For a second consecutive week, golf fans will be treated to a stacked field featuring three guys battling for the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. But Tiger Woods’ return to competition adds a fun world ranking wrinkle as well.
The 15-time major champ will play in an official PGA Tour event for the first time since July. In the meantime, Woods has fallen all the way to 1,294th in the OWGR.
But the 47-year-old could climb all the way to just outside the top 50 in the world with a win at Riviera this week. According to OWGR guru Nosferatu on Twitter, Woods would jump to No. 54 with a victory at the Genesis Invitational, where he’ll also be playing host.
Of course, it’s a tall order—even for a man of Tiger’s stature. Woods is listed as high as a 150-to-1 longshot at sportsbooks and for good reason. Since suffering serious leg injuries in a car accident after this event two years ago, Woods has only played in three official events. He made the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship before missing the cut at St. Andrews.
And then there’s the matter of a star-studded field for what will be the PGA Tour’s third designated event following the Sentry Tournament of Champions and last week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. Scottie Scheffler won at TPC Scottsdale to claim a $3.6 million payout and reclaim the title of World No. 1. For now.
Scheffler took the spot from Rory McIlroy, but the four-time major champ could take it back. And so could Jon Rahm, who finished third at TPC Scottsdale and already has two PGA Tour wins in 2023.
But that kind of loaded field is also part of the reason why Woods has an opportunity to move up so much. As you can see, Nosferatu is projecting approximately 68 world ranking points to the winner—even more than the 65.27481 points earned by Scheffler last week.
If Woods were to somehow win, it would be a record 83rd career PGA Tour title, breaking a tie with Sam Snead. Making that happening even more unlikely, though, is the fact that Woods has never won at Riviera in 11 tries as a pro.
Woods has spent a record total of 683 weeks at World No. 1, including a record 281 consecutive weeks from 2005 to 2010.