Branden Grace picked a good time to notch his first top-10 finish in more than six months.
Grace faded a bit over the weekend at the European Tour’s South African Open, but his T-7 finish in his native country still marked his first worldwide top-10 since the BMW PGA Championship in May. It also went a long way toward securing his return trip to the Masters.
Grace started the week ranked No. 50 in the world, but his result in South Africa moved him up one spot to No. 49. With only a handful of tournaments left this year, Grace is now likely to remain inside the top 50 at the end of the year - an achievement that would clinch a tee time at Augusta National. Grace racked up four top-5 finishes in a stretch of seven majors between 2015-16, and he hasn’t missed the Masters since 2012.
Brandt Snedeker is now ranked 50th, with Aaron Wise at No. 51. But both players are already exempt for the Masters by virtue of their wins at the Wyndham Championship and AT&T Byron Nelson, respectively. The players closest to the bubble who are not yet exempt are No. 52 Byeong-Hun An and Brian Harman, who stayed at 53rd after receiving no OWGR points for his team win at the QBE Shootout with Patton Kizzire.
Brooks Koepka remains world No. 1 for another week, followed by Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau. Jon Rahm stays at No. 6, with Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau rounding out the top 10.
With his next competitive start not yet announced, Tiger Woods remained at 14th in the latest rankings.