Will’s Official Weekly Golf Ranking, Vol. 2023.13

This No Laying Up tweet says it all. Six sleeps until the Masters.

Need a recap on the WOWgr rules?

Vol. 2023.13

No. 1 – Rose Zhang (No change from last week) – I very nearly made this entire edition of WOWgr about Ms. Zhang. The Stanford sophomore has topped my weekly ranking for about a month now, and two editions ago I mentioned that she would remain in the top spot until further notice. After two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, I’m not sure it’s possible for anyone or anything to overtake her.

Over the last five years, Zhang has won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior Women’s Amateur, the NCAA individual championship, the NCAA team championship, and nine total NCAA tournaments. She won five of her first six events to start the 2022-2023 NCAA season and came into the ANWA as the lead story. Arguably, the only story. With all eyes focused squarely on her, Zhang went out and shot 66-65 at Champions Retreat. She will enter Saturday’s final round at Augusta National with a five-shot lead. Four of the 71 other players in the ANWA field are within 10 shots. Four.

Zhang is going to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. This isn’t a jinx or mush, it’s a fact. And she knows it.

We’ve only been able to watch a few holes of Rose over the first couple days, but TFE’s on-site correspondents Garrett Morrison and Meg Adkins were blown away with her consistency this week. Garrett went as far to say that he doesn’t see how Rose can shoot worse than 66, and so far she hasn’t. I am beyond excited to watch her finish the job on Saturday afternoon and follow the rest of her career.

No. 2 – Joel Beall (Up 253) – One of my favorites in golf media did extensive reporting on Augusta National, the Masters Tournament, and the future of both entities for Golf Digest. The piece features comments from several ANGC members and outlines plans the club has for the next 20-30 years. From on-site housing for players and media members to the idea of building a second golf course, Beall’s reporting covers a lot of ground, and something tells me he had to leave some in the tank. You can listen to Joel talk about the article on today’s Shotgun Start and read the full piece HERE.

No. 3 – Scottie Scheffler (Down 1) – Nothing against Scottie but he had some tough competition this week. I do wish his champions dinner menu was a little less Applebee’s inspired but I won’t hold that against him.

No. 7 – The pitch clock (Up 888) – I thought I was going to hate the pitch clock in Major League Baseball, but we’re one game into the regular season and I’m all the way in. And the first violation of the year was against my own team! The pace of the game moved so much faster and no at bat felt like it dragged on forever. Time for golf to implement something similar.

No. 12 – Skincare (Up 41) – Max Greyserman shot a first-round 64 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Chile Classic yesterday. More importantly, he appears to be taking skincare very seriously with the big bucket hat and preposterous amount of sunscreen still on his face. Take care of yourself, folks.

It must be the hat 🧢@maxgreyserman has been playing well since he started rocking the bucket hat, including an 8-under first-round @CHILEclassic. pic.twitter.com/JXjc6oa7Ub

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) March 30, 2023

No. 34 – Matt Wallace (Up 104) – Winner of last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship got off to another good start at TPC San Antonio. It’s been a nice bounceback after his latest caddie berating incident.

No. 546 – Bubba Watson (Down 103) – During his LIV Orlando press conference, Bubba reminded us all that he has the palate and attitude of a six year old. Remember that Bubba served the most uninspired meal possible at both of his champions dinners. Caesar salad, grilled chicken, and confetti cake when you have any meal you could imagine at your fingertips is precrime. Lock him up.

No. 774 – Reporters at LIV Events (No change) – As much as I’d like to keep dunking on Bryson DeChambeau, it’s too easy when he talks about the rollback proposal. We need some new material.

No. 1,113 – Whomever bookmarked this TFE tweet (TBD) – Just know that you’re on my sh*t list.