PGA Championship heat index: Who to pick at Kiawah Island?

Using the rankings, we’ve identified players who are trending heading into this week’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

Looking for a player to pick in your office pool? One strategy is to consider players who have had the most success in the months leading up to this week’s PGA Championship, the second major of 2021.

The entire PGA Championship field is broken down below according to the Golfweek/Sagarins and the Official World Golf Ranking. The left column, or the “heat index,” is a player’s ranking based on his play the past four months. That can help you pick a player who is trending.

So far in the 2020-21 Tour season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which he won a PGA Tour event has been 89.35 in the Golfweek/Sagarins and 96.35 in the OWGR.

Player Heat Index GW/Sagarin OWGR
 Jordan Spieth 1 23 26
 Brian Harman 2 12 47
 Joaquin Niemann 3 9 29
 Paul Casey 4 20 20
 Viktor Hovland 5 3 11
 Xander Schauffele 6 1 4
 Jon Rahm 7 2 3
 Corey Conners 8 16 39
 Louis Oosthuizen 9 14 31
 Charley Hoffman 10 40 75
 Matt Jones 11 30 56
 Will Zalatoris 12 10 30
 Collin Morikawa 13 24 6
 Cameron Smith 14 21 25
 Brendan Steele 15 52 82
 Daniel Berger 16 7 16
 Webb Simpson 17 5 10
 Abraham Ancer 18 11 19
 Cameron Tringale 19 22 66
 Chris Kirk 20 33 63
 Bryson DeChambeau 21 8 5
 Jason Kokrak 22 39 35
 Ryan Palmer 23 25 32
 Matt Fitzpatrick 24 29 17
 Keegan Bradley 25 45 73
 Tyrrell Hatton 26 18 9
 Dustin Johnson 27 4 1
 Justin Thomas 28 6 2
 Adam Scott 29 19 38
 Max Homa 30 71 40
 Tony Finau 31 13 14
 Sungjae Im 32 36 23
 Scottie Scheffler 33 31 24
 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 34 44 41
 Alex Noren 36 49 99
 Marc Leishman 37 112 37
 Billy Horschel 38 35 18
 Brendon Todd 40 50 60
 Robert MacIntyre 41 53 45
 Tommy Fleetwood 42 43 28
 Patrick Reed 43 17 8
 Stewart Cink 44 55 43
 Rory McIlroy 45 15 7
 K.H. Lee 46 114 59
 Hideki Matsuyama 47 32 15
 Branden Grace 48 135 92
 Kevin Streelman 49 48 64
 Si Woo Kim 50 38 50
 Sam Burns 51 42 36
 Cameron Davis 52 59 127
 Kevin Na 56 47 34
 Charl Schwartzel 57 85 109
 Emiliano Grillo 58 51 76
 Talor Gooch 59 62 72
 Shane Lowry 60 64 48
 Russell Henley 61 34 57
 Lanto Griffin 63 66 61
 Matt Wallace 66 58 52
 Bubba Watson 67 57 55
 Zach Johnson 68 27 121
 Steve Stricker 69 68 240
 Lee Westwood 72 79 21
 Patrick Cantlay 73 28 12
 Sam Horsfield 74 207 86
 Harold Varner III 75 78 84
 Takumi Kanaya 77 73 77
 Sergio Garcia 79 65 46
 Thomas Pieters 80 88 94
 Adam Hadwin 82 86 107
 Wyndham Clark 86 105 150
 Matt Kuchar 88 69 49
 Harris English 89 26 22
 Gary Woodland 95 100 53
 Denny McCarthy 96 80 163
 Victor Perez 97 163 33
 Francesco Molinari 98 113 144
 Danny Willett 103 178 91
 Carlos Ortiz 104 94 54
 Bernd Wiesberger 106 76 62
 Justin Rose 107 91 42
 Rikuya Hoshino 108 139 69
 Aaron Wise 118 134 136
 J.T. Poston 119 102 88
 Mackenzie Hughes 120 60 58
 Antoine Rozner 125 133 74
 Jazz Janewattananond 127 222 111
 Richy Werenski 128 104 114
 Ian Poulter 130 63 67
 Martin Laird 131 143 101
 Sebastián Muñoz 132 98 71
 Andy Sullivan 136 92 70
 Thomas Detry 142 107 98
 Phil Mickelson 144 142 115
 Brooks Koepka 146 82 13
 Jason Dufner 151 146 409
 Rickie Fowler 158 137 128
 Jason Day 164 97 65
 Tom Lewis 168 183 116
 Dylan Frittelli 174 117 81
 Kevin Kisner 177 77 44
 Chan Kim 183 158 83
 Harry Higgs 184 201 154
 Erik van Rooyen 188 123 78
 Dean Burmester 191 238 89
 Maverick McNealy 196 145 104
 Kalle Samooja 206 297 112
 Garrick Higgo 218 229 51
 Tom Hoge 219 166 113
 Kurt Kitayama 231 327 106
 Byeong Hun An 233 234 119
 Joel Dahmen 234 96 68
 Cameron Champ 246 152 95
 George Coetzee 251 286 96
 Robert Streb 253 262 125
 Jimmy Walker 269 354 528
 Rasmus Hojgaard 276 219 102
 Padraig Harrington 279 216 257
 Peter Malnati 290 199 174
 Brian Gay 302 358 232
 Sami Valimaki 307 265 100
 Jason Scrivener 310 319 118
 Chez Reavie 323 191 117
 John Catlin 334 292 80
 Adam Long 343 154 85
 Lucas Herbert 344 255 97
 Martin Kaymer 351 228 93
 Aaron Rai 356 196 90
 Daniel van Tonder 358 392 79
 Jim Herman 371 281 143
 Hudson Swafford 409 422 194
 Brandon Stone 418 347 87
 Henrik Stenson 453 372 130
 Daniel Balin N/R N/R 1857
 Pete Ballo N/R N/R N/R
 Alex Beach N/R N/R 1857
 Rich Beem N/R N/R 1770
 Frank Bensel Jr. N/R N/R N/R
 Tyler Collet N/R N/R 1857
 Ben Cook N/R N/R 1174
 John Daly N/R N/R 1857
 Mark Geddes N/R N/R N/R
 Larkin Gross N/R N/R N/R
 Derek Holmes N/R N/R N/R
 Greg Koch N/R N/R N/R
 Rob Labritz N/R N/R 1770
 Brad Marek N/R N/R N/R
 Shaun Micheel N/R N/R 1857
 Tim Pearce N/R N/R N/R
 Ben Polland N/R N/R 1857
 Patrick Rada N/R N/R N/R
 Sonny Skinner N/R N/R N/R
 Stuart L. Smith N/R N/R N/R
 Joe Summerhays N/R N/R N/R
 Omar Uresti N/R N/R 1857
 Brett Walker N/R N/R N/R
 Y.E. Yang N/R N/R 672

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