The United Kingdom has an impressive range of high-ranked professional golfers with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all boasting of players with stable positions in the top 25.
The geographical diversity of the top UK players means that various regions are represented with one of those being Yorkshire as one of the top English players hails from there.
It is immensely positive for the wider nation that consistent top-level players are starting to emerge from the smaller golfing nations that the UK is comprised of besides England.
Here we will at the leading home nation golfers following the summer of 2024, with a look at their position in the world rankings and the performances that have earned it.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is without a doubt one of the world’s leading golfers and he has occupied such a position for over a decade.
The Northern Irishman is regularly amongst the leading favourites at every single major event which has been huge for the exposure of UK golf. For example, looking ahead to the 2025 US Masters he is offered at 9/1 in the golf odds. Scottie Scheffler is the only man backed to finish ahead of him in the golf tips.
After the BMW Championship in late August, McIlroy was in third place in the world rankings which meant he would end the summer as the UK’s highest-ranked player by far – which is a status he has held for the majority of his career.
McIlroy is the face of the sport for the nation although several other players are helping to drive UK golf forward.
Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick
Three of the five top-25 golfers from the UK are English, although only two of them have held a spot long-term.
Aaron Rai broke into the top 25 with a win at the Wyndham Championship in August, although he will have to maintain his place over a sustained period before he is considered one of the UK’s leading players.
Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick therefore lead the way for England and UK golf as a whole. Fleetwood finished the summer ranked 12th after a fairly successful major season in which his top finish was third in the Masters.
The Southport-born star has been a key figure in UK golf for more than half a decade, having finished in the top five at major events as far back as 2017, although he has not secured a victory at that level yet.
Fitzpatrick on the other hand offers Sheffield and the wider Yorkshire region representation on the major stage, on which he has tasted the ultimate success before.
He won the US Open in 2022 and has been fairly consistent ever since – he has fluctuated between the lower end of the top 10 and the fringes of the top 25 – as he still holds a respectable ranking of 24 following the summer of 2024.
Robert MacIntyre
Robert MacIntyre ended the summer ranked 15th in the world, which is territory that no Scottish player has threatened in over a decade. His position means that he is arguably among the top three UK players following the biggest competitions of 2024.
MacIntyre’s Canadian Open and Scottish Open wins this year are what have been the biggest factors behind him achieving a career peak in the rankings. The Scotsman’s eighth-placed finish at the PGA Championship certainly also helped him to establish himself as one of the UK’s top golfers.
Ultimately, the nation can boast of several remarkable players that are currently positioned among the world’s best, and they all come from different areas of the UK, including the Yorkshire region.
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