Weekly Recap: Champion Golfer of the Year

With Collin Morikawa's stress-free win at the Open Championship, the final major of 2021 and an unprecedented period in golf history are now complete. Did it seem like there was a never-ending stream of big events? Well, there was. Incredibly, seven majors, three WGCs, three FedEx Cup playoff events and THE PLAYERS Championship were all played in the past 12 months.

Let's put aside the Match Play event. The other 13 tournaments offer a great indicator of who the best golfers in the world were over the past year. The Official World Golf Rankings factor in the past 24 months.

We'll take a look at most of the top golfers and, later on, also some others who stood out at Royal St. George's. You would think that a golfer who won at least one of these big events, especially a major, could lay claim to a great year, but it's not so simple, is it, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson?

It goes without saying that Hideki Matsuyama wouldn't trade his Masters win for a series of top-5s. But that's not what this is about. It's about 13 events and the totality of the yearlong period.

Two golfers really stand head and shoulders above the rest. That's no surprise. We'll start with them.

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa won the first major of this stretch, the 2020 PGA Championship, and the last one. He also won the WGC-Workday in February, was sixth in the Tour Championship, fourth at last month's U.S. Open and eighth at the 2021 PGA. He's now up to career-best third in the world rankings, but you could make a very compelling argument that his win at the Open Championship should place him at No. 1.

Jon Rahm
Rahm is not going to be in the mix at every major, but good luck guessing when he'll miss. It's true he was never in contention at Royal St. George's, but he tied for third, adding to his tie for fifth at the Masters, tie for eighth at the PGA and, of course, his win at the U.S. Open. Rahm finished in the top-8 in five of the seven majors over the past year and top-25 in the other two. He also won the BMW Championship in that duel with Dustin Johnson and was fourth in the Tour Championship. He's officially back to No. 1 in the OWGR. 

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Brooks Koepka
Koepka was hurt and limited for a good portion of the year. Still, he finished runner-up at the 2021 PGA, then fourth at the U.S. Open and tied for sixth on Sunday. He was also seventh at the 2020 Masters and runner-up at two WGCs – the FedEx, which began this yearlong stretch at the beginning of last August, and the Workday in February. He did all that yet also missed all three playoff events while hurt. He didn't win any of the big events, so he can't be ahead of Morikawa or Rahm, but the totality of his accomplishments land him ahead of other winners. Koepka has finished top-10 in 16 of his 30 career majors, even better than Rahm.

Louis Oosthuizen
Oosthuizen had one of the best years in the majors for anyone who didn't win one. After tying for 26th at the Maters, he was runner-up at the PGA and U.S. Open, and just now tied for third at the Open Championship. (Rickie Fowler went 5-2-2-3 in the majors in 2014). Oosthuizen was also third at last year's U.S. Open. He was sixth at the WGC-FedEx. Oosthuizen, a couple of months shy of turning 39, is back in the top-10 in the world at No. 9, but really much higher based on only the past 12 months.

Justin Thomas
Thomas is Exhibit A on how tough, nuanced and, really, subjective these "rankings" are. On one hand, he won two of the 13 events – the WGC-FedEx and THE PLAYERS – and was runner-up at the Tour Championship. On the other hand, he was terrible in the 2021 majors and of course the majors count most; he was T40 at Royal St. George's and his best major result was T19 at the U.S. Open last month. In the 2020 majors, he was top-5 at the Masters and top-10 at the U.S. Open. He has fallen to fourth in the OWGR.

Scottie Scheffler
Surprised? Yeah, you should be. What a fantastic and under-the-radar past 12 months this guy has had. He tied for eighth at the Open, giving him top-10s in the past three majors. He was also top-5 at last year's PGA and top-20 at both the 2020 and 2021 Masters. His only major blemish was missing the 2020 U.S. Open after a positive COVID test. Wait, there's more: He also finished top-5 at the Northern Trust, the Tour Championship and the WGC-Workday. And not that we're including the WGC-Match Play, but he was runner-up there. How is Scheffler only No. 17 in the world rankings?

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Dustin Johnson
Things start to get harder and even more subjective now. Johnson won the 2020 Masters. He won the Northern Trust and the Tour Championship. He was runner-up at the BMW. He was KILLING IT in 2020. But all that seems so long ago based on how he's playing in 2021. He was far back at THE PLAYERS, missed the cut both at the Masters and the PGA and barely notched a top-20 at the U.S. Open (T19). He just backdoored his way to a tie for eighth at Royal St. George's. He's officially No. 2 in the world but he may not be deserving of the top-5 right now.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau has some of the highest highs but surely the lowest lows among the top golfers. He didn't so much as finish top-25 in any of the four 2021 majors (despite leading the U.S. Open deep into Sunday). He was awful in all three 2020 playoff events. He also won the U.S. Open last year in spectacular fashion and he tied for third at THE PLAYERS. Who knows where this guy should be ranked? Officially, he's No. 6 in the world, which places him one spot ahead of … Brooks Koepka.

