Ranking the Top 25 Men's Pro Golfers After Tommy Fleetwood's FedEx Cup Title
When Tommy Fleetwood walked off the 18th green at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta with both the "Calamity Jane" trophy—signifying his win at the Tour Championship—and a check for $10 million, it marked the end of the traditional PGA Tour season and the ceding of the weekend stage to college and NFL football.
And what else?
It created an ideal time to reset the pecking order among the world's elite.
The B/R golf team put a bow on the significant portion of the 2025 schedule with one final re-rank of the world's top 25 based on past performances and recent results, including the best players from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.
Nos. 25-21
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25. Patrick Cantlay: The Californian endured a third straight season without a victory and missed the cut at three of four majors, but posting 64-66-64 through three rounds gave him a share of the lead in Atlanta and his Sunday 71 left him tied for second.
24. Shane Lowry: The popular Irishman had four top 10s in 2025, including a second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, when he finished two shots behind Rory McIlroy. He's had multiple top threes in each of the last four seasons.
23. Matt Fitzpatrick: The Englishman was consistent and made six top 10s including a tie for fourth at the British Open in July. It was his sixth top 10 at a major, and third since a win at the 2022 U.S. Open. His sixth at the British Masters made for a nice final weekend, too.
22. Justin Rose: The 45-year-old's 69-70 in the opening two rounds knocked him out of real contention at East Lake, but he woke up the echoes during the season with a win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and a second to McIlroy at The Masters.
21. Harry Hall: The 28-year-old makes it four international players out of the first five, thanks in part to a 65 on Friday that put him into the Tour Championship mix. It's the continuation of a hot streak that included a sixth-place finish last weekend at the BMW Championship.
Nos. 20-16
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20. Cameron Young: A second-round 62 at the Tour Championship put the 28-year-old New Yorker right in the mix and continued a red-hot August in which he won the Wyndham Championship and had a fifth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
19. Maverick McNealy: McNealy arrived to the season-ending event at No. 10 in FedEx Cup points, thanks to a third at the BMW Championship a week before and five top-five finishes altogether. He made the weekend at all four majors, too.
18. Keegan Bradley: Another player whose strong second round at East Lake—he shot a 64—crept him up the leaderboard. It was a fitting finale for a strong season for Bradley, who had a win, five top 10s and 18 made cuts in his first 20 events.
17. Hideki Matsuyama: He was in the field but not in the mix in Atlanta, but Matsuyama earns yet another list berth after a win at The Sentry in January and top-25 finishes at both The Masters (tied for 21st) and the British Open (tied for 16th).
16. Collin Morikawa: One of the world's best who've not reached age 30, Morikawa was tied for third after Thursday's first round before a second-round 70 dropped him off the pace. Nevertheless, two seconds, four top 10s and a tie for 14th at Augusta warrant the 16th spot.
Nos. 15-11
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15. Viktor Hovland: Another staple on lists of best players who've not yet captured a major, the 27-year-old Norwegian picked up a win at the Valspar Championship, in the midst of three top 10s and eight top 25s while making 14 of 17 PGA Tour cuts.
14. Sepp Straka: An up-and-down trip through the first two rounds yielded a 74 and 65 at East Lake for Straka, but it doesn't take the shine off a 2025 season in which he won twice and saw his world ranking skip from 36th to as high as seventh.
13. Harris English: The 36-year-old Georgian also made a quantum leap in stature this season, climbing from 73rd in the world at the end of 2024 to ninth upon arrival in Atlanta. His win at the Farmers Insurance Open was the fifth of his career.
12. Ludvig Aberg: A talented Swede who crossed the Atlantic to play college golf at Texas Tech, the 25-year-old Aberg began 2025 with a flourish by grabbing fifth at The Sentry, winning The Genesis Invitational and taking seventh at The Masters.
11. Ben Griffin: The second multiple 2025 winner on this tier, Griffin finished first at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Charles Schwab Challenge within a month, then took second at The Memorial. His nine top 10s are tops on the list so far, too.
