hatton
• 18. Sungjae Im
• 19. Tom Kim
• 20. Kurt Kitayama
• 21. Hideki Matsuyama
• 22. Keegan Bradley
• 23. Shane Lowry
• 24. Billy Horschel
• 25. Tom Hoge
• 26. Joaquin Niemann
• 27. Tommy Fleetwood
• 28. Brian Harman
• 29. Sahith Theegala
• 30. Abraham Ancer
• 31. Justin Rose
• 32. Sepp Straka
• 33. Jason Day
• 34. Chris Kirk
• 35. Seamus Power
• 36. Ryan Fox
• 37. Russell Henley
• 38. Adam Scott
• 39. Si Woo Kim
• 40. Corey Conners
• 41. Kyoung-Hoon Lee
• 42. Alex Noren
• 43. Thomas Pieters
• 44. Harris English
• 45. Aaron Wise
• 46. Keith Mitchell
• 47. Min Woo Lee
• 48. Kevin Kisner
• 49. J.T. Poston
• 50. Taylor Moore