Jordan Spieth Has a Chance to Take World Number One Ranking From Rory McIlroy

Jordan Spieth could enter the PGA Championship as the number one ranked golfer in the world and it wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, surprise anyone who has watched him play over the last two years.

In 2013 Spieth collected the first win of his professional career at the John Deere Classic in memorable fashion. Spieth sank a shot from the bunker on the par-4 18th during the final round to force a playoff with David Hearn and, Zach Johnson. That was just the beginning of what would become a gradual rise to the top of sport.

While Spieth didn’t win any tournaments in 2014, he did finish tied for second with Jonas Blixt at the Masters behind Bubba Watson, and had another second place finish at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions along with eight other top 10 finishes. It was pretty clear to many after that performance at the Masters that the potential for Spieth to be great was there, and over the last seven months, he’s only verified that.

After collecting an early win this season at the Hero World Challenge, destroying the course and field at the Masters, winning the U.S. Open with a spectacular birdie putt on the final hole which sparked talk of a grand slam, winning the John Deere Classic for a second time, and finishing one shot out of a playoff at The Open Championship, along with a plethora of other top 10 finishes, look out Rory.

As Kevin Van Valkenburg notes, earlier this year Rory McIlroy was comparing himself to LeBron James:

"“I think when LeBron talks about that, that’s not confidence, that’s a fact,” McIlroy said. “If you look at the numbers, you can really see he is the best player in the world. And I guess for me, I feel the same way when I look at the world rankings and I see my name up at the top. If you look back at the last four or five years, I guess I’ve won more majors than anyone else in that time period. So do I feel like the best player in the world? Yes.”"

That’s still very true, but Rory missed a chance to defend his Open Championship title after his soccer injury, he’s pulled out of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, and his chance at defending his PGA Championship win is also up in the air.

This week Spieth will play in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational without McIlroy, who’s held the number one ranking since the 2014 edition of the tournament, in the field for a chance to take over the number one spot in the world golf rankings. The question everyone will be asking if Spieth knocks McIlroy out of the number one spot now becomes, “Is Jordan Spieth the best golfer on the planet?” It’s hard not to answer that with a very resounding “yes” considering what he’s accomplished this year, but let’s not forget McIlroy’s accomplishments in the last two years and that Spieth will have managed to inch closer with McIlroy missing a few chances to score himself some points over the last couple of months. That’s not to take away from what Spieth has done in the first half of the season with McIlroy in the field, but without him, it feels different.

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After missing the cut at The Players Championship, Spieth said in an interview with the Golf Channel that he isn’t rivals with McIlroy because he believed he wasn’t, “on his level yet.”

"“I never thought there was a rivalry,” Spieth said. “He’s a good player, and I need to get on that level. “I don’t believe I’m on his level yet. So far in his career, McIlroy is on a different level than any young player, including me.”"

At the time he said it, it was 100% true, but after collecting a second major at the U.S. Open and finishing one shot out of the playoff at The Open, Spieth is definitely closer to McIlroy than he was when he made that statement. While the two have very different games, McIlroy is the long bombing aggressive player and Spieth the great putter who is solid down the stretch, they aren’t rivals in the sense that many think of, but the potential for a rivalry is definitely there.

Welcome to the new world of golf, where two very young and ridiculously good golfers will hopefully battle it out for jackets, trophies, and jugs for the foreseeable future.

Golf wins again.