How Scottie Scheffler can de-throne Rory McIlroy as World No.1 in Hawaii

Scottie Scheffler has the chance to return to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking - replacing Rory McIlroy - at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Ben Smith

05 Jan 2023

How Scottie Scheffler can de-throne Rory McIlroy as World No.1 in Hawaii

Despite being winless since The Masters, Scottie Scheffler has the chance to de-throne Rory McIlroy as the World No.1 this week.

The 26-year-old American is the highest-ranked player in the 29-man field in Kapalua for the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour.

The tournament represents the first to be played that has been granted "elevated" status with a bumper prize purse of $15m.

Per golf stat man Nosferatu, Scheffler would return the top spot providing he finishes inside the top three.

Scheffler has had the opportunity to get back to World No.1 twice since Northern Irishman McIlroy overtook him.

He needed to finish in solo second place at the Houston Open in November and a month later needed a win at the Hero World Challenge.

The Texan finished T-9 and runner-up in those events.

McIlroy became the World No.1 again following an emotional CJ Cup victory last October.

At the time, he said:

"I've worked so hard over the last 12 months to get myself back to this place. I feel like I'm enjoying the game as much as I ever have. I absolutely love the game of golf and I think that when I go out there and I play with that joy, it's definitely showed over these last 12 months."

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McIlroy has been the World No. 1 on nine different occasions.

The first time he rose to the top came in 2012 when he became the second-youngest No. 1 since Tiger Woods at the age of 21 following his victory at the Honda Classic.

Woods spent a total of 281 consecutive weeks as the best golfer on the planet.

Scheffler was the World No.1 for 30 weeks between March and October of last year.

That spell saw him win four times including the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC Match Play and The Masters.

Despite not winning since claiming the green jacket, Scheffler has come close to getting back in the winner's circle more than once.

He finished T-2 at the U.S. Open, T-3 at the BMW Championship and T-2 at the Tour Championship at East Lake.

Next page: Tony Finau shows off new swing in Hawaii