EDISON, N.J. – Well, that didn’t last long.
When the Official World Golf Ranking is published on Monday, Jordan Spieth will have dropped the top spot after exactly two weeks at No. 1.
With rounds of 74-73, Spieth became the first player to miss the cut in his first career start as world No. 1.
As a result, Rory McIlroy, who was passed by Spieth at the PGA Championship, will return to the top of the rankings.
Although McIlroy didn’t play The Barclays, his divisor in the two-year rolling ranking went down and will increase his average ranking to 12.36, slightly ahead of Spieth’s 12.22.
“I’ve reached that peak already, and I know it’s going to be close enough to where if I just get the job done next week, I’ll be back in that ranking,” Spieth said. “That ranking, it’s great once you reach it, but it’s not something that I’m going to live or die on each week.”
Spieth can overtake McIlroy next week at the Deutsche Bank Championship even if both players miss the cut, because Mcilroy’s divisor goes back up to 45 events. In fact, according to Golf Channel projections, McIlroy will need at least a top-10 finish at TPC Boston to maintain the top spot if Spieth makes the cut next week.
