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The current World No. 3, Rory McIlroy has a great chance to reclaim the No. 2 ranking spot from Xander Schauffele soon. The Northern Irish golfer is going to be part of the Genesis Open, starting from February 13th. Meanwhile, Schauffele is still nursing his injury and will not be playing at Torrey Pines South Course.
To reclaim the No. 2 spot, what McIlroy needs at the Genesis Invitational is to finish in a 2-way tie for T5 or better. He most recently won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. On the OWGR rankings, McIlroy has an average points score of 8.6099 against Xander Schauffele’s 8.9142.
The two-time major winner is currently dealing with a right rib injury, specifically a soft tissue issue. Golf Monthly writer Garrett Johnston confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) about Schauffele’s non-participation at the Tiger Woods’ hosted event.
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“Spoke w/Xander Schauffele’s team and he will NOT play next week at @thegenesisinv. ‘Does not look that way (for him to play) unfortunately. (Injury) needs a bit more time.”
The way forward on the PGA Tour for Schauffele is not clear, and hence his world No. 2 spot is in danger as Rory McIlroy is not so far away from claiming it.
On the OWGR rankings, Schauffele has not been ranked outside the top 20 since July 2018. Not only that, but he has been in OWGR’s top 10 for the last three years.
Xander Schauffele has endured a difficult start to 2025
Things have not gone according to plan so far for Xander Schauffele this year. He finished tied for 30th at the Sentry Tournament, and due to injury, he has had to withdraw from several events. The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open are two of those notable tournaments from which Schauffele been forced to drop out.
The 31-year-old shared his frustration about this and has stated that he is not too pleased with his start to the season (via PGA Tour).
“Now I’m sidelined I’m pretty bummed, to be completely honest. I mean, probably the worst start to any season I’ve had as a professional golfer.”
Regarding his efforts to make a comeback with 100% fitness, he continued:
“I’m sitting at home watching all my friends, you know, watching everyone do what I love the most, which is to compete in tournaments. I am just trying to learn from this situation and really come back 100%.”
It is difficult to conclude which tournament Schauffele is targeting for his comeback. The Masters starts on April 7, the PGA Championship is scheduled to start on May 15, and The Open Championship will be in July.
On the other hand, Rory McIlroy is scheduled to play three PGA Tour tournaments before The Masters. He is playing in the Genesis Invitational, and in March, he will be in action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. This will give McIlroy a greater chance to overtake Xander Schauffele in the OWGR rankings and reclaim his World No. 2 spot.
