East Lake success propels Xander Schauffele into OWGR top 10

Xander Schauffele finished second at the Tour Championship, but the Official World Golf Rankings rewarded him like a winner.

Schauffele tied for second at East Lake with Justin Thomas, three shots behind FedExCup champ and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson. But Schauffele started the week seven shots back because of the tournament’s staggered start, meaning he actually beat Johnson by four shots across 72 holes. In fact, his 15-under total was three shots better than the nearest player (Scottie Scheffler) in terms of four-round score at East Lake.

While the PGA Tour gave the Tour Championship title (and official victory) to Johnson after factoring in the starting scores, OWGR officials awarded points based solely off the 72-hole score. That means Schauffele received the 58 points that would have gone to the tournament winner, a haul that helped him move from No. 11 to No. 7 in the rankings.

Johnson finished T-3 on the 72-hole leaderboard, and the 20.3 points he received as a result were more than enough to keep him in the No. 1 spot. The top six players did not change after the season finale, with Johnson followed by Jon Rahm, Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson and Schauffele. Brooks Koepka fell one spot to No. 8, with Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed rounding out the latest top 10.

Other notable moves this week included Scheffler jumping from No. 36 to No. 29 with what the OWGR viewed as a runner-up performance, while Abraham Ancer went from 26th to 22nd and Harris English rose from 51st to 45th. In Europe, a second straight top-3 finish moved former world No. 1 Martin Kaymer back into the top 100, as Kaymer jumped from No. 123 to No. 88 after a runner-up result at Valderrama.

Absent from the Tour Championship for the second straight year, Tiger Woods fell two spots to No. 20 in the latest rankings.