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Nos. 10-6
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10. Justin Thomas: The first two-time major winner on the list, Thomas evolved into a consistent player as he climbed through his 30s. He beat Andrew Novak in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage in April and had three seconds in 19 PGA Tour events.
9. Robert MacIntyre: The 29-year-old Scotsman was in the mix all season, including a second at the U.S. Open and a tie for seventh at the British Open. His 64-66 in the first two rounds at the Tour Championship paved the way for another strong finish.
8. Tommy Fleetwood: It's hard to be more consistent than the popular 34-year-old Englishman, who made 17 of 18 cuts, tied for second at the Travelers Championship in June and had two more top fives earlier in August before the finale in Atlanta finally yielded his first win in 164 PGA Tour events.
7. J.J. Spaun: It was only the hardcore golf fans who knew about Spaun before 2025, but that's no longer an issue after the Californian broke through with a two-shot win at the U.S. Open and was third in FedEx Cup points prior to the weekend.
6. Bryson DeChambeau: The burly 31-year-old wasn't in Atlanta because of his LIV Golf allegiance, but he's still unquestionably one of the world's best. He has a win and four top fives with LIV in 2025 and finished 10th or better at three majors.
5. Xander Schauffele
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One of 22 players to capture multiple majors in a season, Schauffele followed his PGA Championship and British Open wins in 2024 with a slightly less successful (for him) 2025, in which he had three top 10s and nine top 25s in 15 PGA Tour events.
He was 42nd in FedEx Cup points and finished outside the Tour Championship field after tying for 28th at the BMW Championship, but remained third in world rankings entering the week despite not winning an event for the first time since 2016.
"At some point I'm going to sit back and reflect and try and learn something from it," he said. "Yeah, it was mentally a long season for me even though it was short."
4. Russell Henley
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The first player on our list to be in top 10s as often as not this season, Henley won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and was second at the Travelers Championship in June while finishing 10th or better nine times in 17 events.
Two of the top 10s came at the U.S. and British opens this summer, boosting the 36-year-old's total to five—four in the last two years—in 44 career majors since he debuted as low amateur at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Henley arrived in Atlanta seventh in FedEx Cup points and led the Tour Championship after firing a career-best 61 in Thursday's first round. He followed it with rounds of 66, 69 and 69 and wound up earning better than $4 million for tying for second.
3. Rory McIlroy
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He didn't win the most tournaments but nobody's third triumph of 2025 came with more significance than McIlroy's, as he completed the career grand slam with a playoff defeat of Rose at The Masters in April.
He'd already won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and The Players Championship in March, and ended with three wins for the second straight year and the eighth time in his career dating back a five-win year in 2012.
"There's only three other people living (Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player) that have (won all four majors)," McIlroy said. "It feels weird for me to be put in that category, but, it was a dream come true."
2. Jon Rahm
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One of those players whose world ranking, now 78th, has suffered because of his move to LIV Golf, Rahm was the best and most consistent player on that tour in 2025 after racking up four seconds, a fourth and two fifths in 13 events.
The two-time major winner made the cut in all four grand slam events this season, too, including top 10s at both the PGA Championship (tie for eighth) and the U.S. Open (tie for seventh).
"I'll really appreciate what I've done this year," Rahm said. "To be able to win the (LIV) season without actually winning a tournament, I know I'll be proud of that."
1. Scottie Scheffler
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Whether he warrants Tiger chatter depends on who's asked, but there's no doubt Scheffler has comprehensively separated himself from the competitive pack.
The 29-year-old product of the University of Texas went 18-for-18 in terms of making PGA Tour cuts, finishing outside the top 10 just three times while winning the PGA Championship and British Open to boost his career major haul to four.
He'll have a first chance to join McIlroy in the career grand slam club next summer at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York. The tournament's final round is scheduled for June 21, the day Scheffler will turn 30.
"I'll assess where my game's at, things I can improve on, and then go from there," Scheffler said. "I don't think about winning tournaments. I just look at the body of work I have, think about ways to improve."
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