Scottie Scheffler could regain the World No. 1 title as Rory McIlroy skips event in Maui

Scottie Scheffler was world No.1 until last October. However, Rory McIlroy surpassed Scott Scheffler in the OWGR by the end of the year. Prior to this year, Rory last began the calendar year as No. 1 in 2015. However, his decision to skip the first PGA tournament of 2023, the Sentry Tournament of Champions could affect his numero uno position.

Scottie Scheffler, on the other hand, features in the 39-player field at Kapalua. As per OWGR Twitter guru Nosferatu's early projections, Scottie Scheffler could return to No.1. the ranking is given he finishes in the top 3 this week.

McIlroy dethroned Scheffler in October last year after a win at the CJ Cup. Since then, he has had a couple of chances to grab the position back. First, at the Housten Open in November, he needed to finish in the top 2 but ended up with a T-9. Then in the Hero World Challenge, a win would ensure he was the No. 1 again but had to settle for the runner-up position after losing to Viktor Hovland by a two-stroke margin.

McIlroy will feature in the DP World tour events and thus has delayed his start to the year. Shane Lowry is another of the top 20 who won't be participating in Hawaii for similar reasons. Cameron Smith, the defending champion at the Sentry, was deemed ineligible after he chose to join hands with the LIV Golf.

Apart from the above three, rest 17 of the top 20 ranked players will appear in the first PGA Tournament of the calendar year 2023

In 2022 three professionals became No. 1. First it was Spanish pro Jon Rahm holding the position until March when Scheffler won the WGC Dell Matchplay ascending as the new No. 1 and eventually McIlroy in October.

The record for the most number of times players shuffled the top position goes to the year 2018 which saw four professionals as No. 1 but even they traded positions often that year.

Dustin Johnson began the year as No. 1 passing it to Justin Thomas in May and then handing it back to Johnson a month followed by Justin Rose claiming it.

Johnson again returned to it and eventually gave it to Brooks Koepka. Koepka and Rose kept on fighting for the top position last month. Brooks Koepka finished the year as No. 1. However, if the ranking change happens in the very first tournament, this year can give a tough fight to 2018.

Scottie Scheffler 2022

Scheffler won his first major at the Masters 2022

Scottie Scheffler had a 2021-22 season to remember for. He won four titles in a span of six starts, including his first Major Championship at the Masters. His other wins came at the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, and World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play.

For the third time consecutively, Scottie Scheffler advanced to the TOUR Championship. He finished tied second in the FedExCup standings, which earned him a bonus of $5.75 million For all his achievements, he became the 25th player to become the No. 1 player in the OWGR.

Scheffler won the PGA Tour Player of the year award for 2022. He became the first professional to surpass the $14 million bar in the official money list in a single season with total earnings of $14,046,910. After such a brilliant season, Scheffler will be looking to return to the top again.