Johnny Kiefer: Why America’s rise raises rankings questions

Even those who follow men’s professional golf most closely will recognize the player, who completed the best round of his career with a seventh-place finish at the RSM Classic at Sea Island last week.

It was an excellent performance as it was his sixth PGA Tour event. Only the third time he had made a cut at this level.

However, he moves up to 47th in the official world rankings. If Kiefer can remain in the top 50 by the end of the year, he can look forward to a 2026 schedule filled with great playing opportunities including a first visit to Augusta in April.

Both of those wins came on the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT), the US circuit that feeds the PGA Tour.

In the past two years, the former Baylor University student has earned 25 top-25 finishes from a combination of the KFT and the more modest PGA Americas Tour.

Kiefer played two majors this year. He lost the cut at the US PGA Championship and finished 61st at the US Open.

Certainly such performances at these levels have resulted in such a high ranking, which raises questions about the algorithms used in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) these days. This seems like a very remote anomaly.

As the podcaster pointed out via email, what does Harry Hole have to do with this? The US-based Cornishman – arguably the best putter in the world – is ten places down in 57th place, despite reaching the season-ending Tour Championship.

Hall ranked 17th among everyone who played on the PGA Tour this year. He has not missed a shot on the toughest course in world golf since March, but is trailing in the world rankings behind a player who used to play in the minor leagues.

Data Golf, which calculates numbers from all rounds including the separate LIV League, appears to be closer to the mark. Hall is 19th in their rankings, while Kiefer is 91st.

American golf, from the PGA Tour on down, dominates the OWGR.

Of all the players in the top 50, Marco Bing and Tyrrell Hatton are the only golfers to get there and play most of their schedules away from the United States.

Ping’s ranking rose to 30th globally thanks to his three victories on the DP World Tour this year. Hatton rounded out the undrafted LIV schedule with a great performance on the DP World Tour and a good year in the majors.

There is a growing imbalance in an era in which the top 10 players in the European organization are instantly promoted to the PGA Tour at the end of each season. Penge is among those headed to the United States for 2026.

But it’s also worth noting that of the nine who “graduated” last year (Tom McKibben went to LIV instead) only two – Rasmus Hougaard (84) and Thorbjörn Olesen (96) – finished among the top 100 players retaining full playing privileges. He was previously at 125 before this season.

So the likes of Matteo Manassero, Paul Waring (a season ruined by injuries) and Antoine Rosner will return to the DP World Tour next year.

There was sadness for a number of players last Sunday, including English player Matt Wallace, after he missed the list of the top 100 players by only three places.

He will still have plenty of playing opportunities, but he will have less certainty about events and will wait longer before knowing for sure where he will compete.

Wallace currently sits at No. 74 in the world rankings in a year in which he has two top-three finishes and is one of the top 20 players on the PGA of America.

Well, he would like to be better, but it’s still a reasonably productive year between the PGA Tour and DP World – the two toughest tracks on the planet.

At least he’ll be playing a lot in America next year, and as Kiefer has proven – if you play in those parts, there’s plenty of scope for a rapid rise up the official rankings.