A total of eleven players will receive world ranking points this week after the LIV Golf Adelaide. The main protagonist, of course, is Anthony Kim. With his phenomenal victory, the Los Angeles golfer catapults up the world ranking. He will be on the verge of the top 200 from 847. Let’s remember that Kim was once World Number 6 back in 2008, when he shone brightly in the Ryder Cup at Valhalla. In August 2024, he occupied his lowest position (4,628) and has been climbing since then. By January 22025, he was already 2,278 in the world, and by January 2026, he had reached 875. The million-dollar question is whether he will reach the world top 50 again. If he continues playing golf as he did this Sunday at LIV Golf Australia, there’s no doubt about it…
The other big question already floating around is whether Anthony Kim will receive an invitation to play the Masters at Augusta. Remember that in recent years, the Georgia coliseum has always remembered the Saudi league in one way or another. His name is surely already on the table. Now it remains to be seen if the Masters’ officials consider that the American has already done enough or if they need to wait longer. From a marketing standpoint, Kim’s presence would be unbeatable. His last Major was the 2011 PGA Championship, the same year he bid farewell to the Masters until now. He finished third in 2010. He has played it three years (2009, 2010, and 2011).
We cannot rule out that the Masters may decide to wait a reasonable time to see Anthony Kim’s performances in upcoming tournaments before making a decision. Let’s remember that the fact of already receiving world ranking points makes it less necessary for Augusta National to issue wildcard invitations to LIV players. They have the perfect safeguard of the world top 50.
The other significant rise in the ranking is Jon Rahm’s. The Barrika golfer, with his second consecutive runner-up finish in LIV after the one in Arabia last week, climbs almost twenty positions and reopens the doors to the world top 50. Right now, he is in 46th place, although we will have to wait for the Pebble Beach PGA Tour tournament to finish to know exactly where he stands this Monday. He will be around 50th place. He started the week at 67th.
Interestingly, Rahm will return to the top 50 exactly one year after leaving it. The last time he was there was on 9 February 2025. Obviously, the reason he ended up outside that club is that LIV Golf did not receive world ranking points, and Jon did not perform well enough in the tournaments that did count to maintain his position. Now that LIV does receive points for the top ten finishers, Rahm is starting to reclaim his natural place in the world ranking. By the way, Jon is already leading the individual LIV ranking, ahead of Anthony Kim and Bryson DeChambeau.
Additionally, DeChambeau and Hatton will gain some positions, although nothing significant, and Uihlein is approaching the world top 100. All three finished tied for third place in Australia. Points were also received by: Dean Burmester, Lucas Herbert, Sebastián Muñoz, Marc Leishman, Branden Grace, and Cameron Smith. None of them produce a very significant change in their status.
The ones who will not have world ranking points this week are the rest of the Spaniards playing in LIV Golf. Josele Ballester finished in 32nd place, Sergio García ended up 37th, Luis Masaveu finished 44th, and David Puig occupied 51st place.
