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PGA Power Rankings: The 148th Open Championship

By Chris Aliperto

CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND - JULY 22: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts on the 18th green during the final round of the Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 22, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
CARNOUSTIE, SCOTLAND - JULY 22: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts on the 18th green during the final round of the Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Club on July 22, 2018 in Carnoustie, Scotland. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/R&A/R&A via Getty Images) /
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PGA Power Rankings
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – JANUARY 19: Shane Lowry of Ireland saves par on the par four 17th hole during the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 19, 2019 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images) /

PGA Power Rankings: The 148th Open Championship

25. Shane Lowry – (33)

Lowry started 2019 with a bang, capturing victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the Euro Tour, followed by a T-12 at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. After the early success across the pond, things turned quickly for him, as he missed four cuts in his next five events, including at the Masters, before he regained his form.

Following that poor stretch, Lowry went on to top-ten his next three events, including a T-8 at the PGA Championship, and highlighted by a T-2 at the RBC Canadian Open. He has played two events since with a T-28 at the U.S. Open, and he comes into Royal Portrush off of a T-34 at the Irish Open. Another Irish-born golfer and links-style specialist, Lowry gets a slight boost in this week’s PGA Power Rankings despite missing the cut at his last four Open Championships.

24. Tony Finau – (16)

Finau has pulled off a couple of good finishes this year, but overall, he has not looked one of the top-20 golfers in the world as of late. He is still seeking his first major championship, and his T-5 at the Masters this year was as close as he has come.

More recently, Finau uncharacteristically missed three cuts in a row, including one at the U.S. Open, and he will head into Royal Portrush off of a T-23 at the 3M Open in his last action. If there is one positive about Finau this week, he has done well in the Open Championship in his career. His T-9 last year at Carnoustie was his best finish, but he also T-27 in 2017, and T-18 in 2016.

23. Jordan Spieth – (36)

After his T-3 at the PGA Championship at the end of May, it was starting to look like Spieth was going to be back for good. He was still errant off the tee, but the fact that he was starting to look like the old Spieth on the greens again had me believing. He T-8 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and followed that with a T-7 at the Memorial Tournament, but then the wheels fell off.

Spieth could not get anything going at Pebble Beach, and T-65 at the U.S. Open, then followed that with a missed cut at the Travelers Championship in his last action. He was playing well when he was playing every week. Since he took one-off though, it has been downhill again. A bounce-back performance against this field seems unlikely for the now 36th ranked golfer in the world.

22. Gary Woodland – (12)

U.S. Open Champion Gary Woodland missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in his only action since he captured his first major championship victory of his career. I do not think the win was a fluke, but I do think the ability for him to go on a major championship run is a little unlikely.

Woodland has notched five top-tens in 14 total events in 2019, but three of those came in his first four events. It is tough to think the guy who won the last major championship is outside the top-20 this week, but the missed cut in the weak field in his last action knocked him down a couple of spots.

Woodland has been consistently making cuts at the Open over the years, but his T-12 in 2016 at Troon was his only finish inside the top-30 in seven appearances in the last eight years. He doesn’t appear to be a great fit for Royal Portrush, but with his win at the U.S. Open and his T-8 at the PGA Championship, he certainly cannot be counted out.

21. Henrik Stenson – (39)

It is hard to believe that Stenson has fallen as far as he has in the world rankings, but he did spend most of the first half of 2019 struggling in all aspects of his game. Ranked as high as number two at the peak of his career, Stenson is a proven winner, with 11 career victories on the PGA and European Tours. He is also a one-time major championship winner as well, winning the 146th Open Championship at Troon, where he shot 20-under par and held off Phil Mickelson by three strokes.

His game seems to be rounding into form just in time as well. Stenson took a T-8 finish at the RBC Canadian Open into Pebble Beach, and followed it up with a T-9 at the U.S. Open, giving him back-to-back top-tens in his last two prior to this week. In his final tune-up for the final major of the year, Stenson finished T-4 at the Scottish Open, and was once again one of the best tee-to-green in the field.

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