Justin Thomas was one of two high profile players to skip last week’s WGC-Match Play and was ultimately replaced in the world’s top 10 by winner Sam Burns.
Burns took down Cameron Young in the final 6&5 to win his fifth PGA Tour title and return to the world’s top 10, at the expense of Justin Thomas.
Thomas had been a mainstay inside the top 10 since August 2017. In that period he has spent weeks as World No.1. The Kentucky native first moved inside the top 10 in January 2017 after winning in back-to-back weeks at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Sony Open.
His Sony Open win saw him open with a 59, becoming the PGA Tour’s youngest ever player to break 60 at the age of 23. He won a total of five times in 2017, including his first Major at the PGA Championship staged at Quail Hollow.
The American has played seven times so far in 2023, with his best finishing a 4th at the WM Phoenix Open.
He decided to skip the WGC-Match Play due to a lack of course form and is also not featuring in this week’s Valero Texas Open, meaning he’ll have had two weeks of practice heading into next week’s Masters.
The two-time Major champion has played in seven Masters tournaments and has never missed the cut at Augusta National. His best finish was a 4th in 2020.
🚨NEWSFLASHA win by @Samburns66 at the #DellMatchPlay would lift him back into the top 10 in the world rankings.It would also bring to an end a pretty remarkable 293-week streak of uninterrupted top 10 presence in #OWGR for @JustinThomas34, which started in August 2017…March 26, 2023
Elsewhere in the rankings this week, Rory McIlroy is back up to 2nd in the world after his 3rd-place finish in the Match Play. Runner-up Cameron Young has moved to a career-high 14th after his sixth second-place finish on the PGA Tour.
Max Homa is also set to rise to a career-high 5th in the world next week ahead of The Masters.
CURRENT MEN’S TOP 10
- 1. Scottie Scheffler
- 2. Rory McIlroy
- 3. Jon Rahm
- 4. Patrick Cantlay
- 5. Cameron Smith
- 6. Max Homa
- 7. Xander Schauffele
- 8. Will Zalatoris
- 9. Viktor Hovland
- 10. Sam Burns
..
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