Propelled by his five-stroke win at the WGC-Mexico Championship on Sunday, Dustin Johnson will jump Justin Rose on the World Ranking and reclaim the top spot for the fourth time in his career.
He just won’t do it right away.
OK, we’ll explain. With Johnson’s victory at Club de Golf Chapultepec, the now 20-time PGA Tour winner cut into Rose’s lead, closing it to within .01 average points when this week’s ranking became official after the end of the final round in Mexico.
Here’s a look at how the points break down:
1: Rose, 9.8723
2: Johnson, 9.8659
Come next week, however, Johnson’s average points will push past Rose thanks to the weight of past tournaments changing and neither Johnson or Rose competing at PGA National in the Honda Classic.
Here’s the projected breakdown then for the next week:
1: Johnson, 9.9231
2: Rose, 9.9223
Johnson had been ranked No. 3 prior to the WGC-Mexico, with Brooks Koepka ranked No. 2 after being ranked No. 1 at the start of 2019. Johnson will thus become third golfer to hold the No. 1 spot already this year.
DJ first became No. 1 in the world in February 2017 and held the spot for 64 straight weeks, the longest streak by any individual since Tiger Woods was No. 1 for a record 281 straight weeks from 2005 to 2010. Johnson had another 13-week run in the top spot in the summer of 2018 and another four-week stretch later that fall.
Since Johnson first earned the No. 1 ranking in 2017, three other golfers—Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Rose—have also been ranked No. 1 and between the four of them, they have swapped the top spot 10 times.
Come next week, make it 11.
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