Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a new year of WOWgr, Will’s Official Weekly golf ranking for long.

For the uninitiated, a couple of years ago I decided it was time to create a definitive ranking system that combined the best from everything in the world of golf. The result has been widely regarded as the most accurate ranking system you can find.

Since the start of WOWgr, the Official World Golf Ranking has received incredible amounts of criticism, almost certainly because others realized there are better ranking systems available. Whether this is a coincidence or just happenstance is up to you. Regardless, we have no choice but to continue for a third year.

The WOWgr guidelines, as a reminder:

WOWgr is extremely subjective, but unimpeachably correct. (In other words, don’t take it too seriously.)

WOWgr includes golfers of all kinds, from tour pros to amateurs, and sometimes non-humans. WOWgr takes many factors into consideration. Quality of play is not the only criterion.

WOWgr is extremely volatile. This week’s No. 1 could be next week’s not-mentioned.

WOWgr is never complete. I’m a busy guy. No time to rank everyone, every week.

WOWgr welcomes feedback. If you see something, say something: @willknightsTFE on Twitter.

WOWgr Vol. 2024.1

No. 1 – Scottie Scheffler – The guy who lead the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green, and SG:Total in 2023 is in the mix in Hawaii. It really is ridiculous just how good Scottie has been since the fall of 2021 and despite the attention given to the No. 1 player in the world, I don’t think he’s getting what he deserves. He’s as reliable as they come right now.

No. 4 – Collin Morikawa at Kapalua – The guy is very good on the Plantation Course. More importantly, after a relatively benign couple of years, he ended 2023 on a heater and appears ready to kick some ass in 2024. His SG: Off-the-Tee, Around-the-Green, and Putting are all trending upwards and we know his elite ball striking isn’t going anywhere. I’d love him to be a little less prickly in pressers but otherwise I’m all aboard the Morikawa hype train.

No. 5 – Elevation change – The Plantation Course is just the best.

No. 8 – Habits – Resolutions are out, habits are in. Every single year, I set a goal to read X number of books. I’ve never been good about reading, even though I really do like it. In 2022, my goal was six. In 2023, my goal was 12. I read a combined two books over those two years. I’m happy to report that as of today, January 6, 2024, we have already read one book. Coincidentally, it was Atomic Habits, a book I have somehow never seen nor heard about. I enjoyed it immensely.

No. 10 – Players who show up to Kapalua early, according to Mark Rolfing – We all love listening to our favorite Hawaiian resident this time of year, but no one loves anything as much as Mr. Rolfing loves players who come to Maui early. My guess is those players came out to take advantage of being in Maui and they likely haven’t played a ton of golf recently. Regardless, I’m glad they are there to get some practice in.

No. 15 – Analyst mystery – As Andy and Shane discussed on the most recent Fried Egg Golf Podcast, we really have no idea what’s going on with the NBC lead analyst chair. I’m not exactly an industry expert, but that seems odd.

No. 58 – Chicago Bears fans – We’re feeling pretty good about our ingrained Aaron Rodgers hatred these days. And Ryan Poles has the No. 1 pick yet again so things are looking up! Maybe! Surely this won’t go poorly.

No. 998 – Modern evaluation of professional golf – According to the Sports Business Journal, the most watched golf telecast in 2023 was the final round of the Masters. Duh. That Sunday came in as the 131st most watched sports broadcast of the year. But please, tell me that these guys deserve the ludicrous sums of money that are being thrown around.

No. 1,122 – The amount of fabric in Jason Day’s pants – I have no issue whatsoever with Jason Day agreeing to a sponsorship with Malbon Golf. Do whatever you want. Nike put him in a lot of really bad stuff for many years. But just because you were in a schmedium Nike straightjacket polo for a decade doesn’t mean you need to wear parachute pants. The pendulum just swung too far for Mr. Day. You could fit one Akshay Bhatia in each of his pant legs!

No. 1,451 – Reading nothing but the headline – Rory McIlroy didn’t say the crazy things headlines would lead you to believe and definitely didn’t “fall on his sword,” as Greg Norman put it. Let’s maybe watch the full podcast and listen to his comments in context.