Can McIlroy climb the world ranking with a win at The Open?

Rory McIlroy. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Can Rory McIlroy climb the world ranking with a win at The Open Championship?

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 7/5/23

After hitting some bumps in the road, Rory McIlroy's 2023 campaign appears to be back on track.

The Northern Irishman capped off the month of June T7 at the Memorial Tournament, T9 at the Canadian Open, second at the U.S. Open — by a single stroke, no less — and T7 at the Travelers. This sets him up nicely to be the favorite ahead of The Open Championship, which tees off at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 20.

Now, all eyes are on McIlroy to see if he can lift the Claret Jug and end a nine-year drought without a major victory. There is a belief that he can do it, too, with DraftKings listing him as the 15-2 favorite to win the event.

But could a win over in the U.K. propel him up the world golf ranking as well?

Nothing to see here, just a hole in one from 214 yards for Rory McIlroy at the @TravelersChamp ⛳️pic.twitter.com/8M9Wh0ducp
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 23, 2023

McIlroy currently sits in third in the official world golf ranking, 37 points behind Jon Rahm and 185 behind Scottie Scheffler. He has just one event, the Scottish Open, to participate in before he tees up at Royal Liverpool.

Since DP World Tour events qualify for fewer points — and that's a whole other convoluted story — even a win at The Renaissance Club wouldn't be enough for McIlroy to leapfrog Rahm and get into the No. 2 spot.

However, major events are worth more points in this crazy and convoluted system. So if McIlroy wins both the Scottish Open and The Open Championship — easier said than done, but still — he would be able to catch up to Scheffler in the OWGR.

McIlroy held the top spot in the OWGR to start the season after he overtook Scheffler to end the 2022 golf campaign. But after a first-place finish at the CJ Cup in October, he fumbled to finish the WM Phoenix Open T32 and the Genesis Invitational T29.

He rebounded for a second-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but a third-place finish at the Dell Technologies Match Play was sandwiched between missing the cut at both The Players Championship and the Masters.

You can catch McIlroy teeing off at the Genesis Scottish Open on July 13.

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