Tiering the Best Iron Players in the World

Today we’re tackling a nearly impossible exercise: ranking the best iron players in the world. This will undoubtedly provoke some takes on social media, so take a deep breath before consuming any of that discourse. Plus, a spotlight on a golfer who’s playing too well to end the season with no wins. And a prediction on Scottie Scheffler’s career major total.

A few notes: 

Is this exercise based more on recent or long-term iron play? Eh, I tried to strike a balance between both. If it were based solely on recent play, Hideki Matsuyama would be ranked lower and Sepp Straka would be ranked higher. 

How many golfers have been ranked in the top 30 on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach in all six seasons dating back to 2020? One: Viktor Hovland. 

Public sentiment appears to be low on Collin Morikawa right now, which is fair. However, he’s clearly the second-best iron player in the world in my view. If you wanted to bet me that any golfer not named Scottie Scheffler would outperform Morikawa with his irons in 2026, I’d happily take the Morikawa side. Collin didn’t finish outside the top three in SG: Approach between 2020 and 2023. After a poor season with his irons in 2024, he’s back up to sixth this season. If you have a problem with where I’ve ranked Morikawa, I don’t know what to tell you. 

Let this serve as a reminder that Tony Finau, although in the middle of a down season, is a top iron player on the planet. Finau finished second in SG: Approach in 2024 behind Scheffler and fifth in 2023. Keep an eye on his iron play over the next couple of months. If he starts showing signs of his typical elite iron play, he’ll start racking up top 10s pretty quickly. 

I don’t consider Paul Casey a relevant professional golfer anymore, but I still almost included him in this graphic. What an exceptional iron talent. Careers like Casey’s are difficult to contextualize decades down the line, but the guy was a magnificent ball-striker for a very, very long time. 

A list of the best iron players in the world wouldn’t be complete without mentions of Brooks Koepka and Will Zalatoris, even if neither golfer is in form and/or healthy. Iron shots sound different when coming off their club faces.

Player Spotlight: Shane Lowry

When I tiered the best short game players in the world, some readers took issue with me not including Shane Lowry. When I tiered the best drivers in the world, a few people replied that Lowry deserved consideration. Today I’m tiering the best iron players in the world, and the Irishman warrants inclusion. Simply put, Shane is an incredibly well-rounded golfer. 

Going into this exercise, I knew Lowry was hitting his irons well, but I didn’t realize how well. In his last three starts, Lowry ranked first in SG: Approach at the Truist Championship, missed the cut while gaining strokes on approach at the PGA Championship, and then ranked third last week at the Memorial. For the current season, he’s ranking third in SG: Approach, playing a schedule of almost exclusively signature events. 

When you look at Shane’s season, it’s been a year of close calls with a few poor Sunday performances mixed in. His Saturday 65 in difficult weather conditions at Pebble Beach en route to a solo second finish remains one of the best rounds of this PGA Tour season. He finished T-2 at Philly Cricket Club after entering the final round tied for the lead with Sepp Straka. His terrible Sunday 81 at Augusta National makes it easy to forget how much of a factor he was in this year’s Masters, playing in the fourth-to-last pairing despite a bogey-bogey finish on Saturday afternoon.

Consistency is the sign of a well-rounded player, and with seven top-20 finishes in 12 starts, Lowry has been a consistent force. Though he hasn’t yet won in 2025, Lowry is having one of the best seasons on the PGA Tour and he’s playing like a golfer who could pick off a win any given week. 

You can criticize Lowry for failing to get more tournaments across the finish line over the past few years, but you can’t knock his performance in major championships too much. Last year, he was one of five golfers to both make the cut in all four majors and record at least two top-10 finishes. He’ll be a popular mention at next week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he held a four-shot 54-hole lead in 2016. And, of course, the season’s final major is at Royal Portrush, where Lowry won the 2019 Open Championship.  

I have high expectations for Shane for the rest of the year. I don’t expect him to win a major, but he’s playing too well to go winless for the entire season. Put me down for a Lowry win at this week’s RBC Canadian Open, featuring a weak field in which he should contend unless Rory McIlroy runs away with the tournament.  

Reader-Submitted Question

Question: Have you given an official prediction for Scottie’s career major win total? 

Answer: Ok, so we’re at three right now and Scottie is about to turn 29. I saw that No Laying Up reached out to FanDuel, who produced an over/under of 9.5 career major wins. I doubt FanDuel is accepting any real action on that offering, but that’s neither here nor there. 

I’ll go on the record that Scottie wins five more majors to bring his total tally to eight, tied for the sixth most of all time with Tom Watson. Appreciating the history of golf, a big part of my brain wants me to be a little more conservative and predict seven, but I want to get a little aggressive out of respect for Scheffler’s brilliance. 

His rare combination of physical and mental talent leads me to believe winning five more majors over the next decade is feasible. As I’ve written in the Fried Egg Golf Newsletter, we should start treating Scottie like an all-time great and note past legends’ performances in majors as a reference point. 

In that spirit, a trajectory like Watson’s seems reasonable to project, even if it feels a bit aggressive.

My biggest concern with Scheffler is that he’s had back and neck issues pop up during both his collegiate and professional careers. If you told me Scottie will remain healthy for the remainder of his career, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him reach a double-digit total. Even fully healthy, though, a lot has to go right to cross into that territory. 

Especially considering injury risk, I’d 100% slam the under on 9.5 major championship wins despite my immense respect for what Scheffler is doing right now. I’ll say he wins four more over the next 18 majors and then picks one more Masters off a few years later. It seems crazy to predict eight majors, but we’re witnessing a special golfer right now. 

Ok, that’s all for this week. Have a question you want me to answer next week? Email me at joseph@thefriedegg.com.