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Why Jordan Spieth (and Others) May Be Ready to Crash the World Top 10
Are you ready for the 2026 golf season?
More than three months have passed since the Ryder Cup, four months since the Tour Championship and—gasp!—five months since the British Open, the last major championship of 2025.
SI Golf is previewing the new year, from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf and more. So far we have predicted the major champions, debated whether world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will bag another PGA Tour Player of the Year award and discussed if Rory McIlroy will add to his major count one year after completing the career Grand Slam.
Today, we ask which players are ready to make a big move in the Official World Golf Ranking.
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Which player currently ranked outside the world top 30 will end the season in the top 10?
Bob Harig: Jordan Spieth. It’s hard to believe, but Spieth has dropped to 80th in the OWGR after a lackluster season attempting to return from injury and surgery. He’s got a lot to prove this year and getting back on track after an offseason after a lengthy offseason will clearly be one of the storylines. So will his ability to qualify for signature events without sponsor invites.
Jeff Ritter: No one. I like Sam Burns and Shane Lowry to potentially crack the top 10 this year, but they’re currently in the high-20s and not outside No. 30. I don’t see anyone that far out finishing in the top 10 … but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone out there proves me wrong.
Max Schreiber: Akshay Bhatia. He was knocking on the door of cracking the top 20 a year ago, but endured some growing pains in 2025 with four top 10s in 26 starts. Still just 23, the sky is the limit for the lefty. And a win or two should be able to springboard him in the OWGR.
John Schwarb: Michael Brennan. I’m going to hitch onto a possible comet; this 23-year-old who had been playing the PGA Tour Americas got a sponsor exemption last fall in Utah and won it to earn his Tour card without seeing the Korn Ferry Tour. And it was no fluke, even in a softer-field fall event—he won by four shots with monster drives and ball speeds over 190 mph, as if we needed a reminder that sending it with the driver is still a pretty reliable strategy in the pro game. Brennan is already 32nd in the world so climbing into the top 10 isn’t out of the question if he has a standout rookie season.
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John Schwarb is a senior editor for Sports Illustrated covering golf. Prior to joining SI in March 2022, he worked for ESPN.com, PGATour.com, Tampa Bay Times and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is the author of The Little 500: The Story of the World's Greatest College Weekend. A member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Schwarb has a bachelor's in journalism from Indiana University.
Jeff Ritter is the managing director of SI Golf. He has more than 20 years of sports media experience, and previously was the general manager at the Morning Read, where he led that business's growth and joined SI as part of an acquisition in 2022. Earlier in his career he spent more than a decade at SI and Golf Magazine, and his journalism awards include a MIN Magazine Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a master's from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.
Bob Harig is a senior writer covering golf for Sports Illustrated. He has more than 25 years experience on the beat, including 15 at ESPN. Harig is a regular guest on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio and has written two books, "DRIVE: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods" and "Tiger and Phil: Golf's Most Fascinating Rivalry." He graduated from Indiana University where he earned an Evans Scholarship, named in honor of the great amateur golfer Charles (Chick) Evans Jr. Harig, a former president of the Golf Writers Association of America, lives in Clearwater, Fla.