Jordan Spieth
He was runner-up to Morikawa at Royal St. George's. He was third at the Masters in April. He's now up to 14th in the world but we have to remember, it wasn't too long ago that Spieth was terrible. His three 2020 majors were T46-T71-MC. He missed the cut at the first playoff event and didn't qualify for the next two. He didn't qualify for the WGC-Workday. Maybe he should be ranked higher based on very-recency bias. But we still haven't gotten to two guys who won majors in the past year.

Hideki Matsuyama
He won the 2021 Masters – perhaps the very top event among all that we are considering here. But he had only one other top-10 in these 13 events, a tie for third at the BMW. He's got six other top-25s, but that's not such a big deal on this list. He's 20th in the current world rankings.

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Xander Schauffele
Oy, where to put this guy? He's fifth in the world but never wins. And now, his sterling record in the big events isn't quite as shiny anymore. Yes, he had four top-10s in the seven majors, including third at the Masters in April and seventh at the U.S. Open last month. But he didn't really contend for any titles. He was just T26 at Royal St. George's and stunningly missed the cut at the PGA. And he also missed it at THE PLAYERS. The OWGR website considers him the winner of the Tour Championship, which contributes to his high ranking, but that's not a real win.

Patrick Reed
Reed missed the cut at Royal St. George's, after finishing in the top-20 in the other six majors in this stretch. Two of them were top-10s, but he didn't contend. He was top-10 at the Tour Championship and the WGC-Workday. He just fell out of the top-10 OWGR to 13th. That sounds about right. (For the record, Reed won at Torrey Pines in January, which of course has to count for something.)

Rory McIlroy
It's now seven years since McIlroy's last major win. He tied for 46th at Royal St. George's. He was top-10 at the U.S. Open and top-10 in two of the three majors last year, but he has not been in contention in any of them. He missed the cut at THE PLAYERS, then missed at the Masters. He is down to 15th in the world rankings and that might be generous.

Viktor Hovland
When the Class of '19 arrived two summers ago, Hovland was considered ahead of Collin Morikawa. While that clearly isn't the case now, he's certainly doing okay. Hovland tied for 12th at the Open, following up a tie for 21st at the Masters. He also tied for 13th at last year's U.S. Open. He hasn't missed a cut in eight career majors, though he did have to withdraw from last month's U.S. Open. He was runner-up at the WGC-Workday and is now ranked a career-best 11th OWGR.

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Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay is No. 8 in the world and has won twice in the past year, though not in the biggest events. The Memorial and ZoZo are big boy tournaments, for sure, and he was also second at the Amex and third at Pebble Beach. But In the seven majors, he didn't have a single top-10. He missed the cut at Royal St. George's. He also missed at The PLAYERS and the Masters. He didn't qualify for the Tour Championship. There's quite a career dichotomy here.

Harris English
He doesn't seem like he belongs in this conversation but he moved up to 10th in the latest rankings despite missing the cut at the Open. He was top-5 at both U.S. Opens in the past year though didn't contend in either. He was second at the Northern Trust. English has won twice of late, which cannot be dismissed.

Phil Mickelson
Mickelson won the PGA. It was the highlight of the entire golf year, no matter what happens in the rest of 2021. But it's looking more and more like that major win from just two months ago is one of the great golf outliers in recent memory. Since then: MC-T62-T61-T74-MC. Heck, he even lost The Match with Tom Brady to Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

We wanted to highlight some other notable accomplishments at Royal St. George's.

Dylan Frittelli
If 20-something guys hadn't pulled out for various reasons, Frittelli wouldn't have even made it as one of the last guys in the field. He finished solo fifth and that, surprisingly, is his second top-5 in a major. He tied for fifth at the Masters last year. Those are his only stroke-play top-10s on the PGA Tour in the past year. But if you're gonna have only two, they seem like a good way to go. It's no secret that South Africans have thrived at the Open (Gary Player, Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace). Frittelli earned a return invite for next year.

Mackenzie Hughes
When you have a strong short game, there's always a chance at the Open, even in your first one. Hughes tied for sixth. He tied for 15th at the U.S. Open and made the cut at the Masters. So, all in all, a great year in the majors for the Canadian.

Robert MacIntyre
The still-24-year-old Scot is now 7 for 7 in major cuts. He tied for eighth at the Open, adding to a tie for 12th at the Masters. MacIntyre is back inside the top-50 at No. 48 and will play this week at the 3M Open.

Shane Lowry
The two-year reign as Champion Golfer of the Year is finally over, but Lowry defended his title nicely, winding up tied for 12th. It continues a stellar year for the Irishman, one in which tied for fourth at the PGA and top-25 at the Masters, making all four cuts. He's ranked 39th.

Marcel Siem
The 41-year-old German hadn't played in a major in six years and qualified for this one only by winning a Challenge Tour event the week before the Open. (The Challenge Tour is Europe's Korn Ferry Tour.) Siem tied for 15th. He began the week outside the top-300 in the world rankings and is now 231st.