The Ryder Cup is indeed one of the greatest and most prestigious tournaments that every golfer looks forward to. But not everyone gets a chance to feature in the biennial event. Both European and American teams have 12 players each, wherein the top 6 are qualified via the standings, and the other 6 are the captain’s picks. Just before the Ryder Cup in the FedEx Cup playoffs, the competition amongst the golfers is fierce to make a strong case for their selection in the team.

Although a few golfers such as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler have already fixed their place this year in European and American teams respectively, they still have something to play for in the upcoming BMW Championship. Rest assured, there is going to be a different competition amongst the Ryder Cup foes! 

Wasteful Rory McIlroy gears up for World No. 1 challenge with Scottie Scheffler 

In October 2022, after his CJ Cup victory, McIlroy regained his number 1 position on the OWGR leaderboard for the first time since 2020, and for the ninth time in his career. With this win, he dispositioned Scottie Scheffler from his apex position in the OWGR board after 30 weeks, who had been there since March 2022, after the Masters. 

With ending 2022 at the top, McIlroy was content. But two months into 2023, things changed. Scheffler dethroned the Irish golfer to be on the top in rankings and has stayed there till now, with no hindrances. So, it is safe to say that the Northern Irishman and Scheffler have been in a tuff with each other for the first position in the OWGR rankings for quite some time now.

Now if certain reports are to be believed, McIlroy might just reclaim his old place back in the rankings and would not be referred to as the former number one. A Twitter page, Nosferatu, which often posts about OWGR, recently shared a post sharing an interesting insight. It reported that at the BMW Championship, the chances are high that the 4X major champion, currently ranked in second position in OWGR, might reclaim his position and surpass Scottie Scheffler from the first rank.

After so many close calls this year, including finishing in three top 10 in majors this year and winning the Genesis Scottish Open, it is definitely going to be a great feeling for the Irish golfer to go back to number 1 in the rankings after almost 6 months. This time, if he is successful, it will be the tenth time in his illustrious career that he will be the world’s number 1 golfer. 

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Let us find out what happened at the beginning of 2023 that led to McIlroy slipping away from his position. 

When did Scheffler dethrone McIlroy?

In February 2023, Scheffler hit a final round of 65 at TPC Scottsdale while competing in the WM Phoenix Open. As he successfully defended his title, he also reclaimed his number 1 position in the Official World Golf Rankings from the Irish golfer, who finished in the 32nd position in that tournament. 

As the 2022 Augusta champion got his apex position back, he became the only second golfer to go back-to-back at number 1 in the OWGR since 2017. What are your thoughts on McIlroy dethroning Scheffler to reclaim his title of the world’s number 1 golfer? Let us know in the comments below. 

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