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PGA power rankings: The 2019 Zozo Championship

By Chris Aliperto

INZAI, JAPAN - OCTOBER 21: Hideki Matsuyama of Japan hits out from a bunker on the 18th hole during The Challenge: Japan Skins at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 21, 2019 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)
INZAI, JAPAN - OCTOBER 21: Hideki Matsuyama of Japan hits out from a bunker on the 18th hole during The Challenge: Japan Skins at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club on October 21, 2019 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images) /
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ORLANDO, FLORIDA – MARCH 10: Matthew Fitzpatrick of England plays a shot from a bunker on the 17th hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard at the Bay Hill Club on March 10, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA – MARCH 10: Matthew Fitzpatrick of England plays a shot from a bunker on the 17th hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard at the Bay Hill Club on March 10, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

PGA power rankings: Zozo Championship

10. Matthew Fitzpatrick – (26)

Already a five-time winner on the European Tour, 25-year-old Matthew Fitzpatrick out of England cracks the top-ten for this week’s Zozo Championship. He has not won since the 2018 Omega European Masters, but just as impressive as all of his wins are at his young age, he has also had a pretty fair amount of runner-up finishes since that last win.

In fact, that number is also five, and four of them have come this calendar year, with the lone one on the PGA Tour coming back in February at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he lost to a red-hot Francesco Molinari by two strokes. The rest have come on the European Tour, with two in his last five events. Fitzpatrick came just one stroke short at the Scandanavian Invitation, finishing second to Erik Van Rooyen, and he was right there once again two weeks ago at the Italian Open, once again a stroke short, and this time to Bernd Wiesberger.

9. Patrick Reed – (17)

Coming in at number nine in the PGA power rankings this week is Patrick Reed, and although this will be his season debut on the PGA Tour, he has been active a little bit on the European Tour and is continuing to have success. Honestly, a ranking of nine feels a little low for Reed considering how well he is playing, but this field is just that solid.

Reed was on a good run heading into the FedEx Cup playoffs, but really started things with a bang with his win at the Northern Trust, which was his first victory since his 2018 Masters win. He followed it up with a T-19 at the BMW Championship and a T-15 at East Lake, and after just a week off he took his game overseas for the month of September. In three events three straight weeks on the Euro Tour, Reed finished progressively better each week, capped with a T-4 in his last action at the BMW PGA Championship a month ago.

8. Adam Scott – (15)

Instead of playing the CJ Cup last week where he T-10 last season, the PGA Tour schedule changes conflicted with another event that Scott played in 2018, which surprisingly is the Japan Open Golf Championship on the Japan Golf Tour. He T-50 there last year, but maybe with this week being a new event also in Japan, Scott decided to spend a couple of weeks there instead of playing at Nine Bridges. The results were better this time around as well, as he was able to T-5.

Scott has won over a dozen times across the PGA and European Tour in his career, but he has not had that sweet taste of victory since 2016. Although it is a long drought for a proven winner, Scott played well last year in fairly minimal action and was at his best throughout the FedEx Cup playoffs, where he ripped off three straight top-10’s, including a T-5 at the TOUR Championship.

7. Tony Finau – (13)

Another golfer who had some struggles last season but has seemed to have nipped that in the bud, for the most part, is Tony Finau. At one point last season Finau uncharacteristically missed three straight cuts after coming up just short of his first win since the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, his only win on the PGA Tour, after he finished runner-up at the Charles Schwab Challenge. After a week off Finau broke the MC streak at the 3M Open where he T-23, and his overall play since seems to back to elite levels.

After just missing again, this time in a major at the Open Championship where he finished alone in third place, Finau was able to stay the course and continue his stretch of good play throughout the FedEx Cup playoffs, capped by a T-7 at East Lake for the TOUR Championship. The 30-year-old has played in three events so far in the new season and is coming into this week off of back-to-back top-10’s, albeit one on the European Tour at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and one on the PGA Tour at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

6. Gary Woodland – (18)

Woodland forever had his name etched in greatness with his breakthrough win at the U.S. Open last season. Although he experienced the victory hangover missing cuts in his next two events including the Open Championship, he was able to improve upon each finish at the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The 35-year-old T-52 at the Northern Trust, followed by a T-31 at the BMW Championship. Woodland then wrapped things up with a T-15 at East Lake.

This season, the 18th ranked golfer in the world had a shaky start at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he T-55, but after a week off Woodland was on his game once again last week at the CJ Cup. After back-to-back rounds of 71 to start things off, Woodland found another gear at Nine Bridges on the weekend firing a 65 and a 66 to move into a T-3 finish, five strokes behind champion Justin Thomas.

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